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Golfers Finish 20th At NCAA Central Regional
May 19, 2007 | Men's Golf
The Buffs finished 22 strokes behind the 10th and final qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships Finals.
No. 21 Tulsa hung on to its second round lead and earned the team victory, as the Golden Hurricane won with an 895 team score. No. 3 Alabama finished three strokes back at 898, with first round leader and No. 23 Louisville third at 899; no other team broke 900, though No. 7 Lamar equaled it in finishing fourth.
Tennessee, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Michigan State, Texas and Minnesota join the aforementioned four in advancing, with the Gophers defeating Texas A&M on the first playoff hole to break a tie for 10th place.
When the Buffs started play Saturday, the 15 teams in the morning round were finished and CU was “technically” in eighth place. The problem was the winds that plagued the tournament Thursday but had subsided Friday returned and none of the 15 shot better than 12-over par. So the chore was gigantic for the Buffaloes and the other 11 teams playing in the afternoon, none of which cracked the top 10 when all was said and done. No team in the field shot under 300 in the final round.
“It was another tough day for us,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said, “Although there were some positives for us. We beat several conference rivals so we can take something from out of that. But we just never got on any kind of roll, we seemed like we always had a big number at the wrong time in each round that kind of prevented us from being in there at the end. We still have to learn to make better decisions and have more confidence in ourselves. It was right there for us, we just didn't make it happen this time.”
Junior Patrick Grady paced the Buffaloes here, much as he did last September when he tied for third in the Rich Harvest Farms Invitational. He closed with a second straight 5-over 77 for a 230 total, as he tied for 44th overall. He had a 224 last fall, a score that would have tied for 14th this time around. The top two individuals from teams that did not qualify also earned berths in the finals, but Grady was down the line as the 17th player on that list. It was the fourth time in 13 tournaments this season Grady posted the best score for the Buffs.
Freshman Luke Symons shot Colorado's best round of the day, as he played steady the entire round en route to a 4-over 76. He had a team-best four birdies, three on the front side when he made the turn at just 1-over. He finished up with a 232 total, tying him for 53rd, the third best finish by a CU freshman in an NCAA championship event; that was topped only by Knut Ekjord, who tied for 14th in the 1995 Central Regional in
“I'm awful proud of the way he played overall,” Edwards said of his true freshman. “He had a couple of big numbers a time or two that could have derailed him, but he didn't let those get to him and managed to post some decent scores. He's going to be big player for us over the next thee years, so it was good to him play the way he did and that will give him some confidence as well.”
Sophomore Derek Tolan had sort of a rollercoaster ride en route to his final round 84, which gave him a 240 total for 54 holes, tying him for 100th. He had opened with two double bogeys and had four in his first seven holes, sandwiched around a birdie on No. 4 ands pars on Nos. 3 and 5. The back was no different, as he had three bogeys, two doubles and a birdie and shot 42 on both nines.
Senior Blake Moore concluded his
CU's No. 1 man, junior Michael Baird, really had his struggles here, as he closed with a season-high 85 for a 246 total, which tied him for 121st. His never got untracked as he had just two pars and a birdie his first 10 holes and six bogeys, two doubles and two triples on the day. He did close on a good note, as after he scored a triple bogey on the par-5 No. 16 hole, he came right back with back-to-back birdies to finish his round on the 7,214-yard, par-72 Rich Harvest Farms Golf Club course. Baird, who recorded CU's best meet performance five times this year, finished with the Buffs' highest total for the first time all season.
No. 1 ranked
In the West Regional in
And showing the difference in the courses, while none of the 27 teams in the Central shot better than 300 Saturday, 26 of the 27 did in the West with 16 doing so in the East.
The top NCAA Championship Finals are set for May 30-June 2 in
IRISH OPEN?Former CU golfer Matthew Zions shot an 80 Saturday to drop down into 68th place after three rounds of the Irish Open at Adare Manor Golf Club in Limerick, Ireland. Zions was tied for ninth after a first round 71 and then slipped to 45th after scoring an 80 in the second round. Padraig Harrington remained in the lead, as he shot a 71 for a three round total of 212 (4-under); Zions is 13-over entering Sunday's final round.
T44. Patrick Grady.............................. 76-77-77?230
T53. Luke Symons.............................. 79-77-76?232
T100. Derek Tolan................................. 77-79-84?240
T105. Blake Moore................................ 83-80-78?241
T121. Michael Baird.............................. 84-77-85?246
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
1. Dawie Van Der Walt, Lamar............... 71-69-75?215
1.
3.
4. Jason Kokrak, Xavier......................... 78-71-71?220
4.
TEAM SCORES
1.
2.
3.
4. Lamar.................................... 313-281-306?900
5.
6.
6.
8.
9.
10. #
-----------------Did not qualify for Finals-----------------
10.
12.
13. Northwestern......................... 316-293-311?920
14.
15. SE
16. Western
16.
18. Baylor.................................... 309-311-317?937
19. Purdue................................... 320-310-309?939
20.
21.
21.
23. SMU...................................... 317-306-322?945
24.
25. TCU....................................... 332-315-311?958
26.
27.
(#?defeated Texas A&M on first playoff hole.)
