In Hawaii, short-handed Stanford leads at Nanea Pac-12 Preview

At least for the first round of the Nanea Pac-12 Preview, top-ranked Stanford proved its whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Playing without Rose Zhang, the world's top-ranked female amateur and Rachel Heck, the world No. 3 and reigning NCAA individual champion, along with talented freshman Caroline Sturdza, the Cardinal still find itself in a familiar position on the leaderboard.

Behind a 3-under 70 from senior Aline Krauter, Stanford carded a 4-under 288 on Monday at the Nanea Golf Club and holds a two-stroke lead over USC, which finished at 1-under 290. Washington also finished in the red on day one at 1-under 291 while fifth-ranked Oregon is at even-par 292.

With three of its mainstays representing their countries at The Spirit International in Trinity, Texas, Stanford's team depth was on full display Monday on the Big Island. In addition to Krauter's 3-under round, the Cardinal also benefitted from Angelina Ye's event par 73 and Sadie Englemann's 1-over 74. Krauter is tied for third while Seay is also inside the top-10, tied for sixth.

Dating back to the final of the Molly Intercollegiate, Stanford has led the field in each of the last eight rounds over the span of four tournaments.

💪 start for the Cardinal at Nanea!#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/P0z9UMBJ8r

— Stanford Women's Golf (@StanfordWGolf) November 1, 2021

Katherine Muzi of USC holds the individual lead after the senior fired a career-best 5-under 68 on the par-73, 6,449-yard Nanea Golf Club layout. The Walnut, Calif. native flashed six birdies against just one bogey on her Monday card en route to a brilliant round of 68.

Danique Stokmans of Oregon State is one back at 4-under 69 while Muzi's teammate, Cindy Kou is in a three-way tie for third place after carding a 3-under 70.

Tuesday's second round will feature a shotgun start beginning at 7:30 a.m. HT/10:30 a.m. PT.