Stanford surges in final round, doubles up in Western Intercollegiate

The San José State Spartan men’s golf team, hosts of the Western Intercollegiate, took a one-stroke lead into the final round of the 73rd running of the event after leading for 36 holes, and Spartan junior Sean Yu came into the final round three strokes back of Stanford’s Isaiah Salinda in the race for the individual title. These numbers set up a final round that Spartan golf fans hoped would be reminiscent of the 1996 event, the last time that a Spartan player, (then-SJSU junior Arron Oberholser) took individual honors, even as Stanford took home the team trophy.

Wednesday’s final round, played under sunny skies that showcased the long views across Monterey Bay that are a feature of many of the holes at Pasatiempo Golf Club, saw cross-bay rivals Stanford and Cal surge past their South Bay hosts, posting team scores of 340 and 341, respectively, while San José State slipped back to third place with a 352 team total.

Stanford’s Isaiah Salinda blasts out of a bunker behind the 10th green at Pasatiempo Golf Club during the final round of the 2019 Western Intercollegiate golf tournament. Salinda went on to take individual honors after a five-hole payoff with San José State junior Sean Yu. (Photo by author)

In the individual competition, Stanford’s Isaiah Salinda went wire-to-wire for the win, completing the third Stanford sweep of team and individual honors in the last six years (2014, 2016, and 2019), and the fifth in tournament history—but San Jose State junior Sean Yu made him work for it, posting a 66 to Salinda’s even-par 70 as the pair came to the end of 54 holes tied at 202.

What followed was the longest playoff in the tournament’s 73-year history. The duo traded pars for four holes, playing the 18th hole twice, then 10, and 17, before returning to the 18th hole, a uniquely situated 169-yard par-three finishing hole. Salinda dropped a flag-seeking tee shot to seven feet below the flag on the fifth playoff hole, while Yu’s ball came to rest 12 to 15 feet above the flag. When Yu’s birdie putt slipped past the hole the door was left open for Salinda, who walked through it with a firm, center-cut birdie putt to cement the win.

Salinda is the ninth individual champion from Stanford in the tournament’s 73-year history, and the Cardinal’s team victory is the 11th since they won the inaugural event in 1947.

Pasatiempo will play host to a number of these players again on May 13th, when USGA local qualifying for the 2019 U.S. Open takes place at the Alister Mackenzie masterpiece in the hills above Santa Cruz.

This year’s event was sponsored by TopGolf entertainment centers, and televised, for the first time, on Golf Channel.