SAN FRANCISCO – Stanford was one of four teams to shoot under par in Thursday’s opening round at The Goodwin, shooting 1-under in the first trip around TPC Harding Park to finish the day with a share of the lead alongside Georgia and Tennessee.
Senior Karl Vilips headlined the Cardinal’s opening round effort, as the Aussie fired a first round 3-under 67 with five birdies and two bogeys to sit tied for second place. Vilips was able to take advantage of his distance off the tee box to birdie both par-5’s on the course and knocked down some big putts down the stretch, including a 20-footer on the par-4 16th to pull within a shot of the lead.
Michael Thorbjornsen had a hot start to the day with a trio of birdies in the first five holes, but a pair of double bogeys on holes 9 and 12 hindered an otherwise exceptional round as the PGA Tour U’s top-ranked golfer finished the day at even par. Thorbjornsen was dominant on the par-3s on the afternoon, as he led the field with a par-3 scoring average of 2.50.
It was a tale of two nines for Barclay Brown as the senior knocked down four birdies on the back stretch to salvage his round and work back into the top-25 after a slow start to the day.
Sean-Karl Dobson also showed flashes with four birdies on his round, but three front-nine bogeys and a triple-bogey on the 12th dropped him to 2-over on the day as he finished round one tied for 62nd.
Jake Beber-Frankel fired three-over on the day in what was the team’s non-scoring round, while Stanford’s individual contingent from the morning wave was highlighted by a 4-over effort from freshman Kush Arora.
Stanford will tee off in the morning session for tomorrow’s second round, as action will kick off at 7:00 a.m. PT.
The Goodwin (TPC Harding Park, par 70)
| Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1. Stanford | 279 (-1) | — | — | — |
| T2. Karl Vilips | 67 (-3) | — | — | — |
| T21. Michael Thordbjornsen | 70 (E) | — | — | — |
| T21. Barclay Brown | 70 (E) | — | — | — |
| T62. Sean-Karl Dobson | 72 (+2) | — | — | — |
| T68. Jake-Beber Frankel | 73 (+3) | — | — | — |
| T91. Kush Arora^ | 74 (+4) | — | — | — |
| T157. Anton Ouyang^ | 78 (+8) | — | — | — |
| T164. Ethan Gao^ | 80 (+10) | — | — | — |
^ Individual Competition only
Italics – Non-scoring round
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