Editor's Note - Steven Kearney wrote this only a few weeks before his best Stanford finish in the Hawaii tournament where he tied for 4th overall and shot 208 to lead the team.
It feels like just yesterday
that I was writing my freshman year blog. How time flies! Each year has brought
both excitement and surprises, and this year has been no exception so far. We
started off the season by going to Scotland for an entire week and played some
of the most incredible courses in the world. We even got to meet up with the
St. Andrews golf team and spend some time touring the city. I also found out
that the pot bunker on 17 is even deeper than it looks on television! Our first
tournament of the season was at Olympia Fields in Chicago at the same time as
the Ryder Cup. After our practice round we were able to make it out there and
watch some of the matches. Shane and I were able to squeeze through the crowd
to get a glimpse of Tiger on the par 3 17th. After he hit it close
we started waving our American flags in the air and joined the crowd who had
begun singing the National Anthem. There was a lot of patriotism that day and
we all really enjoyed it.
This was also the first year
that we hosted a match play tournament at Cypress Point in Monterey. To say
that it was a unique experience would be an understatement. To play match play
on arguably the best golf course in the world is something that college golfers
can usually only dream about. One situation that stands out the most to me
during the tournament was during the best ball round against Washington.
Dominick and I were standing on the 17th tee box with the match all
square. We both hit irons off the tee to ensure we stayed out of the giant
cypress tree the hangs into the fairway. Then both of the Washington players
proceeded to hit drivers and flew into the tree, leaving them with no shot to
the green. We ended up winning the match because of that hole. It just goes to
show you that playing conservative in some situations can really pay off!
Our
year is going well so far. We finished off the fall season by giving UCLA a run
at the Gifford Invitational at Corde Valle. After Cameron’s incredible 61 the
first day, we found ourselves neck and neck with the Bruins on the last nine
holes. Unfortunately we weren’t able to pull through and lost by a few shots,
but it was a great feeling to see everyone grinding it out to the very end. We
will see them again many times throughout the rest of the season and I have a
feeling it will be a different story next time. The quarter proved to be a
challenge academically for the entire team. Playing five tournaments means a
lot of time away from school, so everyone has to be on top of their school work
and manage their time well. I wrote a 25 page research article for one of my
classes. Shane, Cameron, David, and I also wrote a 60 page paper for our group
project in another class. Although it can seem like a lot of work at times, we
are all used to it by now. We were even able to participate in a community
service event with the Boys and Girls club in East Palo Alto. We played soccer
and dodgeball with underprivileged youth at an elementary school. Let’s just
say that most of the guys on the team should definitely stick to golf!
I was fortunate enough to be
able to go to the PAC 12 Championship and the Rose Bowl this year to watch our
football team make history. Let’s follow in their footsteps on our way to the
2013 NCAA Championship! Go Card!
Senior Steven Kearney
