Colorado University Athletics
Golfers In Second At Western Intercollegiate
March 29, 2009 | Men's Golf
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- The University of Colorado men's golf team was in a self-described funk for the first eight rounds of its spring season, but that lull appears over as the Buffaloes are in second place here Sunday after the first round of the 63rd Annual Western Intercollegiate.
Fresno State, ranked No. 83, was the only team to shoot under par and assumed the first round lead with a 2-under 278 score. No. 47 Colorado is five back at 3-over 283, while No. 28 Michigan State and No. 61 Oregon are tied for third at 10-over 290. Mercer rounded out the top five with a 291 score.
The Buffaloes dueled with Fresno State for the lead throughout the first round, owning a four-stroke lead at one point, but CU started on Nos. 4, 5 and 6; three of the toughest holes in the first round were Nos. 1, 2 and 3, and the four players scoring for the Buffs played those at 5-over par to finish off the day. Fresno State started on Nos. 16 through 18, and played the front three early, with its four scorers combining to play those holes at 1-under, thus the difference in the standings after 18 holes.
It was the second consecutive round where the Buffs appeared to reclaim their "mojo" from a fall start that saw Colorado win one tournament and finish second and fourth in two other traditionally tough events. Last week, CU used a solid final round to finish fourth in Oregon's invitational.
"I think the lull is over," head coach Roy Edwards said. "We're chugging along; the guys are playing better and thinking better, really doing all of the things you need to do to play well. Almost every team will face that at some point during the year, you just can't dwell on it and you just have to play through it. We have, and I've been very encouraged by that."
"Overall, it was a good day for us," he continued. "I'm very happy with our start to the tournament, we got solid play from our top two guys and everyone else hung in there and had their moments. This is the kind of golf course that really tests your patience, and what we did was to focus on that as much as possible. If something doesn't go your way, take a deep breath and regroup immediately, and for the most part we did that. I'd probably give us an A-minus on that today, and that'll be our goal for the next two days."
CU senior Patrick Grady is tied for the individual lead after 18 holes, as he turned in a 37-31--68 scorecard (2-under) that featured an eagle, three birdies, 11 pars and three bogeys on the 6,511-yard, par-70 Pasatiempo Golf Club course layout. The 4-under par 31 he recorded on the back nine was the lowest nine for either side Sunday in the field. Fresno State's Bhavik Patel matched him with a nearly identical effort of an eagle, two birdies, 13 pars and two bogeys.
"I played really smart today," Grady said. "I kept the ball below the hole and hit the ball where I needed to. These are probably the toughest greens I've ever played. We had a really good practice round (Saturday) and I learned a lot. If you're above the hole and faced with a downhill putt, it's absolutely lightning. I managed my game really well, and it didn't hurt that I dropped a bomb from 40 feet for an eagle on No. 13." Grady had 28 putts total for his round.
Senior Derek Tolan is tied for third with three others after he posted a 35-34--69 effort, patiently working his way around the course with 17 pars and one birdie. He started his round on No. 4, opened with six pars, birdied No. 10, then closed with 11 straight pars to log his 1-under performance.
Tolan (two) and Grady have won three tournaments between them this season, all coming in the aforementioned three tournaments when CU got off to a hot start and No. 10 national ranking. Grady has two third place finishes this spring as he's flirted with winning all three times out this spring.
Junior Luke Symons put a 37-35--72 into the books to stand tied for 15th after having a rollercoaster round of sorts. Three times in his first eight holes he scored a bogey followed immediately by a birdie, and then scored two birds on his next three holes to stand 2-under through 11. He had two doubles over his last seven holes to finish 2-over on the day.
Freshman Kevin Kring had identical nines in posted a 37-37--74 score, which has him tied for 31st; he had two birdies and six bogeys for his round, one and three, respectively, on each nine. Rounding out the action for CU was another freshman, Johnny Widmer, who shot a 41-36--77, tying him for 61st. He got off to a bad start with a double and a boge to go 3-over after two holes, but then settled down to play the next 13 holes even until closing with a triple and a bogey on his last three holes.
Pasatiempo was the winner Sunday, surrendering just six subpar rounds and two more at even par out of 93 played, with the average score a 75.53. That included 558 holes of bogey or worse, exactly one-third of the holes played, including 119 double bogeys or higher. Fresno State (19; 14 bogeys, five doubles) and the Buffs (20; 16 bogeys, three doubles, one triple) had the fewest holes over par in the field, while tying for the second most birdies with 13 behind Michigan State (17). CU had the most pars, 56, one more than Fresno, while the Bulldogs benefitted from three eagles in the first round.
Colorado has previously won the Western on one occasion, doing so in 2004 when senior Kane Webber led the Buffs to the title by claiming medalist honors; it was the last tournament win in the 29-year tenure of late CU head coach Mark Simpson. This is the sixth time the Buffaloes are participating in the prestigious tournament, one of the oldest college events west of the Mississippi.
The second round is set for a 10 a.m. (MDT) shotgun start Monday, with the final round to be played Tuesday.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
T1. Patrick Grady.................................. 37-31--68
T3. Derek Tolan.................................... 35-34--69
T15. Luke Symons.................................. 37-35--72
T31. Kevin Kring..................................... 37-37--74
T61. Johnny Widmer................................ 41-36--77
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
1. Patrick Grady, Colorado................ 37-31--68
1. Bhavik Patel, Fresno State............... 32-36--68
3. Derek Tolan, Colorado................... 35-34--69
3. Michael Gideon, Fresno State............ 36-33--69
3. Bryan Hogan, Fresno State................ 33-36--69
3. Mark Hubbard, San Jose State........... 34-35--69
TEAM SCORES
1. Fresno State............................... 278
2. COLORADO............................... 283
3. Michigan State............................ 290
3. Oregon....................................... 290
5. Mercer....................................... 291
6. California.................................... 293
7. Denver....................................... 294
7. UC-Santa Barbara........................ 294
7. Pacific........................................ 294
10. Nevada....................................... 295
11. St. Mary's................................... 298
12. San Jose State............................. 301
13. Wyoming..................................... 303
14. Long Beach State......................... 306
14. Oregon State................................ 306
16. Kansas........................................ 307
17. Brown......................................... 314
18. Santa Clara.................................. 320
