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Tolan Leads Buffs to Fourth at UNM Tucker
September 27, 2008 | Men's Golf
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. ? The University of Colorado men's golf team climbed one spot into a fourth place finish here Saturday, but the big news was that senior Derek Tolan finished in a tie for first place in the 54th annual University of New Mexico William H. Tucker Invitational.
Tolan, who had a win and a runner-up finish in two previous meets thus far in 2008, entered the day in second place, one shot out of the lead. He slipped back into fourth place through 12 holes, but rallied to share medalist honors with UNLV's Eddie Olson, as both finished with a five-under par 211 total. The pair edged Pepperdine's Josh Anderson by one stroke; there was no playoff, as was the case earlier this month when Tolan was co-medalist at the USF Intercollegiate.
The Highlands Ranch, Colo., product helped make CU history: his two wins were sandwiched around fellow senior Patrick Grady's victory last week in DU's Ron Moore Invitational, marking just the second time in school history that CU golfers have won three straight tournaments. The only other occasion was in the spring of 1981, when Steve Jones won the BYU Cougar Classic and the Arizona State Sun Devil Thunderbird, followed by Terry Kahl winning the Big Eight Championship.
UNLV started the final round five strokes behind host school New Mexico and thanks to an impressive third round score of 283 (five-under par), the Rebels took the team title with an 853 score, easily defeating UNM by 11 strokes. The Buffaloes, who started the day in fifth place finished fourth at 868, four strokes behind third place Pepperdine.
Tolan started off with back-to-back bogeys and then carded three birdies over the next eight holes to stand 1-under through 10. But he would bogey three of his next seven to go to 2-over with just the mammoth 602-yard, par-5 No. 18 remaining. Undaunted, he recorded his second eagle of the tournament to put a 72 in the books on the 7,403-yard, par-72 UNM Championship course layout.
“Personally, I just finished well,” said Tolan. “I was waiting for stuff to go in and waiting for chances to come, which is pretty much the same thing that I've been doing. I kept trying to do the best that I could on every shot. I knew my goal coming in to the tournament and I knew that I had to make an eagle towards the end. I knew that it was attainable and it helped out a lot that I hit that shot.”
The course was set toughest for the final round, as evidenced by no rounds in the 60s, just two 2-under 70s, six 1-under 71s and five rounds of par recorded Saturday in the 90-man field.
Fellow senior Patrick Grady and junior Luke Symons finished in a tie for 16th place individually with three round totals of 220, or four-over par.
Grady closed with a 77, as he struggled to find consistency with four birdies, five pars and an uncharacteristic nine bogeys in his final round. He slipped six spots after entering the final round tied for 10th, whereas Symons moved up five slots recording a final round 74. He was even through the first seven holes, and after an unfortunate double-bogey on the eighth hole, he rebounded with a birdie and an eagle to get him back to one-under. Unfortunately, he ran into a string of bogeys but did close with a birdie on No. 18 to finish two-over on the day.
“It was very difficult to catch the teams in front of us,” said head coach Roy Edwards. “UNLV is a top 10 team, so even getting fourth gave us a lot of confidence because we know that we didn't play our best at all. Derek won today, but he had five three-putts. New Mexico will be in Chicago with us as well and they're a very good team but we'll be able to get a good idea on where we stand compared to them as well as others in a tough field on a neutral course.”
Colorado was ranked No. 10 in last week's Golfweek ratings, but it's very early; CU did pull in several votes for the first time in a long time in the Golf Coaches Association of America poll, but was outside the top 25.
Junior Justin Bardgett closed with CU's best effort in the final round, turning in one of those rare one-under 71s for a 224 total, and in the process improved 35 places in the standings to finish tied for 29th. Bardgett played perhaps the most consistent round for the Buffs, carding four birdies, three bogeys and playing 11 holes at par.
“I am very excited about Justin,” Edwards said. “We needed a big round out of him today and he showed us quite a bit. To shoot one-under par in the final round was a great score for him out here today, so I am very happy with that. He did a great job with his putts and he played well when we needed him.”
Freshman Kevin Kring rounded out CU's team efforts, tying for 37th. Kring shaved six strokes off of his second round score and finished with an overall scorecard of 74-79-73?226, continued his fine play as a true freshman. His effort also enabled CU to be one of just four teams competing here to have all five of its players finish in the top 40.
Colorado will return to action on October 5-6 at Northwestern's Windon Memorial Intercollegiate in Chicago.
T 1. Derek Tolan................................. 71-68-72?211 T16. Patrick Grady................................73-70-77?220 T16. Luke Symons................................71-75-74?220 T29. Justin Bardgett............................. 77-76-71?226 T37. Kevin Kring................................... 74-79-73?224
T 1. Derek Tolan, Colorado.............. 71-68-72?211 T 1. Eddie Olson, UNLV...................... 67-74-70?211 3. Josh Anderson, Pepperdine........ 71-69-72?213 4. Bo Hoag, Ohio State.................... 70-69-74?212 TEAM SCORES 1. UNLV.......................................277-292-283?852 2. New Mexico..............................277-287-299?863 3. Pepperdine...............................286-290-288?864 4. COLORADO............................289-289-290?868 5. Ohio State................................281-292-298?871 6. BYU.........................................299-292-297?888 7. Arizona.....................................299-294-302?895 8. Wyoming..................................293-299-309?901 9. Utah.........................................304-301-299?904 10. Campbell..................................299-296-310?907 11. Pacific......................................302-300-306?908 12. Texas-El Paso.......................... 303-300-311?914 13. Texas State..............................300-309-308?917 14. Air Force.................................. 299-308-315?922 15. Texas-San Antonio................... 314-308-306?928 16. Hawai'i.................................... 301-315-316?932
