Stanford topples Texas in Final Match to claim an NCAA title

   On April Fool’s Day, I did a post on The Goodwin, the annual spring college tournament hosted by Stanford on its Stanford Golf Course.

   At the time, I wondered how it was that the Cardinal entered that tournament ranked 31^st by Golfstat. Stanford had two seniors in Isaiah Salinda of South San Francisco, Calif. and Brendan Wu of Scarsdale, N.Y. who were ranked among the top 50 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   Maybe some of the underclassmen didn’t have the experience that Salinda and Wu had, but Stanford annually attracts some outstanding golfers, often youngsters who are just as interested in the challenging academics they’re going to find in northern California as they are in seeing how far their golf talents may take them.

   Well, if Stanford was struggling on the golf course going into The Goodwin, that stopped that last weekend in March and the Cardinal never let up until they earned an NCAA Championship Wednesday with a 3-2 victory over Texas, No. 5 in the latest Golfstat rankings, in the Final Match at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.

   Stanford followed up its victory in The Goodwin by capturing the team title in the Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo Golf Club, an Alister MacKenzie gem in Santa Cruz, Calif. Then the Cardinal rolled to the team crown in the Pac-12 Championship at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.

   Then, behind an individual victory for Salinda, the Cardinal cruised to a 12-shot victory, again on its home course, in the NCAA Stanford Regional.

   Still, they arrived in Fayetteville ranked 10^th and probably an afterthought to a lot of followers of the college golf scene.

   But Wednesday, with Salinda, No. 14 in the WAGR, staring down Texas’ freshman phenom, Cole Hammer of Houston and No. 5 in the WAGR, and Wu, No. 12 in the WAGR, rolling to a win over another gifted Texas freshman, Pierceson Coody of Plano, Texas, Stanford just needed to find one more point to claim a national championship.

   The Cardinal got that point from Henry Shimp, a junior from Charlotte, N.C. whose par on the 17^th hole at The Blessings gave him a 2 and 1 win over Spencer Soosman, a junior from Westlake Village, Calif., and clinched Stanford’s ninth NCAA championship and its first since 2007.

   “I’m just so proud of these guys,” head coach Conrad Ray, who also guided that 2007 team to a national title, told the Stanford website. “We battled all week. It’s the longest week in golf and to play that fine Texas team today, I can’t say enough about our guys.”

   Maybe the letdown for Hammer after his thrilling 4 and 3 victory over his friend and rival, Matthew Wolff, Oklahoma State’s newly crowned NCAA individual champion, in Tuesday’s semifinals was to be expected.

   But Hammer and Salinda were both in the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur last summer at the Pebble Beach Golf Links, so Hammer had a pretty good idea what he was getting into.

   A couple of wayward drives by Hammer in the middle of the round proved costly and Salinda made him pay as Salinda claimed a 4 and 3 victory. Hammer’s win over Wolff Tuesday probably ignited the Longhorns in their 3-2 takedown of the defending champion Cowboys in the semifinals. His loss to Salinda might have had the opposite effect in Wednesday’s Final Match.

   It is, as Ray pointed out, a long week. Texas was clearly amped up in back-to-back wins over its Big 12 rivals Oklahoma and Oklahoma State – the last two national champions, by the way. The Longhorns might not have had time to refill the tank in time for the Stanford match, moved up to the first thing Wednesday morning by the threat of impending weather.

   After Salinda completed his victory over Hammer, Wu closed out Pierceson Coody, 4 and 3. That left it up to Shimp to finish the job.

   I’ve mentioned before that Shimp first appeared on my radar when he showed up for the U.S. Amateur qualifier administered by the Golf Association of Philadelphia at White Manor Country Club and Aronimink Golf Club in 2016, the summer before he matriculated at Stanford. And the kid emerged with a ticket to Oakland Hills Country Club.

   He was clearly one of the players Ray was considering this spring as he tried to find the five to take to the NCAA regionals. And Ray’s decision to included Shimp in the lineup paid big dividends Wednesday as he closed out Soosman and clinched the title for Stanford.

   Stanford freshman Daulet Tuleubayev, the Kazakhstan Kid who closed out the Cardinal’s 3-2 semifinal victory over Vanderbilt, struggled in a 6 and 5 loss to Parker Coody, the other half of the Longhorns’ twin grandsons of 1971 Masters champion Charles Coody.

   Steven Chervony, a senior from Boca Raton, Fla. who gutted out the clinching point in 19 holes in the Longhorns’ upset of Oklahoma State in the semifinals, picked up the other point for Texas with a 1-up victory over David Snyder, a junior from McAllen, Texas.

   With three freshmen on the roster, you might think that Texas is set for a few years, but it seems unlikely that Hammer will spend all four of his years of college eligibility. He participated with the group of amateurs who auditioned for the U.S. Walker Cup team, which will take on Great Britain & Ireland Sept. 7 and 8 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England. I’d take him on my team any time.

   So I expect to see Hammer back in Austin, at least for the fall portion of the wraparound 2019-’20 season. A lot might depend on how this summer plays out for Hammer. Wednesday’s outcome may be enough to persuade Hammer to stick around for another spring and another shot at an NCAA title.