The Stanford men’s golf program has always been a deep one, and all the proof of that is on their legendary list of alumni that’s made it to the PGA Tour. One of the most shining examples of this depth came in 2014, when Cameron Wilson won the NCAA Individual title despite being the third or fourth best player on a roster that included Patrick Rodgers and Maverick McNealy. Stanford is the type of program that could throw out its B squad and still compete … literally.
Don’t believe it? This week, Stanford sent its top five players as well as its second five players to The Prestige, a highly competitive men’s college golf tournament played over three days on the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, Ca. The tournament is hosted by UC Davis, and this year’s event, the 19th annual, features some of the top programs in the country, including No. 1 ranked Oklahoma State, Oregon, Pepperdine and UCLA. Early in Monday’s first round, Stanford’s B squad was beating all of those teams, including Stanford’s A team:
https://twitter.com/GolfweekRingler/status/1097601480234680320
The B team is led by Dakota McNealy, brother of Maverick, who won the 2015 Haskins Award as a member of the Cardinal and is currently in his second season on the Web.com Tour. Actually, we’re not even sure if “the B team is led by” Dakota is the right wording, considering the fact Dakota isn’t even on the main roster on Stanford’s website. But the junior ended up carding the low round of the day for the B team, an even-par 71.
By day’s end, the B team wound up in a tie for sixth with the A team, still ahead of 25th-ranked Arkansas, 35th-ranked Northwestern, 46th-ranked Iowa State, Notre Dame and Utah. As second round play begins, the B team trails 14th-ranked Pepperdine and Oregon by just three shots. Oklahoma State, led by Golf Twitter’s new obsession Matthew Wolff and U.S. Amateur winner Viktor Hovland, is leading the event by one over LSU.
Check out both the team an individual leader board here. Brandon Wu, a senior at Stanford, is the individual leader after firing a first-round 65.