Colorado University Athletics
Players Mentioned
McGlasson Heads To NCAA Central Regional
May 16, 2005 | Men's Golf
BOULDER - University of Colorado junior Edward McGlasson maybe the school's lone participant in this week's NCAA Central Regional, but he's going to a place that has been pretty friendly to him to date.
Three regionals this Thursday through Saturday kickoff the 108th NCAA Golf Championships, and this is just the fifth time in the 17 years of regional play that the Buffaloes did not qualify as a team. However, this will be the second time that CU did have an individual selected in those years the team did not advance as two years ago, senior Stephen Carroll qualified and performed admirably, tying for 20th with a 1-under par effort.
Carroll did not advance to the NCAA Finals as only the top two finishers on teams not moving on also make the grade. The top 10 teams out of 27 competing in the Central Regional will advance to the NCAA Finals, set for June 1-4 in Cave Creek, Md. But McGlasson has a lot of familiarity with the course and has played it well in the past.
He first saw the Warren Golf Course last summer, where he shot a pair of 73s to finish as the third alternate in the U.S. Amateur Qualifying. Two months later, in the NCAA Central Regional Preview, he tied for 12th with a 220 total. The first round was played across the Indiana border in Michigan, but the last two rounds were back in South Bend, where he shot 78 before equaling par in the final round with a 70.
Because of that success, he has designs on being one of those two select individuals hoping to earn a trip to Maryland.
"My last round, that 70, I felt was a pretty good score," McGlasson said. "So I have a little bit of confidence, and it's nice going into a tournament knowing what to expect from the golf course. I think playing it so many times within the last 10 months can really help me."
Head coach Mark Simpson will not accompany McGlasson on the trip; Simpson was declared cancer-free after a five-month battle with lung cancer on April 12, but developed a blood clot in his left leg and underwent treatment last week and is not yet able to travel. Assistant coach Brad Neher was unable to attend as he is running two camps, so longtime SID (and golf SID) David Plati is chaperoning McGlasson to the regional.
"Edward set a goal at the start of the season of becoming an All- American, so he still has an opportunity to do that if he can advance to the finals. I think he can get that done," Simpson said. "He's learned a lot this year, and his overall golf game is definitely in good shape. It depends if he can get his short game going and get the putter going. If he can, there is no reason in my mind that he can't he reach his goal. He's familiar with the course, and he knows it fairly intimately from several previous rounds there. So if he can get a round or two under par, I believe he can make it the finals next month."
McGlasson leads the team in stroke average at 73.23, and has started to etch his name in CU's record book. In the spring's first tournament, the PING-Arizona Intercollegiate, he set a school record for a low round with an 8-under 63. That followed a 79 in the first round of the meet to give him the fourth best comeback from one round to the next in school annals (he already owned one of the top three), and in CU's next meet, the Taylor Made/Waikoloa Intercollegiate, he scored the eighth hole-in-one in competition by a Buff. His 73.93 career average (103 rounds) is also eighth best all-time at Colorado.
The last, and only, Buffalo to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals out of the regional play was Bobby Kalinowski in 1993. CU qualified as a team that year for the regionals in Columbus but finished 18th; Kalinowski, a junior that season, tied for ninth individually and earned one of the two coveted spots for individuals not from advancing teams.
The University of Notre Dame's Warren Course is fairly new, opening in 1999, and will play to 7,011 yards and par-70 for the regional.
McGlasson will tee off at 1:03 p.m. (EST) on Thursday off No. 10 and at 9:00 a.m. Friday on No. 1; he will be paired with Patrick Sullivan (Arkansas-Little Rock) and Scott Anderson (Ohio State). The field will paired according to second round results for Saturday's final round.