Dueled Into Darkness – Stanford Cardinal

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Stanford men’s golf earned its first Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship Match Play win on Sunday, dispatching No. 27 Duke, 3-1, before battling No. 24 Florida State into the night as the Cardinal competed in the Semifinal match that was halted due to darkness. Stanford heads into the final few holes of the semifinal match with Edan Cui and Dean Greyserman looking to secure the final two points for the Cardinal at 7:30 a.m. CT with the Cardinal trailing 2-1. 

Against Duke, Stanford rode three match wins en route to a decisive 3-1 win over the Blue Devils to secure its first-ever ACC Men’s Golf Championship match play victory and advance for the first time to the ACC match play semifinals. Edan Cui led the Cardinal in match one, taking a 1Up lead on hole five after falling by one early, and never looking back on his way to a 4&2 win. Cui secured five birdies on the day including the match-clincher on hole 16 while winning six holes during the day. 

In match two, Nathan Wang battled hard against Duke’s Ethan Evas but could not complete a comeback as he fell 4&3. Wang nabbed one birdie through the round and won two holes. In match three, Jay Leng grabbed the lead on hole eight and never wavered, earning a 2&1 win over Oliver Mukherjee to give Stanford its second point of the match. Leng secured four birdies including one to clinch the 2&1 win on hole 17 as the sophomore won four holes during the match. Dean Greyserman secured Stanford’s 3-1 win with a decisive 5&4 win over Bryan Kim. Greyserman secured four birdies on Sunday’s round, winning six holes to propel Stanford into the semifinal. 

Ethan Gao also golfed well, ending the quarterfinals 1Up over Daniel Choi in a match that went unfinished through 16. Gao battled back from three separate one-hole deficits before grabbing a the 1Up finish with his final of five birdies on the day.

In its first semifinal ACC semifinal bout, Stanford shot well despite an early delay due to inclement weather in the area. Following a two-hour delay due to lightning, the Cardinal turned in solid performances to go into the final few holes of the semifinal against No. 24 Florida State with a chance to advance to the match play final. 

Ethan Gao secured the lone point for the Cardinal through three completed matches on Sunday, turning in a 1Up win with a birdie on the final hole to snatch the point for Stanford. Gao never trailed in the match, winning five holes and grabbing three…