The No. 10 Stanford men’s golf team begins the second half of its season today at the 18th annual University of Hawaii-Hilo Invitational in Kona, Hawaii. This year’s competition is fierce with 18 programs in attendance, four of which are in the top-25 (No. 4 Georgia Tech, No. 8 USC, No. 10 Stanford, No. 16 Texas Tech) while nine are in the nation’s top-50.

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Senior captain Rob Grube placed second at last year’s Taylor Made UH-Hilo Invitational. He looks to improve on his 11-under par performance when the Cardinal begins competition today in Kona, Hawaii. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8484
Stanford Daily File Photo

Senior captain Rob Grube placed second at last year’s Taylor Made UH-Hilo Invitational. He looks to improve on his 11-under par performance when the Cardinal begins competition today in Kona, Hawaii.

“The great thing about this trip is the strong field.” said head coach Conrad Ray. “This will be a good test for us to get back into the season. It was cold and rainy last night and the wind can become a factor on this course. The biggest thing for us will be to go out and take care of business. We just need to play the course as it presents itself.”

Last year, the Cardinal earned top honors at the par-71, 6,777 yard Waikoloa Village Golf Course. Led by senior captain Rob Grube’s runner-up 11-under-par performance, Stanford was able to capture the team victory with a three-round total of 803 (37-under-par).

“Grube and [junior Daniel] Lim are the only returning golfers who are familiar with the course from last year,” Ray said. “This is the first time around for [freshman Steve] Ziegler, [freshman Sihwan] Kim and [sophomore Jordan] Cox, but the guys are hitting it well. The course is really straight forward, not a lot of tricks. We just have to play it smart and we should have a lot of opportunities this week.”

Stanford concluded five tournaments of the fall season with a pair of runner-up performances, two top-five finishes and one top-10 finish. Grube and Kim led the team in individual competition with four top-25 finishes for the fall.

The Cardinal scored a second place trophy in its last performance of 2007 at the CordeValle Collegiate tournament in November. Kim led the team throughout the tournament, pulling away in the third round with a three-under 69 to tie for top honors — it was his first collegiate individual victory. Kim leads the team in stroke average with a 71.6 and is ranked 20th nationally in that category.

With today’s action, the team will seek its first team victory of the season in a tough field of competition.

“We feel good going into the tournament,” Ray said. “The guys like competing and we had some good qualifiers to get here. We had a good break and are anxious to get the season started again.”