Oct. 23, 2012

STANFORD, Calif. - Freshman Mariah Stackhouse tied for ninth at the Stanford Intercollegiate, her second top-10 finish in three career starts. Stackhouse, five-over at the turn on Sunday, played the final back nine three-under, sinking a long putt on 18 to give the Cardinal sole possession of third place by one stroke.

What was it like playing your first career home event?

"It was a lot of fun playing here. I've played this course so many times over the past two months and I was really relaxed going into the tournament. I know this course and knew I could play well, and it was nice to have so many fans out to support Stanford women's golf. It was a lot of fun."

What effect did having your mom in attendance have on you?

"I missed my mom a lot when we were in Washington last week. In my experience before coming to Stanford, either my mom or dad would be at all my competitions; I never went to a tournament by myself. It was nice to have her out there, and have someone to watch me and support me over the weekend. It's comforting to know there's someone there for you, whether you play well or not."

What changed on the back nine on Sunday?

"I had an interesting front nine and I was just a little off. My goal for the tournament was to be even or under par for the weekend, and at the turn I was five-over and I didn't want to finish like that. The whole team wanted to be low this week, which we had done in qualifying, and I knew I would have some opportunities to make some birdies on the back nine. When I was walking up to the 18th green, I knew I had given myself a chance to make birdie, and I looked around and saw my team and a huge crowd waiting to finish and I really wanted to make that putt. Everybody loves to cheer for a good putt on 18, and that's what I wanted, a dramatic finish. I took a lot of time for that putt and was able to drain it, and that was awesome."

"This season, we've really focused on lowering our scoring average and we want to get to the point where we know our four rounds that count are going to be good. The team did a great job of coming together and we're all learning to trust one another. We've been working really hard together, and we all want to play well for each other and for the good of the team, and that's shown in these last couple of tournaments."

With your early success, have your goals changed for the rest of season?

"I'm going to work on lowering that scoring average, and that will help keep me close to the top-10 in the spring. The fields will become more competitive as the season goes on, and top-10's are still my goal throughout the season. I'm going to look into what scores place in the top-three, top-five in every event and prepare myself mentally and physically to the level that I can contend for a win at some point, that's the next step."