Photo credit: Walt Beazley, Razorbacks Athletics Communications
Blessings Golf Club, Fayetteville, Arkansas
Par 72, 7550 yards
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH RECAP – WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2019
STANFORD WINS 2019 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S GOLF TEAM NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Cardinal Claim 9th NCAA Men’s Golf Championship
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Stanford Cardinal defeated the Texas Longhorns, 3-2, to win the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, played at Blessings Golf Club (par 72, 7,550-yards).
With the win, the Cardinal have now won nine NCAA Men’s Golf Championships, with this the first since 2007. Other titles came in 1938, ’29, ’41, ’42, ’46, ’53 and ’94.
“Endurance is a big part of it. It’s hard to stay focused that whole time, especially on this course,” said Stanford coach Conrad Ray. “It’s demanding with the turnaround, and we were down early. Our guys hung in there and pushed above Texas. Isaiah (Salinda) and Brandon’s (Wu) leadership is huge. They were rock solid all year, so we leaned on them a lot. They left a strong legacy of leadership. I’m happy they could end their career like this because they are a huge part of our success.”
Texas got on the board first when Parker Coody sank a par putt on the 13th hole for a 6&5 victory. Coody was up three after nine holes and won holes 10, 11 and 12 before tying the 13th to secure the first point of the day.
Stanford answered as Isaiah Salinda claimed a 4&3 win over freshman Cole Hammer. The match was square through nine holes but Salinda won holes 10, 11, 13 and 14 to go up four with four to play. Salinda and Hammer tied the 15th to give Salinda the win.
“I was super excited to play Cole, I was hoped we’d get paired together,” said Salinda. “He’s a really good player, one of the best in college, so I was looking forward to it. I knew I was playing well and it would be a good match. It felt good to come out on top. Once you get here, you have to think that you have a chance. The first goal was to make match play, and we got off to a good start in stroke play. Once we made match play, I thought we could win it. It’s pretty cool.”
Not long afterward, the Cardinal quickly closed out the match. First, Brandon Wu, who never trailed or tied during the final Wednesday, closed out his match with a 4&3 victory over Pierceson Coody. Wu was the only Stanford player to go 3-0 during match play. Moments later, Henry Shimp clinched the third and deciding point with a 2&1 victory over Spencer Soosman.
“It’s crazy, you can’t script a better ending to your career,” said Wu. “This whole week, we knew that every round could be our last so to end on a high note is great. It was definitely tough, but I think we work out really hard. We’ve tried our best all year to stay as fit as possible and I think it really paid off with the quick turnaround. Obviously, everyone is tired so it’s about staying tough mentally and knowing that everyone is digging deep.”
Texas, a team with three freshmen starters fell just short of a fourth national championship.
“It wasn’t hard to get up this morning, we were excited to play,” said Texas coach John Fields. “We knew it was going to be a challenge, and we knew that Stanford would come as excited as we were and that they would play their best golf. We were going to have to play ours to win this tournament. They got the better of us this time. Moving forward, I think our team is in great position to capitalize on this momentum and who knows, maybe be one of the favorites coming in. That will be a little bit different feeling. Although I think that our team did a great job this year, five runner-up finishes and great fields at tournaments that we play in and then finishing up with a 20-shot victory at our home in the regional, and bringing that momentum here and then obviously finishing runner-up here. There’s a lot of teams in Division I golf that would love to be in our position right now.”
Quarterfinal Match Results – Tuesday, May 28
(All Times Local CST):
MATCH 1: #2 Vanderbilt def. #7 Texas A&M, 3-2
MATCH 2: # 6 Stanford def. #3 Wake Forest, 3-2
MATCH 3: #1 Oklahoma State def. #8 SMU, 4-1
MATCH 4: #5 Texas def. #4 Oklahoma, 3-2
Semifinal Matches – Tuesday, May 28
MATCH 5: Stanford def. Vanderbilt, 3-2
MATCH 6: Texas def. Oklahoma State, 3-2
Championship Final Match – Wednesday, May 29
MATCH 7: Stanford def. Texas, 3-2
GOLF Channel / NCAA Men’s Golf Championships Wednesday programming schedule (all times Central)
3-7 p.m. – NCAA Men’s Golf Championships, Championship Match (Replay)
