Colorado University Athletics
The 2017-18 Buffaloes qualified for a sixth straight NCAA appearance.
Photo by: Chip Bromfield, ProMotion Ltd.
Golfers Earn Sixth Straight Regional Invite
May 02, 2018 | Men's Golf
Buffaloes A 7 Seed, Head to NCAA West/Stockton Site
BOULDER — The University of Colorado men's golf team was invited to the NCAA Championships for the sixth straight season Thursday, as the Buffaloes will participate in the West Regional which begins Monday, May 14, in Stockton, Calif.
Colorado, ranked No. 42 in the nation (GolfStat; No. 44 Golfweek) is the No. 7 seed in the regional, its second-highest after securing a No. 6 seed last year since the regionals went to six sites in 2009. The six straight years is the second-most in CU history, trailing only a seven year span (1989-95).
"We are very excited to be headed to California for the NCAA Regional at Stockton," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "It was the region we were hoping to go to. You're excited that you make it, because it's not always easy to make the field, but that is where we wanted to go if we had to choose. We don't know much about the course, so we'll gather information in the coming days."
This is the 21st time that Colorado or one of its players will compete in regional play, but just the third time west of the Central Time Zone. CU competed in Daly City west of San Francisco in 2009, and Edwards escorted an individual the following year.
LSU, ranked sixth nationally, is the top seed in the West Regional, followed by No. 7 Alabama, No. 18 Stanford, No. 19 Southern California, No. 30 Oregon, No. 31 TCU, No. 42 Colorado, No. 43 Kansas, No. 54 Kennesaw State, No. 55 Iowa State, No. 94 UNC-Greensboro, No. 135 UC Irvine and No. 193 North Dakota State; the latter three teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference championships. The 13-team field will compete at The Reserve at Spanos Park, a 7,239-yard, par-72 links-style layout that features rye grass fairways and A-4 Bent greens that opened in 1999.
The Buffs have lined up this year 14 times against teams in the West Regional, going 7-7, but own a 27-16-2 mark in individual rounds. CU has been in tournaments with Stanford (1-2), USC (1-2), Oregon (1-2), TCU (1-1), Kansas (2-0) and UC Irvine (1-0), but only Stanford holds an edge in individual rounds, and its slim at that (4-5-1). On the season, CU is 127-51-5 against Division I competition, the 70.8 winning percentage at present in line to be the best in team history.
Edwards has finalized his squad for the regional, and will bring three seniors, Spencer Painton, Yannik Paul and John Souza and two sophomores, Ross Macdonald and Daniel O'Loughlin. All competed in the Pac-12's, where Macdonald and Paul tied for second, with Souza tying for 16th, O'Loughlin for 27th and Painton for 55th.
Paul leads the team in stroke average with a 70.19 figure, which is also good for fourth in the Pac-12; he is currently competing in British Columbia in the Canadian McKenzie Tour Qualifying, where at the midway point he is tied for fourth with a 9-under 135 total after carding a 64 Wednesday. O'Loughlin is next at 71.59, followed by Painton (71.76), Macdonald (72.19) and Souza (72.59). In the coming weeks, three Buffaloes will compete in U.S. Open Qualifying: freshmen Trevor Olkowski at the Walnut Creek Golf Preserve (Westminster) on Monday; Macdonald next Wednesday at CommonGround Golf Club (Aurora), and frosh Cole Krantz at Collindale GC (Fort Collins) on May 15.
Ten individuals from schools that did not advance as a team will also compete in Stockton, thus 75 total players will be in the field. Nationally, 81 teams and 45 individuals qualified for the postseason, with all 14 teams from the SEC leading the way, followed by the ACC and Big 12 with nine, the Pac-12 with eight and the Big 10 and Mountain West with four; schools must have a .500 record or better to qualify for the postseason.
There are six regional sites and those competing will play 54 holes with the top five teams and top individual who is not a member of those squads earning the right to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals. Those are scheduled for May 25-30 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. (Oklahoma State is serving as the host institution).
"It's a team that really played well this spring, we has some high level head-to-head wins over good teams," Edwards noted. "It's one of our winningest teams ever and as result, this team is primed to compete for a regional title. We have a confident group of players who care deeply about one another."
