It had been nearly four months since the No. 5 Stanford women’s golf team last played in a tournament. In 2006, Golfweek magazine ranked the squad fifth in the nation after strong performances at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational and the Stanford Intercollegiate. It is safe to say that expectations for the Cardinal were high.

In a rough start to the year, however, the team entered its spring season with a sub-par eighth-place finish at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge held at the Palos Verdes Golf Club (par 71, 5,912 yards).

Head coach Caroline O’Connor dismissed the notion that Stanford’s troubles stemmed from the long time off.

“We were definitely rusty around the greens and with our short game, which typically is the strongest part of all of our games,” O’Connor said. “There was some rust from not competing, but I wouldn’t say that’s why we didn’t play well.”

The weather, according to O’Connor, played a bigger role in the Cardinal’s setback.

“The wind was gusting up to 40 mph on both Monday and Tuesday when we were going through some tough stretches of golf for us, and we didn’t really adjust to it,” she said. “That really made putting very difficult, especially on the small elevated greens. It was very cold, too.”

The Palos Verdes Golf Club also features a rare playing surface, Kakuya grass, that may have affected Stanford’s play.

“The Kakuya grass, which they have down and around the greens, was something we’re not accustomed to playing on,” O’Connor said. “It can definitely be tricky and really affect your shot, and we didn’t really adjust. It’s a much different grass from what we see up here and what most of our players will ever see. You’ve got to spend a lot of time practicing on it to get a feel for it.”

The Cardinal competed Monday through Wednesday against a field of 15 schools, 14 of them ranked in the top 50 and five in the top 10 nationally. Pacific-10 Conference opponents included No. 2 Arizona State, No. 10 UCLA and No. 14 Southern California. Among the highly ranked non-conference opponents were No. 8 Pepperdine and No. 9 Oklahoma State.

O’Connor stressed the importance of competing against the elite teams in the nation.

“I believe in always playing against the best teams in the country,” she said. “Our strength of schedule is fourth-toughest in the country. If you want to be the best, you have to play against the best and beat the best, week in, week out. Our tournaments in the fall were against the best fields, and our tournaments in the spring will be against the best fields.”

After three rounds of competition, Pepperdine (297-297-288—882) took home the team title with a commanding wire-to-wire victory. The Waves were led by freshman Misun Cho, whose two-under-par 69 catapulted her from 10th to first place overall. It was a one-stroke victory for Cho over five different players tied for second.

Despite ending the first and second rounds in seventh, Stanford finished eighth with a three-round total of 915 (305-307-303).

“It’s just one of those weeks where things don’t come together,” said O’Connor. “We had an opportunity going into the final day where we legitimately could have finished top three or four had we played our normal game.”

The Cardinal was led by seniors Jennifer Tangtiphaiboontana and Lauren Todd. Tangtiphaiboontana tied for 14th overall with a three-round score of 223 (72-77-74) and two birdies in the final round. Todd finished the Challenge tied for 26th with a 15-over-par 228 (79-74-75) and a birdie on the final day.

“Jennie came in with an exceptional short game — still one of her big strengths,” O’Connor said. “What’s helping Jennie a lot right now is that she has basically filled all her requirements for graduation, so now she has the opportunity to focus on her golf. Without so much pressure in the classroom, her mind is on her game.”

Following Tangtiphaiboontana and Todd was sophomore Mari Chun, who tied for 37th overall with a final score of 232 (76-76-80). Despite shooting a birdie in her first hole of the morning (hole 7), Chun’s nine-over-par in the final round dropped her 15 places.

Sophomore Ki-Shui Liao jumped from 67th to 58th on the last day of competition. She finished the tourney with a 239 (85-80-74) and four birdies on the final day (holes 1, 5, 13 and 15). Freshman Angela King finished at 67th with a 245 (78-84-83).

With a few months left until post-season play, the Cardinal still has time to make improvements in its game.

“I’m not looking at this week and thinking we lost any ground against these teams, or that we don’t match up against them,” O’Connor said. “We look at what we did and where our strengths were and certainly saw from our weaknesses where we can improve for next week. The true test comes in May, and so in the meantime we’re trying to figure out who our lineup is going to be and keep improving day by day.”

Up next for Stanford is the Arizona Wildcat Invitational on Feb. 26 in Tucson.

“We know that we have talent; we’ve proven that we have talent,” O’Connor said. “We never in any of our three rounds had scores like we typically have, so I’m not worried about the team. I feel good about where we are, what we do in practice, and how to prepare for the next event.”