SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Fresh off finals week on the Mission campus, Santa Clara men's golf will get a test of a different kind when it tees up at the prestigious The Goodwin, hosted by Stanford University on the 6,758-yards, par 70 Stanford Golf Course starting Thursday.
The 27-team field is whopper and The Goodwin brings out some of the best in the country. There are two top-10 teams with Oklahoma at No. 5 and USC No. 6. Another four teams are ranked in the top-30 and an additional seven teams are among the top-50, according to the recent Golfstat.com poll.
Nearly half the field is ranked in the top-50 out of the 295 schools eligible for the poll.
And if that's not enough, there are another seven teams that are currently ranked between No. 51 and No. 95. The Broncos are the lowest ranked among these teams.
"There are very few tournaments in the country where you will find a field with that many top 100 teams," head coach Rob Miller said.
The teams and select individuals will play 18 holes over each day of the three-day event.
The Broncos are coming off their best performance of the spring at the Olympic Club Invitational where they grabbed a third-place finish behind a runner-up showing from Matt McCarty. It was the fifth top-10 of the year for the junior, who leads the squad with a 71 stroke average.
Senior Derek Ackerman earned his first top-10 of the year by grabbing a share of ninth. He scored below par in each of the final two rounds.
Playing as an individual, sophomore Jack Avrit carded a season-low 69 in the final round at the Olympic Club to claim his best finish of the year with a T7, earning an exemption into the Goodwin.
"It's been a tough road back for Jack and it is great to see him returning to the form he flashed when he arrived at Santa Clara in 2017," Miller said of Avrit. "He struggled with his game and injuries in 2018 but his hard work is now paying off at a time when we really need help finding some consistency in the lineup."
Making up the rest of the Santa Clara contingent are freshman Konrad Brauckmeyer and sophomore Berk Harvey.
The enormity of the field requires two separate waves of golfers. The morning wave will tee off at 7:30 a.m. PT with a shotgun start from the first and 10th holes. The second wave is scheduled to start at Noon. Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Name: The Goodwin
Dates (Site): Thursday-Saturday, Mar. 28-30 (Stanford, Calif.)
Host: Stanford University
Tournament Field (Rank): Arizona (48), BYU (27), California (11), Colorado (84), Florida (36), George Washington University (191), McNeese State (127), Nebraska (153), Nevada (51), Northwestern (45), Nova Southeastern (DII), Oklahoma (5), Oregon (35), Pepperdine (14), San Diego (213), San Francisco (64), San Jose State (57), Santa Clara (95), SMU (16), St. Mary's (47), Stanford (31), Stanford "B" Team, Toledo (192), UC Davis (86), UNLV (33), USC (6), Washington (87).
Details: The field will play 18 holes over each of the three days in a five-count-four team scoring format. There will be a morning and afternoon wave each day, with morning tee times beginning at 7:30 a.m. PT. Teams will be paired for Saturday's final round according to their 36-hole scores. The top half of the field will go off in the morning and the bottom half of the field will play in the afternoon.
Course: Stanford Golf Course
Yardage/Par: 6,758 yards / Par 70
Course Website: www.stanfordgolfcourse.com
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
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