The teams will play a practice round on Sunday, May 13, and the regional will begin at 8:30 a.m. mountain time on all three competition days. The Buffaloes will be paired with Kansas and Kennesaw State and will start on the No. 1 for the first round at 9:25.
Colorado, ranked No. 42 in the nation (GolfStat; No. 44 Golfweek) is the No. 7 seed in the regional, its second-highest after securing a No. 6 seed last year since the regionals went to six sites in 2009. The six straight years is the second-most in CU history, trailing only a seven year span (1989-95).
"We are very excited to be headed to California for the NCAA Regional at Stockton," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "It was the region we were hoping to go to. You're excited that you make it, because it's not always easy to make the field, but that is where we wanted to go if we had to choose. We don't know much about the course, so we'll gather information in the coming days."
This is the 21st time that Colorado or one of its players will compete in regional play, but just the third time west of the Central Time Zone. CU competed in Daly City west of San Francisco in 2009, and Edwards escorted an individual the following year.
LSU, ranked sixth nationally, is the top seed in the West Regional, followed by No. 7 Alabama, No. 18 Stanford, No. 19 Southern California, No. 30 Oregon, No. 31 TCU, No. 42 Colorado, No. 43 Kansas, No. 54 Kennesaw State, No. 55 Iowa State, No. 94 UNC-Greensboro, No. 135 UC Irvine and No. 193 North Dakota State; the latter three teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference championships. The 13-team field will compete at The Reserve at Spanos Park, a 7,239-yard, par-72 links-style layout that features rye grass fairways and A-4 Bent greens that opened in 1999.
The Buffs have lined up this year 14 times against teams in the West Regional, going 7-7, but own a 27-16-2 mark in individual rounds. CU has been in tournaments with Stanford (1-2), USC (1-2), Oregon (1-2), TCU (1-1), Kansas (2-0) and UC Irvine (1-0), but only Stanford holds an edge in individual rounds, and its slim at that (4-5-1). On the season, CU is 127-51-5 against Division I competition, the 70.8 winning percentage at present in line to be the best in team history.
Edwards has finalized his squad for the regional, and will bring three seniors, Spencer Painton, Yannik Paul and John Souza and two sophomores, Ross Macdonald and Daniel O'Loughlin. All competed in the Pac-12's, where Macdonald and Paul tied for second, with Souza tying for 16th, O'Loughlin for 27th and Painton for 55th.
Paul leads the team in stroke average with a 70.19 figure, which is also good for fourth in the Pac-12; he is currently competing in British Columbia in the Canadian McKenzie Tour Qualifying, where at the midway point he is tied for fourth with a 9-under 135 total after carding a 64 Wednesday. O'Loughlin is next at 71.59, followed by Painton (71.76), Macdonald (72.19) and Souza (72.59). In the coming weeks, three Buffaloes will compete in U.S. Open Qualifying: freshmen Trevor Olkowski at the Walnut Creek Golf Preserve (Westminster) on Monday; Macdonald next Wednesday at CommonGround Golf Club (Aurora), and frosh Cole Krantz at Collindale GC (Fort Collins) on May 15.
Ten individuals from schools that did not advance as a team will also compete in Stockton, thus 75 total players will be in the field. Nationally, 81 teams and 45 individuals qualified for the postseason, with all 14 teams from the SEC leading the way, followed by the ACC and Big 12 with nine, the Pac-12 with eight and the Big 10 and Mountain West with four; schools must have a .500 record or better to qualify for the postseason.
There are six regional sites and those competing will play 54 holes with the top five teams and top individual who is not a member of those squads earning the right to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals. Those are scheduled for May 25-30 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. (Oklahoma State is serving as the host institution).
"It's a team that really played well this spring, we has some high level head-to-head wins over good teams," Edwards noted. "It's one of our winningest teams ever and as result, this team is primed to compete for a regional title. We have a confident group of players who care deeply about one another."
The teams will play a practice round on Sunday, May 13, and the regional will begin at 8:30 a.m. mountain time on all three competition days. The Buffaloes will be paired with Kansas and Kennesaw State and will start on the No. 1 for the first round at 9:25.
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