Thursday, March 30
Stanford Golf Course; Stanford, CA
All Day
University of San Francisco
vs
The Goodwin
Junior Jalen Griffin.
Previewing The Goodwin
3/28/2017 10:59:00 AM | Men's Golf
USF men's golf team will join one of the strongest fields of the spring this week at The Goodwin, a 54-hole event which gets underway on Thursday at Stanford Golf Course.
Five squads currently ranked in Golfstat.com's Top-25 are featured in the field, including top-ranked USC, defending national champion and 10th-ranked Oregon, No. 12 Stanford, No. 17 UNLV and No. 18 Colorado. BYU, Cal Poly, Chico State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Marquette, Nevada, Northern Colorado, Oregon State, Pacific, Pepperdine, San Jose State, Southern Methodist, St. Mary's, UC Davis, Washington and Wyoming round out the 24-team field.
Three players currently ranked in Golfstat's top-10 individual rankings are expected to compete, including the nation's top-ranked player, Wyndham Clark of Oregon, a former first-team All-American at Oklahoma State; Stanford's Maverick McNealy of Stanford, the former top-amateur player in the world who is currently ranked fourth in the nation and two-time All-Pac 12 selection Sean Crocker of USC, ranked seventh by Golfstat.
"We are excited to compete in this week's Goodwin," said USF head coach Jack Kennedy. "It is always great to play against an elite field on a championship course. Our guys are ready for the challenge that is in front of us and I am confident that we can compete with the best teams in the country.
"We must stay patient over three days and take advantage of our scoring opportunities when they are presented to us. As I told the team, "why not us?"
USF is expected to start of lineup consisting of (in order of qualifying) Tim Widing, Michael D'Angelo, Henry Chung, Jalen Griffin and Max Alcorn. The Dons will be a part of the morning flight on Thursday and will tee off from No. 1 at 8:25 a.m. USF is slated for a 1:21 start off hole No. 10 on Friday while Saturday's tee times and pairings will be determined by the scores of the first two rounds.
With four consecutive top-10 finishes on his resume heading into The Goodwin, Widing is quickly establishing himself as one of the top young players on the west coast. He tied for sixth his last time out at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational and his been under par in six of his last seven competitive rounds. The young Swede is currently ranked 67th nationally among all Division I players by Golfstat.
"Tim is an incredible talent and his play this spring has been a pleasure to watch," said Kennedy. "Tim has shots in his bag that very few collegiate golfers have. His talent alone has him on the doorstep of his first collegiate win. Tim is constantly looking for ways to improve his game in areas that he considers weaknesses. There is a direct correlation in how Tim practices and prepares for events and the good results that follow. As we still strive for our team to make the NCAA tournament, Tim's individual play is not only helping the team achieve this goal, but has put him in a very good position to make the NCAA tournament as an individual."
UC Davis won last year's event in wire-to-wire fashion with a 13-under score of 827, 10 strokes clear of second-place UNLV. Luke Vivolo claimed medalist honors with a 10-under score of 200, good for a one-stroke victory over Aaron Wise of Oregon. Griffin was the lowest Don on the leaderboard at 217 (+7), good for a 54th place finish, while USF finished 21st in the 26-team field.
Originally named the United States Intercollegiate, the event was renamed The Goodwin prior to the 2014 edition in honor of former Cardinal head coach Wally Goodwin, who coached at Stanford from 1983-2000 and led the Cardinal to the 1994 NCAA Championship. Past champions of the event include Tom Watson, Corey Pavin, Duffy Waldorf, Billy Mayfair, Casey Martin and Patrick Rodgers.
Following The Goodwin, USF will compete at the BYU Cougar Classic on April 10-11 at Riverside Country Club in Provo, the same venue which will host the West Coast Conference Championships a week later.
Players Mentioned
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