It’s been a hectic five weeks for the Stanford women’s golf team. This weekend, the Cardinal will play in the Stanford Intercollegiate, its fourth tournament over that span.

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Alvin Chow

Junior Mari Chun has been a steadying influence for the Cardinal this year. The team will play host to The Stanford Intercollegiate tournament this weekend; the tournament marks its last of the fall.

“It’s been a whirlwind of tourneys,” said junior Mari Chun.

Indeed it has, but after this weekend, the first part of the regular season will be over, and the team will get nearly four months off to rest and hone its game. While northern and eastern schools will be kept inside, the women will have a chance to, according to Chun, practice on the course, perfect their mechanics and engage in drills and physical strength exercises.

“We’ll set team goals over the long and intermediate term,” Chun said.

This will only help a constantly improving team that placed seventh last week at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational. “Our games are starting to come together,” said Chun. And just in time, too: in order to stay ranked, the No. 21 Cardinal will have to have a good showing at the Stanford Intercollegiate. The Cardinal was ranked as high as No. 9 this season, but after below average showings at the first two tournaments of the year, the team’s ranking dropped.

This could be attributed to the loss of two ‘07 graduates, Lauren Todd and Jennifer Tangtiphaiboontana. They were replaced by freshmen Rebecca Durham and Piper Miller, but the difference has been noticeable. “No one can replace them,” said Chun. “They are big shoes to fill.” While the team’s chemistry is good (“I love my teammates!” said Chun), the team must pick up the slack in order to compete this weekend and in next spring’s competitions.

Chun will have to lead the way — the junior is the Cardinal’s best player. In nine rounds this year, she has shot under par three times, and has placed in the top 30 in all three tournaments this year, including an eighth place finish last weekend.

Her teammates seem to be following her example: Durham, junior Ki-Shui Liao and sophomore Catherina Wang had their best finishes of the season at the Edean Ihlanfeldt. But that might be a testament more to the quality of the competition than to the team’s play: Wang, Chun and Durham all shot better at the first two tournaments but, due to tougher fields, finished lower.

Yet in the end, the Cardinal will not be judged on individual performances, but rather on how it finishes as a team. Chun is confident that the Cardinal, who placed fifth in the NCAA tournament last year, can have a repeat performance or better.

“We’re strong in the spring and the postseason,” she said. “We have the potential to do really well.”

As for the team’s low ranking?

“We don’t pay attention to polls.”