Sunday, September 11
Colorado Springs, Colo.
All Day
Colorado
vs
Third Round
Golfers Finish Third At Air Force Falcon Invitational
September 11, 2016 | Men's Golf
Freeman Accomplishes School First
USAFA, Colo. — The University of Colorado men's golf team flirted back-and-forth with the lead throughout the final round here Sunday of the 48th Annual Gene Miranda Air Force Falcon Invitational, but eventually finished third.
The Buffaloes entered the day tied for the lead with Texas-El Paso, but saw Nevada-Las Vegas overtake them and tie the Miners for first-place honors; both UTEP and UNLV finished with 1-under par 863 team scores. Colorado turned in a 4-over par final round score of 292 to finish at 865, which was 1-over. Colorado State (876) and Wyoming (882) rounded out the top five in the 1-team field.
Senior Ethan Freeman led the Buffaloes with a fifth place finish, turning in a final round even-par score on the 7,461-yard, par-72 Eisenhower Blue Golf Course layout; he had a 2-under 214 total and in the process, became the first player in school history to finish under par four times in the same tournament. As a freshman in 2013, he was 1-under, which he matched his sophomore year, and was 4-under last September. He has finished 10th, 16th, fifth and fifth in his four tries here.
Freeman led the entire field in par-5 scoring, playing the dozen combined at 8-under for the weekend; his 14 birdies led the team and tied for the third most of the 92 competitors here.
Junior Yannik Paul finished sixth, wrapping things up with a 1-over 73 but was under par overall at 215 (minus-1); he led the field in eagles with three, and as a result, was second in par-5 scoring behind Freeman playing those holes at 7-under.
Freshman Morten Toft Hansen tied for 10th in his first major collegiate tournament, as he finished with a 2-over 74 for a 2-over 218 scorecard for the weekend. He played the par-4 holes even on the weekend, tops by a Buff and fourth-best in the field. Hansen joined Freeman as the only Buffs who did not score worse than a bogey all weekend; Hansen had 12 birdies, 28 pars and 14 bogeys (Freeman had 28 pars and 12 bogeys in addition to his team-best birdie count).
Junior John Souza, playing as an individual and thus his score did not count toward CU's team total, gave the Buffs a fourth finisher in the top 20, as he had a final round 78 for a 222 total, tying him for 19th.
Senior Jeremy Paul and sophomore Spencer Painton tied for 30th (9-over 225s), and senior Ryan Schmitz tied for 73rd (81-77—158). Schmitz also played as an individual.
"It was frustrating to lose today," said CU head coach Roy Edwards. "I was proud of how we competed, but disappointed in the results. We were right there the entire time, we just made a few uncharacteristic mistakes late. But I did see a lot of positives out there over the last two days."
Colorado's five designated scorers did not have a birdie over the last four holes, closing with eight bogeys, two doubles and a triple; the four that counted toward the team score were a collective 9-over. UTEP and UNLV finished just a little bit better to keep the Buffs at an arms-length.
"This is a very competitive team, so we will learn from this,' Edwards added. "I'm confident that we'll get better. They get ticked off when they don't play well."
UNLV's John Oda used a final round 69 to pull away from the field, finishing with a 10-under 206; UTEP's Andreas Sorenson had been tied with him after 36 holes but couldn't match Oda's effort and was three back at 209.
The Buffaloes will return to action in two weeks, traveling down Interstate 25 to Albuquerque to take part in the New Mexico Tucker Invitational on Sept. 23-24.
NOTES: The average score over the 54 holes (276 total rounds) was 76.1; lower scores were hard to come by all weekend, and actually were a little more common on Sunday, as 12 players broke par (five in the 60s) and six matched it … The scores were higher than normal this year due to cool-to-chilly temperatures on Saturday and southeasterly winds both days that make Eisenhower tougher to play under those conditions … The Buffaloes had command of the par-5 holes here, playing them 26-under par, but were 18-over on the par-3s and plus-25 on the par-4s.
The Buffaloes entered the day tied for the lead with Texas-El Paso, but saw Nevada-Las Vegas overtake them and tie the Miners for first-place honors; both UTEP and UNLV finished with 1-under par 863 team scores. Colorado turned in a 4-over par final round score of 292 to finish at 865, which was 1-over. Colorado State (876) and Wyoming (882) rounded out the top five in the 1-team field.
Senior Ethan Freeman led the Buffaloes with a fifth place finish, turning in a final round even-par score on the 7,461-yard, par-72 Eisenhower Blue Golf Course layout; he had a 2-under 214 total and in the process, became the first player in school history to finish under par four times in the same tournament. As a freshman in 2013, he was 1-under, which he matched his sophomore year, and was 4-under last September. He has finished 10th, 16th, fifth and fifth in his four tries here.
