CAREFREE, Ariz. - Michael Thorbjornsen finished day one of the Pac-12 Championships with a share of the lead after 36 holes of action on Friday, as the senior pursues his second individual Pac-12 title.
Stanford finishes the day fourth in the team standings, shooting 359 in the opening round before weather made for difficult conditions in the second trip around Desert Forest Golf Club as the Cardinal shot 378 in the second round. Play was suspended at 6:37 p.m. local time as Arizona, Oregon, USC, Utah, Washington, and Washington State will resume their second rounds on Saturday morning.
Thorbjornsen sits at 1-under 141 after two rounds, tied with Arizona State's Wenyi Ding and California's Ethan Fang. The Wellesley, Mass. native kicked off the day with a bogey-free 65 in the opening round, followed by a 5-over 76 in the second round. The senior tallied nine birdies, four bogeys, and two double-bogeys through 36 holes of play,
Karl Vilips finished his day in the top-5 with a 1-over 143 after two rounds to head to the clubhouse with a share of fifth place. Shooting an opening round 3-under 68 followed by a 4-over 75, Vilips had eight birdies and nine bogeys on Thursday and finished the day with the highest par-4 scoring average on the day of 3.91.
Ethan Gao impressed with a tied-13th showing in the first two Pac-12 Championship rounds of his career. After a 1-under 70 in his first pass around the course, Gao struggled to a 7-over front nine with two triple bogeys to open his second round. However, the freshman would battle back with three birdies on the back stretch to salvage the round and now heads into Friday five strokes off the lead.
Jake Beber-Frankel finished the first day of the tournament inside the top-30 at 8-over, highlighted by a team-best 3-over 74 in his second round effort. The Miami native finished the day with 21 pars and four birdies through 36 holes.
Rounding out the Stanford contingent, Barclay Brown finished with a 17-over 159 and Sean-Karl Dobson carded a 24-over 166 after two rounds of play.
Action resumes tomorrow morning with the conclusion of the second round before Stanford will tee off it's third round of play at approximately 10 a.m. PT.
Pac-12 Championships (Desert Forest Golf Club, par 71)
| Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4. Stanford | 359 (+4) | 378 (+23) | --- | --- | --- |
| T1. Michael Thorbjornsen | 65 (-6) | 76 (+5) | --- | --- | --- |
| T5. Karl Vilips | 68 (-3) | 75 (+4) | --- | --- | --- |
| T13. Ethan Gao | 70 (-1) | 76 (+5) | --- | --- | --- |
| T29. Jake Beber-Frankel | 76 (+5) | 74 (+3) | --- | --- | --- |
| T63. Barclay Brown | 82 (+11) | 77 (+6) | --- | --- | --- |
| T70. Sean-Karl Dobson | 79 (+9) | 86 (+15) | --- | --- | --- |
Italics - Non-scoring round