FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Before skidding into Tuesday’s quarterfinals, Stanford hadn’t qualified for match play at the NCAA Championship since 2014. In fact, the Cardinal failed to get past Sunday at nationals in each of the past four seasons.
While some had begun to question Stanford’s toughness as it relates to the postseason, there’s no doubt this year’s bunch has more fortitude.
Stanford proved it Tuesday in a 3-2 quarterfinal victory over Wake Forest to advance to the afternoon’s semifinals. Senior Isaiah Salinda rallied from 4 down after nine holes to beat Eugenio Chacarra, 3 and 1. Fellow senior Brandon Wu bounced back from a final-round 81 to beat Eric Bae, 4 and 3. And junior David Snyder, who was benched earlier this week, sunk the clinching putt to top Lee Detmer.
When the 8-footer for par dropped, Snyder delivered a massive fist pump before flicking his hat and sunglasses off.
“I keep saying it, these guys are pretty tough,” Stanford head coach Conrad Ray said. “Wake had us on the ropes there on the front nine, for sure, and our guys just kept plugging away. … Really proud of Snyder; he’s a fighter and in that situation, on the ninth green, there’s probably not another guy I’d put in that spot to make that putt.”
A big reason for that added strength is first-year assistant coach Matt Bortis.
Bortis was an All-SEC player at Arkansas before transferring to Texas, where he was an All-American as a senior and tied for 62nd in the 2008 NCAA Championship. Two years after graduating, he joined the Marine Corps, where he spent eight years before arriving at Stanford last October.
Since being hired, Bortis has led a weekly workout on Friday mornings. The hour-long, high-intensity training borrows from a lot of what Bortis learned in the Marines and has since been coined “Bortis Camp.”
It’s not easy – shuttle runs, elevated pushups and more.
“Friday was always kind of our flex workout day, and we felt like that was one of the controllables for us in terms of making sure that our guys are fit and strong and hungry,” Ray said. “I’m a big believer that if you’re doing that, you’re also building your mental toughness. … It’s been something that the guys have hung their hats on.”
Stanford entered the NCAA Championship riding a four-tournament winning streak and started strong at Blessings, only to drop 35 shots in the final two rounds and settle for the sixth seed. Their 24-over performance was the worst of the final round.
“There’s no getting around that we didn’t play that great,” Ray said, “but our guys hung in there.”
And they continue to hang tough.