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GOLFERS END UP NINTH IN PARADISE
February 20, 2004 | Men's Golf
HONOLULU, Hawai'i ? The University of Colorado men's golf team slipped three spots into a ninth place finish but still recorded one of its best tournament scores ever as the John Burns Intercollegiate came to a close here Friday.
No. 28 Arizona rallied to defeat No. 10 UNLV and No. 17 New Mexico, as the Wildcats scored the second best team round of the day with a 12-under par 276 to win with an 833 team score, a blistering 31-under. UNLV was four back at 837, and New Mexico, the first and second round leader, dropped to third at 840. The Buffaloes shot an even-par 288 to finish with an 854 total, still 10-under par overall as CU tied for ninth overall with in-state rival Denver.
Senior captain Kane Webber recorded a third consecutive 70 for a 210 total, his 6-under effort tying for 13th place in posting the Buffs' second-best 54-hole score in 2003-04. And he did it without ever taking by storm the 6,917-yard, par-72 Leilehua Golf Course layout.
Webber now has nine subpar rounds out of 18 this season, with another four at even-par, bolstering his quest to become CU's first first-team All-American since 1968 when Bill Musselman earned those accolades. Webber owns a 71.38 stroke average for the year and is position to rewrite several school records.
Sophomore Kenny Coakley saw his streak of four straight subpar rounds come to an end, as he record a final round 73 for a 212 score to tie for 22nd. Senior Jeff Hanson shot a 74 to finish even at 216, tying for 48th, while sophomores Edward McGlasson (73) and Blake Moore (72) both finished with 5-over 221 totals.
New Mexico's Spencer Levin held on to win medalist honors, as he shot a 69 Friday for a 15-under 201 total, edging Colorado State's Nolan Martin by one stroke. Martin had the best round of the day and tied for low honors in the meet with a blazing 64.
“When you get it under par as a team, you have to have two guys really get it going,” CU head coach Mark Simpson said after the final round, one he had designs on his Buffaloes scoring a double-digit under par round needed to compete for the title. “Kane had it together for a while, but no one else really got it going. In fact, we really lost things early and had to fight to get it back to even par for the round.
“But we shot 10-under for the tournament, and any time you're under par as a team on any golf course is a pretty good effort,” he added. “We obviously need to improve on some things, but we're where we need to be right now to be competitive with the top teams in the country by the end of the year. I'm confident of that because while Kane is managing to score well, he's not playing anywhere near his best golf right now. And the rest of the guys are going to follow his lead.”
CU's effort did tie for the third best 54-hole tournament in school history, matching last fall's 10-under effort in Stanford's “The Nelson.” The top two low scoring meets for Colorado were both 15-under affairs, in the 1981 BYU Cougar Classic by a team featuring Steve Jones, Terry Kahl and Rick Cramer, and in the 2001 Prestige At Palm Desert.
This was Simpson's 400th event that he presided over in his 28 years as head coach of the Buffaloes, but he took it in stride. “No major differences, really, other than it was nice to be under par. The spring's going to be fun, we've got players who like to compete, and so it'll be an enjoyable spring. They want to work hard, they want to win, and those are the kind of teams you love to coach. So I guess I'm looking forward to number 401.”
The Buffs are off for the next two weeks before resuming action in the Louisiana Classics, set for March 8-9 in Lafayette, La.
Buffalo Individuals
T13. Kane Webber........... 70-70-70--210
T22. Kenny Coakley......... 69-70-73--212
T48. Jeff Hanson........... 75-67-74--216
T68. Edward McGlasson...... 72-76-73--221
T68. Blake Moore........... 76-73-72--221
Team Scores
1. Arizona............. 285-272-276--833
2. UNLV................ 280-276-281--837
3. New Mexico.......... 276-279-285--840
4. California.......... 284-278-281--843
5. Brigham Young....... 279-288-281--848
6. Texas A & M......... 283-280-286--849
6. Colorado State...... 282-290-277--849
8. SMU................. 281-286-283--850
9. COLORADO............ 286-280-288--854
9. Denver.............. 285-286-283--854
11. San Diego State..... 283-287-286--856
12. Hawaii-Hilo......... 294-292-274--860
13. San Jose State...... 282-292-291--865
14. Pacific............. 293-283-292--868
15. Texas-El Paso....... 285-293-291--869
15. UC-Santa Barbara.... 289-292-288--869
17. Hawai'i............. 297-296-285--878
18. Utah................ 278-304-297--879
19. Nagoya Univ. ....... 294-303-295--892
20. San Francisco....... 294-299-303--896
Players Mentioned
