Colorado University Athletics
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Golfers Finish Seventh At Western Intercollegiate
March 27, 2008 | Men's Golf
No. 50 St. Mary's (
MSU entered the round with the sizeable lead over St. Mary's, but the Spartans recorded the day's worst score, a 34-over 314, as the No. 69 Buffaloes were not alone on the wrong end of Thursday's scoreboard.
Junior Derek Tolan did tie for sixth individually, his best finish of the season, even though he had an 8-over 78 in the final round. It gave him a 220 total for the tournament.
The course was set as tough as any on the college circuit this year for the final round, with just one player shooting par or better, and 83 of the 90 in the field at 3-over par or higher; 21 players shot 80 or worse as the average score for the day was 77.4.
“For whatever reason, we just weren't ready (mentally) today,” head coach Roy Edwards said. “We didn't have a whole lot of composure and couldn't really save it. We'd make one mistake and compound it with another one right after that. It really was uncharacteristic of this team. And I thought another factor was that our seniors had disappointing tournaments, and you've got to have your seniors set the tone.
“We just had too many big numbers to overcome, and this isn't a course where you can make many of those up with a lot of birdies or eagles. If we shoot what we averaged yesterday (293), we win the tournament. That's tough to swallow but we have to move on.
The five Buffaloes here combined for 23 bogeys, six double bogeys and four triple bogeys Thursday on the 6,511-yard, par-70 Pasatiempo Golf Club course, while countering with just five birdies. All five players had a bogey or double on either their first or second hole, and never could recover.
Sophomore Luke Symons posted CU's best score in the final round, a 6-over-76, enabling him to tie for 17th with a 223 total. Freshman Michael Imperato matched Tolan with a closing 78 for a 225 total, tying him for 30th.
Both Buff seniors, Michael Baird and Jim Grady, recorded 80s to finish up, Baird tying for 57th with a 232 total and Grady for 64th with a 233 scorecard. Grady had a bad six hole stretch where he played 6-over, and the span including his day's only birdie, otherwise did his best to hang in. Baird had a similar stretch where he was 7-over par for a seven hole span.
“I think it was just one of those days, but we need to learn from it,” Edwards said. “We have a chance to come right back in 10 days but we have to play well. We have to in our last three tournaments and hopefully that will be enough to get into the NCAA's.”
The Buffs will return to action in their own CU-Stevinson Ranch Invitational a week from Monday in
T 6. Derek Tolan................................. 75-67-78?220
T17. Luke Symons............................... 70-77-76?223
T30. Michael Imperato........................ 76-71-78?225
T57.
T64. Jim Grady.................................... 76-77-80?233
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
1.
2. Mike McRae,
3. Kyle Moore, Northwestern............. 72-74-71?217
4. John Chin, UC-Irvine...................... 70-74-75?219
4. Sean Shahi, UC-Irvine.................... 74-74-71?219
TEAM SCORES
1. St. Mary's (
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2. UC-Irvine.................................. 298-289-294?881
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5. Northwestern........................... 294-294-305?893
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8. UC-Santa Barbara.................... 293-298-309?900
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