SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Michael Thorbjornsen was named Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Year, Conrad Ray the Men's Golf Coach of the Year, and four total Cardinal garnered All-Pac-12 honors on Thursday.
Thorbjornsen and Karl Vilips earned a spot on the All-Pac-12 first team, Barclay Brown was honored as a second-team member, and sixth-year senior Nate Menon garnered honorable mention by way of his career-best finish and Top 10 at the Pac-12 Championships.
Thorbjornsen is coming off winning the Pac-12 Championship and currently leads the Pac-12 with a 68.96 scoring average. That scoring average is on pace to break the school record (Maverick McNealy, 69.05, 2014-15) for a single season and would be the third-lowest in league history and top-5 in NCAA history. He is one of three conference golfers with multiple wins this season, also winning at the Fighting Illini Invitational in the fall. Thorbjornsen becomes the sixth Cardinal to be named Conference Golfer of the Year, joining Tiger Woods (1995, 1996), Joel Kribel (1999), Rob Grube (2006), Patrick Rodgers (2014) and Maverick McNealy (2015, 2016).
Ray led Stanford to its fifth Pac-12 Championship under his watch, tying him for the most in program history (Bud Finger) and third-most in league history behind only Stan Wood (12) and Randy Lein (10). Ray's Cardinal have three wins this season, most in the Pac-12, and earned the No. 2 seed in the Las Vegas Regional at Bear's Best, May 15-17. The 2023 honor is Ray's fourth career Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor (2007, 2014, 2016, 2023), second all-time behind Lein's seven.
Vilips has enjoyed a strong junior season alongside classmate Thorbjornsen to earn his first career All-Pac-12 first team recognition. He previously garnered second team (2022) and All-Newcomer Team (2021) spots. Coming off a tie for sixth at the Pac-12 Championships, Vilips has a 70.44 scoring average over 27 rounds thus far in 2022-23. That mark is on pace to be in the Top 8 for a single season in program history. Vilips has three Top-6 finishes this season and five Top 20s.
Brown earns All-Pac-12 recognition for the third straight season, and second consecutive season he's landed on the second team. He owns a 71.46 scoring average over 28 rounds in 2022-23 with three Top 20s and six Top 30s. Fourteen of his 28 rounds during his senior season have been played at even-par or better.
The Cardinal, coming off the Pac-12 Championship, turn their attention to NCAA Regionals at Bear's Best Las Vegas, May 15-17.