Stanford, ASU's Jon Rahm win Pac-12 Championship
SALT LAKE CITY, Ut. (May 1, 2016) -- No. 4 Stanford took down the best teams of the west coast in dominating fashion, earning their third straight Pac 12 title.
Stanford placed three golfers inside the top 10 led by senior David Boote who tied for 3rd place at 7-under. Franklin Huang and Maverick McNealy finished 5th and 6th at 5 and 3-under respectively.
Stanford's impressive depth gave them a 29 shot margin of victory over 2nd place Berkeley and a 37 shot win over 3rd place Arizona State. Washington and USC rounded out the top 5.
“It was the toughest day we’ve had so far,” Stanford coach Conrad Ray told the Pac 12 Conference. “I was proud of our guys and they really hung in there. We actually had a slow start, the wind was blowing and it was chilly. We weathered the storm, so to speak. They hit solid shots and tried to mitigate big numbers.”
Sunday's final round played extremely tough with only two rounds recorded the 60s. One of them was by Arizona State Jon Rahm. Rahm's 3-under 68 took him from six strokes back to four strokes ahead as 54-hole leader K.K. Limbhasut struggled to an 8-over 79.
Rahm joins the likes of Phil Mickelson and Paul Casey as Sun Devils who have won the conference title. Remarkably, the world's number one amateur has recorded a perfect 11 for 11 top 10's in the 2015-16 season.
“My key was patience,” acknowledged Rahm. “I knew I had to get off to a good start, make some birdies, so I wouldn’t have to make birdies towards the end because I knew the back nine was going to be tough. I tried to be a little more strategic in my play. Think about it a little more, hit more fairways and that’s what I did today.”
Rahm and the Pac 12 conference will certainty represent themselves well when NCAA Regionals roll around May 16th.
-- Pac 12 contributed to this story
ABOUT THE
Pac-12 Championship
72-hole men's collegiate championship of the
Pac-12 Conference with simultaneous team and
individual competitions. Unlike most college
tournaments, the best five scores of six players
account for the team score each day.
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