Colorado University Athletics
Golfers Tie For Sixth At Big 12 Meet
April 29, 2003 | Men's Golf
By David Plati
Assistant AD/Media Relations
TULSA, Okla. - The University of Colorado men's golf team posted the third best score in the final round here Tuesday, as the Buffaloes rallied to tie for sixth place as the 7th Annual Big 12 Conference Championships came to a close.
No. 3 Texas won its second Big 12 title, as the Longhorns finished with an 894 team score; UT was the only school to break 300 in two of the three rounds, but were more over par for this meet (+54), then it had been for the entire year. The site of the 2001 U.S. Open, Southern Hills Country Club, took its toll on all 12 teams here.
No. 7 Oklahoma nabbed second place, rallying past rival Oklahoma on the last two holes. OSU finished four strokes back at 898, edging the No. 22 Sooners by a single shot for runner-up honors. Colorado, which turned in a 304 score in the final round, tied for sixth with Kansas State at 927; only Texas (297) and OSU (301) put up a better final round number than the Buffaloes.
CU was tied for seventh after the first round and held eighth place entering the final 18 holes. All five teams ahead of Colorado and K-State were from the Big 12 South Division.
Senior captain Stephen Carroll rose to the occasion for his final Big 12 championship round, as he scored an even-par 70, which enabled him to tie for 10th individually with a 17-over 227 total. It was the fourth lowest final round score by a Buff golfer in the seven Big 12 title meets, not to mention tying for the fourth lowest since 1967, which includes the last 30 Big Eight Conference championship events.
His final round 70 was easily the second best score of the day, as only the nation's No. 2 golfer, Hunter Mahan, was the only golfer in the field of 60 to break par. Mahan, who played as an amateur earlier this month in The Masters, opened with a 73 but followed that with rounds of 67 and 68 for a 2-under 208 total, which was good for a league record 13-stroke victory in claiming medalist honors. Texas' Jason Hartwick was a distant second with a 221 score.
The third best scores put up Tuesday were a trio of 73s, and then otherwise a pair of 74s. For the tournament, Mahan had the lone two scores in the 60s, while Carroll was joined by J.J. Wall of Texas as the only ones to score an even-par round. There was a single 71, with just four scores of 72; there were 10 3-over 73s and 12 4-over 74s, meaning that 149 of the 180 rounds played in this year's meet were 5-over par (75) or higher (83 percent).
Carroll played in three Big 12 Championships in his career, with this year's finish topping his previous best, a tie for 11th as a freshman in 2000. He placed 29th last year at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kan., but his 10th place effort this time around finally earned him All-Big 12 Tournament honors.
"I was trying to be really patient yesterday, and nothing good happened for me," Carroll said. "So I just knew that good things had to happen today if I approached things the same way.
"You have to play a course like this very defensively," he added. "There were several putts I had that I couldn't be aggressive with, several I knew I'd have to take a two-putt from 10 feet. It's easy here to take an 8-footer and leave yourself with a 10-footer coming back, so you just have to grind it out. I know, I three-putted from 12 feet on the last hole yesterday. You had to really discipline yourself, pay attention on every shot. There wasn't much you could get away with."
"I'm pleased and proud of the guys," CU head coach Mark Simpson said. "That was an outstanding round by Steve. The conditions were tougher today than they were yesterday from a pin placement standpoint, so for Steve to basically match the final round effort of one of the best collegiate golfers in the country really says something. We needed him to produce big today, like you would expect your leader to, and he did just that."
"The rest of the guys really hung in there," Simpson continued. "We lost a couple of shots coming home, but nothing like what happened to most teams. Jeff (Hanson) got off to a bad start and never recovered, but the good thing was we accomplished every single goal we set (Monday night) for the final round. I gave them an acronym called DCQ, meaning a 'disciplined, calm and quiet' mind. It takes real fortitude to do that for 54 holes on this golf course, and I really felt like we accomplished that. So we met our process goal as well as our outcome goal."
Simpson took three true freshmen to the league championship for the first time in his nearly three-decade career, and for the most part was pleased with their efforts. CU's second and third best finishes here were posted by freshmen, as Edward McGlasson tied for 19th with a 232 score, firing a 75 in the final round, with Blake Moore carding a 79 for a 237 total to finish in a tie for 36th. McGlasson's 19th place finish was the third highest by a CU frosh in Big 12 play (dating back to 1997), and was the seventh best ever by a Buff freshman in a league championship meet.
Hanson, a junior, was the only CU player to not record a round in the 80s Monday on the 6,988-yard, par-70 Southern Hills Country Club course, but struggled Tuesday to an 84 and a 241 total, tying for 47th. CU's other freshman, Derek O'Neill, closed with an 80 for a 244 score, placing 55th.
Simpson stated goals after the first 36 holes was to earn a first division finish and defeat four schools hotly contesting an NCAA berth with the Buffaloes. All were met, as the Buffs earned their fifth first division finish in seven Big 12 meets, a number topped only by perennial top 10 powers Oklahoma State and Texas. Colorado came into the Big 12's needing and getting key wins over district rivals Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, and the Buffs are now 8-6-2 combined against those teams, including an 8-3 mark in the spring.
"I still feel we're on the bubble for the NCAA Championships," Simpson said. "We definitely improved our position, but we still have a few things against us. The committee uses several things as considerations, but it comes down to a combination of the facts, head-to-head competition, strength of schedule, how you're playing this time of year, and how the committee basically feels about your team. We have some good wins over non-league teams, like defeating Illinois in Puerto Rico and UCLA (the Pac-10 champion) in Tempe, and have shown improvement throughout the year."
The selections for the three NCAA regionals (East, Central, West) will be announced on May 5. Colorado's final regular season tournament is at the end of next week, when the Buffs play in The Maxwell in Ardmore, Okla., but that will be five days after the invitations are issued for the NCAA Championships.
"I'm just hoping that meet will be a tune-up for the NCAA's and not goodbye for the year," Simpson concluded.
Buffalo Individuals
T10. Stephen Carroll.... 76-81-70--227 T19. Edward McGlasson... 76-81-75--232 T36. Blake Moore........ 81-77-79--237 T44. Jeff Hanson........ 79-77-84--240 55. Derek O'Neill...... 88-76-80--244
Team Scores
1. Texas............ 296-301-297--894
2. Oklahoma State... 303-294-301--898
3. Oklahoma......... 302-293-304--899
4. Texas A&M........ 312-299-307--918
5. Texas Tech....... 312-300-311--923
6. COLORADO......... 312-311-304--927
6. Kansas State..... 305-302-320--927
8. Kansas........... 316-304-309--929
9. Baylor........... 310-317-316--943
10. Missouri......... 318-306-320--944
11. Nebraska......... 311-314-320--945
12. Iowa State....... 312-319-317--948
