Golf is not a game where you go undefeated. In fact, nobody has ever done it. The best at their best lost some, if not most of the time. Bob Jones, who swept the majors in 1930, lost the Savannah Open early that year. Tiger Woods in 2000, in the midst of arguably the greatest stretch of golf ever played – won in fewer than half of his starts. And Ben Hogan in 1953 didn’t win them all – although five out of eight including three majors wasn’t shabby. Nobody else in our game has come close to those percentages.
But at the team collegiate level, we could be on the cusp of something extraordinary. Last week, the women’s team at Stanford won again, sweeping their fall season. The Cardinal won them all. They started at the Molly Intercollegiate, hosted by Cal, where the team came from seven shots back to win in a trot on the final day. Freshman Rose Zhang, the No. 1 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, also won her college debut individually.
Then they went to Chicago for the Windy City Collegiate, an event that featured nine of the top 14 teams in the nation. Stanford won by eight shots and Zhang won her second individual title in a row. In short order, Rachel Heck, who won six times in her freshman year, including sweeping the postseason by winning the Pac 12 Championship, the NCAA Regionals and the individual NCAA Championship title, found herself as the second-best player on her team.
The Cardinal hosted the Stanford Intercollegiate on their home course in mid-October. Of course, the team was favored but they made it look silly, trouncing the other 16 teams. Collectively the team shot 28-under for 54 holes, a school record. And Zhang won again, shooting 16 under, also tying a school record set last year by Heck. In so doing, Zhang became the first Stanford golfer, man or woman, to win the first three starts of a freshman season. Woods won his first two. To put that into perspective, only six players in Stanford women’s golf history have won three or more individual titles in their careers. Zhang won the first three she played.
But surely last week the streak would come to an end in Hawaii at the Pac-12 Preview, not because the crashing waves of Kona were a distraction, but because four of the team’s players, including Zhang and Heck, weren’t there. The No. 1 and No. 2 player in the WAGR were representing the United States in the Spirit International and didn’t make the trip to paradise. But in an extraordinary display of “next player up,” junior Brooke Seay led the Cardinal to yet another victory.
Four events played, four wins. Granted, team golf is different. A third or fourth player can come out of nowhere and make all the difference. But this is a streak worth watching.
Who knows? We might be in the middle of history.
E-MAIL STEVE
Steve Eubanks