Saturday, February 3
Waikola, HI
All Day
Colorado
vs
Third Round
Spencer Painton shot a 31 on the back nine en route to a final round 67 to help pace the Buffaloes.
Photo by: Tony Harman
Golfers Finish 11th In UHH's Amer Ari Invitational
February 03, 2018 | Men's Golf
Three Buffs Close With Rounds In The 60s
WAIKOLOA, Hawai'i — The University of Colorado men's golf team, playing minus one of its best players due to illness for two-thirds of the tournament, finished a respectable 11th Saturday as the 27th annual Hawai'i-Hilo Amer Ari Invitational came to a close.
Top-ranked Oklahoma State ran away from the field, winning by 17 strokes in posting a 47-under par 817 team score. That bested No. 13 Texas Tech which held on to second place at 834, while No. 15 Southern California jumped from fifth into third at 837. No. 16 Texas was fourth (841) and No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 8 Auburn and No. 40 TCU all tied for fifth at 842.
Colorado, ranked No. 54, battled here despite being one man short the last 36 holes and finished 11th with an 11-under par 853 score. There were 10 teams participating here ranked in the nation's top 50, and all finished ahead of Colorado, but the Buffaloes rallied to hang in there and had three players post final round scores in the 60s, topped only by Oklahoma State with four (three schools had two).
The Buffaloes, shorthanded during the last two rounds after sophomore Daniel O'Loughlin had to withdraw due to the flu, recorded two of their top three rounds in the program's history here when having to play in a "4-score-4" format. That means all four participating players have their scores count toward the team score with no margin for error as in the standard "5-score-4" drill. CU had a 4-under 284 on Friday and bested that with a 6-under 282 in the final round.
Seniors Spencer Painton and Yannik Paul led the Buffalo attack, as each tied for 13th in finishing 54 holes at 8-under par on the 7,074-yard, par-72 Waikoloa King's Course layout.
Both started on the 7th hole; Painton shot 31 on the back nine and birdied seven of his first 12 holes. The only sour note of his day was ending with his only bogey on No. 6 as he finished with a 5-under 67 and under par in a tournament for the third time this season and for the fourth time in his career. He led the Buffs with 13 birdies to go with 36 pars, scoring worse than par just five times (all bogeys). He tamed the tough par-3 holes here, playing them collectively at 2-under (third-best in the field); in fact two of the toughest holes this week were the par-3 Nos. 3 and 7, which he played to even (one birdie, four pars, one bogey).
Paul would shoot a 3-under 69, but had to rally after opening 2-over par with two bogeys in his first six holes; he played the rest of the way at 5-under, including a run of three straight birdies on Nos. 16- through 18. He scored 37 pars here (ninth-most in the field), along with an eagle and 11 birdies, and like Painton, had just five bogeys on his other holes. Many of those birdies came on par-5 holes, which he played to 9-under this week, or fifth-best among all players. It also marked the third time season he was under par for an event, the 15th time his career he finished in red numbers.
Freshman Trevor Olkowski turned in his second subpar tournament of his young CU career, firing a 3-under 69 to close a 1-under 215, tying him for 41st. He led the Buffs here with 38 pars (tied for fourth-most in the 114-man field), with 13 in the final round to go with four birdies and one bogey.
Senior John Souza had his struggles on Saturday, ending with a 5-over 77 that gave him a 222 total (6-over) for the meet, tying him for 75th. He did score an eagle and a birdie to go with nine pars, but six bogeys and a double kept him on the higher side of par. Souza did have two eagles in a tournament for the second time this season, and tied for the most here with 10 other players.
Sophomore Victor Bjorlow competed here as an individual and had a fine showing, as he closed with an even-par 72 that kept him level for the meet (an even 216). He had three birdies and 13 pars Saturday, with a bogey and a double. He tied for 47th overall, but in sort of a "mini-tournament" within the tournament, he tied for fourth among the 24 players competing here as individuals not scoring for their teams. He played the par-5 holes at 8-under, tying for ninth-best.
"We're definitely pleased with how it went with one of our top guys basically sidelined the whole week," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "It was a really nice job today by Spencer, Yannik and Trevor; John had a tough day, but he was working really hard to help because he knew his score was going to count. He may have struggled, but his effort was great.