Freeman led the entire field in par-5 scoring, playing the dozen combined at 8-under for the weekend; his 14 birdies led the team and tied for the third most of the 92 competitors here.
Junior Yannik Paul finished sixth, wrapping things up with a 1-over 73 but was under par overall at 215 (minus-1); he led the field in eagles with three, and as a result, was second in par-5 scoring behind Freeman playing those holes at 7-under.
Freshman Morten Toft Hansen tied for 10th in his first major collegiate tournament, as he finished with a 2-over 74 for a 2-over 218 scorecard for the weekend. He played the par-4 holes even on the weekend, tops by a Buff and fourth-best in the field. Hansen joined Freeman as the only Buffs who did not score worse than a bogey all weekend; Hansen had 12 birdies, 28 pars and 14 bogeys (Freeman had 28 pars and 12 bogeys in addition to his team-best birdie count).
Junior John Souza, playing as an individual and thus his score did not count toward CU's team total, gave the Buffs a fourth finisher in the top 20, as he had a final round 78 for a 222 total, tying him for 19th.
Senior Jeremy Paul and sophomore Spencer Painton tied for 30th (9-over 225s), and senior Ryan Schmitz tied for 73rd (81-77—158). Schmitz also played as an individual.
"It was frustrating to lose today," said CU head coach Roy Edwards. "I was proud of how we competed, but disappointed in the results. We were right there the entire time, we just made a few uncharacteristic mistakes late. But I did see a lot of positives out there over the last two days."
Colorado's five designated scorers did not have a birdie over the last four holes, closing with eight bogeys, two doubles and a triple; the four that counted toward the team score were a collective 9-over. UTEP and UNLV finished just a little bit better to keep the Buffs at an arms-length.
"This is a very competitive team, so we will learn from this,' Edwards added. "I'm confident that we'll get better. They get ticked off when they don't play well."
UNLV's John Oda used a final round 69 to pull away from the field, finishing with a 10-under 206; UTEP's Andreas Sorenson had been tied with him after 36 holes but couldn't match Oda's effort and was three back at 209.
The Buffaloes will return to action in two weeks, traveling down Interstate 25 to Albuquerque to take part in the New Mexico Tucker Invitational on Sept. 23-24.
NOTES: The average score over the 54 holes (276 total rounds) was 76.1; lower scores were hard to come by all weekend, and actually were a little more common on Sunday, as 12 players broke par (five in the 60s) and six matched it … The scores were higher than normal this year due to cool-to-chilly temperatures on Saturday and southeasterly winds both days that make Eisenhower tougher to play under those conditions … The Buffaloes had command of the par-5 holes here, playing them 26-under par, but were 18-over on the par-3s and plus-25 on the par-4s.
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| 5. | Ethan Freeman | 69-73-72—214 |
| 6. | Yannik Paul | 70-72-73—215 |
| T10. | Morten Toft Hansen | 74-70-74—218 |
| T19. | *John Souza | 74-70-78—222 |
| T30. | Spencer Painton | 71-74-80—225 |
| T30. | Jeremy Paul | 74-78-73—225 |
| T81. | *Ryan Schmitz | 81-77-80—238 |
| *--played as an individual |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| 1. | John Oda, UNLV | 70-67-69—206 |
| 2. | Andreas Sorenson, UTEP | 68-69-72—209 |
| 3. | Shintaro Ban, UNLV | 69-70-71—210 |
| 4. | Jake Staiano, Colorado State | 71-69-72—212 |
| 5. | Ethan Freeman | 69-73-72—214 |
| TEAM STANDINGS |
| 1. | Texas El-Paso | 286-287-290—863 |
| 1. | UNLV | 296-283-284—863 |
| 3. | COLORADO | 284-289-292—865 |
| 4. | Colorado State | 298-290-288—876 |
| 5. | Wyoming | 300-296-286—882 |
| 6. | Utah State | 303-303-291—897 |
| 7. | Boise State | 299-304-297—900 |
| 8. | Northern Colorado | 308-297-298—903 |
| 9. | Missouri-Kansas City | 306-295-304—905 |
| 10. | Air Force | 301-307-303—911 |
| 11. | New Mexico State | 307-294-312—913 |
| 12. | Weber State | 313-306-295—914 |
| 13. | Southern Utah | 305-311-307—923 |
| 14. | William & Mary | 318-302-305—925 |
| 15. | Abilene Christian | 312-307-310—929 |
Players Mentioned
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