"Considering everything, I think this will be a great building block for us," he added. "On top of that, Victor had a really nice tournament as an individual as he came in not clicking on all cylinders in his game.
Top-ranked Oklahoma State ran away from the field, winning by 17 strokes in posting a 47-under par 817 team score. That bested No. 13 Texas Tech which held on to second place at 834, while No. 15 Southern California jumped from fifth into third at 837. No. 16 Texas was fourth (841) and No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 8 Auburn and No. 40 TCU all tied for fifth at 842.
Colorado, ranked No. 54, battled here despite being one man short the last 36 holes and finished 11th with an 11-under par 853 score. There were 10 teams participating here ranked in the nation's top 50, and all finished ahead of Colorado, but the Buffaloes rallied to hang in there and had three players post final round scores in the 60s, topped only by Oklahoma State with four (three schools had two).
The Buffaloes, shorthanded during the last two rounds after sophomore Daniel O'Loughlin had to withdraw due to the flu, recorded two of their top three rounds in the program's history here when having to play in a "4-score-4" format. That means all four participating players have their scores count toward the team score with no margin for error as in the standard "5-score-4" drill. CU had a 4-under 284 on Friday and bested that with a 6-under 282 in the final round.
Seniors Spencer Painton and Yannik Paul led the Buffalo attack, as each tied for 13th in finishing 54 holes at 8-under par on the 7,074-yard, par-72 Waikoloa King's Course layout.
Both started on the 7th hole; Painton shot 31 on the back nine and birdied seven of his first 12 holes. The only sour note of his day was ending with his only bogey on No. 6 as he finished with a 5-under 67 and under par in a tournament for the third time this season and for the fourth time in his career. He led the Buffs with 13 birdies to go with 36 pars, scoring worse than par just five times (all bogeys). He tamed the tough par-3 holes here, playing them collectively at 2-under (third-best in the field); in fact two of the toughest holes this week were the par-3 Nos. 3 and 7, which he played to even (one birdie, four pars, one bogey).
Paul would shoot a 3-under 69, but had to rally after opening 2-over par with two bogeys in his first six holes; he played the rest of the way at 5-under, including a run of three straight birdies on Nos. 16- through 18. He scored 37 pars here (ninth-most in the field), along with an eagle and 11 birdies, and like Painton, had just five bogeys on his other holes. Many of those birdies came on par-5 holes, which he played to 9-under this week, or fifth-best among all players. It also marked the third time season he was under par for an event, the 15th time his career he finished in red numbers.
Freshman Trevor Olkowski turned in his second subpar tournament of his young CU career, firing a 3-under 69 to close a 1-under 215, tying him for 41st. He led the Buffs here with 38 pars (tied for fourth-most in the 114-man field), with 13 in the final round to go with four birdies and one bogey.
Senior John Souza had his struggles on Saturday, ending with a 5-over 77 that gave him a 222 total (6-over) for the meet, tying him for 75th. He did score an eagle and a birdie to go with nine pars, but six bogeys and a double kept him on the higher side of par. Souza did have two eagles in a tournament for the second time this season, and tied for the most here with 10 other players.
Sophomore Victor Bjorlow competed here as an individual and had a fine showing, as he closed with an even-par 72 that kept him level for the meet (an even 216). He had three birdies and 13 pars Saturday, with a bogey and a double. He tied for 47th overall, but in sort of a "mini-tournament" within the tournament, he tied for fourth among the 24 players competing here as individuals not scoring for their teams. He played the par-5 holes at 8-under, tying for ninth-best.
"We're definitely pleased with how it went with one of our top guys basically sidelined the whole week," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "It was a really nice job today by Spencer, Yannik and Trevor; John had a tough day, but he was working really hard to help because he knew his score was going to count. He may have struggled, but his effort was great.
"Considering everything, I think this will be a great building block for us," he added. "On top of that, Victor had a really nice tournament as an individual as he came in not clicking on all cylinders in his game.
Southern California's Justin Suh earned medalist honors, finishing with a 4-under 68 for a 13-under 203 total; that was good for a one-stroke win over two Oklahoma State players, who had three in the top five.
"I really believe that this team has a chance to be a special team, we just need to keep believing in ourselves and working hard … keep tightening things up," Edwards said. "Most of the guys hadn't played competitively since the end of October, so it was a good to get a lot of work in his week outside of the tournament. And we need to continue to work on our course management because that's when we play our best."
The Buffaloes will return to action in two weeks, as they will travel to Palm Desert, Calif., to participate in the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate, Feb. 16-18.
NOTES: O'Loughlin entered as CU's stroke average leader (71.0); had he been healthy and conservatively scored 71 in each round, CU would have finished 12 strokes lower and in the top five … Even though CU had a player participating as an individual on the trip (Bjorlow), rules don't allow substitutions once play begins thus he could not sub for O'Loughlin … The average score in the field was 72.82 for 337 rounds (73.12 for the final round) … Forty-six players finished under par for the tournament with four others closing even … Colorado's scorers was 8-under on the back nine but 2-over on the front side in the final round … The four toughest holes here proved to be the 3rd and 7th (par-3s) and the 10th and 16th (par-4s); a positive sign for the Buffaloes is that the designated scorers handled them well, collectively finishing at 7-over (by comparison, Oklahoma State's scorers played them at 5-over) … The Buffs played the par-5 holes the sixth-best at 27-under … Painton wrestled the team stroke average lead away from O'Loughlin, as he now stands at 70.8; Paul is next (71.25), followed by O'Loughlin (71.31), Bjorlow (72.25), Olkowski (72.27) and Souza (72.6).
Colorado / Best 4-Scoring-4 Rounds In History
271 (-17) 2015 Air Force Invitational (2nd round: 67, 67, 68, 69)
282 (- 6) 2018 Amer Ari Invitational (3rd round: 67, 69, 69, 77)
284 (- 4) 2018 Amer Ari Invitational (2nd round: 68, 71, 72, 73)
277 (- 3) 2014 Wyoming Cowboy Classic (3rd round: 67, 68, 70, 72)
285 (+ 5) 2015 Stanford's "The Goodwin" (1st round: 65, 71, 74, 75)
294 (+ 6) 1995 Mauna Kea Invitational (2nd round: 70, 73, 75, 74)
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| T13. | Yannik Paul | 71-68-69—208 |
| T13. | Spencer Painton | 68-73-67—208 |
| T41. | Trevor Olkowski | 74-72-69—215 |
| T47. | *Victor Bjorlow | 73-71-72—216 |
| T75. | John Souza | 74-71-77—222 |
| 114. | Daniel O'Loughlin | 75-WD |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| 1. | Justin Suh, USC | 69-66-68—203 |
| T2. | Viktor Hovland, Oklahoma State | 72-67-65—204 |
| T2. | Matthew Wolff, Oklahoma State | 69-67-68—204 |
| T4. | Hayden Wood, Oklahoma State | 69-65-71—205 |
| T4. | Kaito Onishi, USC | 69-67-69—205 |
TEAM STANDINGS
| 1. | Oklahoma State | 280-267-270—817 |
| 2. | Texas Tech | 281-275-278—834 |
| 3. | Southern California | 282-276-279—837 |
| 4. | Texas | 279-283-279—841 |
| 5. | TCU | 281-282-279—842 |
| 5. | Auburn | 286-279-277—842 |
| 5. | Georgia Tech | 281-275-286—842 |
| 8. | Oregon | 287-275-284—846 |
| 9. | Arizona State | 289-279-280—848 |
| 10. | Stanford | 288-282-282—852 |
| 11. | COLORADO | 287-284-282—853 |
| 12. | UC-Davis | 283-289-295—867 |
| 12. | San Jose State | 282-289-296—867 |
| 14. | Osaka Gakuin | 296-286-289—871 |
| 15. | Oregon State | 302-287-287—876 |
| 16. | Pacific | 305-288-307—900 |
| 17. | Hawai'i-Hilo | 302-291-314—907 |
| 18. | Hawai'i | 308-311-302—921 |
Players Mentioned
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