Colorado University Athletics
Golfers Slip To 12th In Regional
May 15, 2009 | Men's Golf
DALY CITY, Calif. -- The University of Colorado men's golf team was in need of a hot start here Friday in the NCAA West Regional, but simply couldn't catch fire for longer than a few holes and slipped into 12th place with one round remaining.
No. 14 Arizona State, on the strength of three bogey-free rounds, maintained its first round lead with a team score of 554, opening up a six stroke lead over No. 35 Oregon (560). San Diego zoomed into third after an 10-under performance Friday to post a 566 total, with No. 12 Texas A & M (567) and No. 2 Southern California (569) rounding out the top five. Host San Francisco is sixth (571), the first of four schools within seven strokes of the fifth and final qualifying position for the finals.
Colorado, ranked No. 39 by Golfweek (and No. 43 by GolfStat) slipped from ninth into 12th, as a combination of just not getting much momentum combined with some outright bad luck led to the Buffaloes posted the day's worst team score (6-over 294). Colorado's team total at this point is 585, 16 out of the coveted fifth spot.
Friday's second round might have been moving day, as some separation occurred within the standings, but Saturday will be elimination day. The top five teams (and top individual from a non-advancing school) will qualify for the 112th NCAA Championships in Toledo from May 26-30. The Buffaloes have not done so since 2002.
"It was not a particularly good day for the Buffs," head coach Roy Edwards said. "We got off to a pretty good start on a fairly tough stretch of holes. We were a couple of strokes under par out of chute, but we didn't play the easy holes on our first nine that well, those being 14, 16, 17 and 18, and a couple of others on the front side as well. So that was the major factor for things to add up to a poor round."
"It doesn't feel like we're hitting the ball well inside of a 100 yards, so instead of having good birdie opportunities on those holes," he continued. "So instead, we have long birdie putts that are setting up pars when everyone else is making birdies. It's just bad timing on not playing our best, but we have one more round to have a good taste in our mouths coming out of here, and it's a golf course you can obviously go low on."
The Buffs do have a history of final round comebacks in regional play, posting at the time the biggest rally when the '99 team moved from 18th into a tie for 10th and then won a playoff versus Kent State to advance to the finals. A year later, CU sliced 20 strokes off its second round score to move from a tie for 25th into 18th. And there were three other years CU flirted with cracking the top 10 after poor starts put the Buffs at a disadvantage.
Senior Patrick Grady posted CU's best score in the second round, riding four birdies and 12 pars against two bogeys to a 2-under 70 on the 6,849-yard, par-72 Lake Merced Golf Club course layout. That gave him a 36-hole score of 142, good for an 18th-place tie. His 24 pars over two days are tied for the 14th most in the 75-man field, and he's tied for first in par-3 scoring and for 10th in par-4 scoring.
"I've been hitting it so bad, I was just trying to keep it on the map," Grady said. "I've had some fundamental flaws in my swing, but I think made the right adjustments on the range in practice after today's round, so I feel like I can put a good round together tomorrow. If I can shoot around a 67, I have an outside shot at the individual spot.
Grady doesn't know what happened since he won CU's Stevinson Ranch Invitational early last month. "I hit it flat-out great at Stevinson, but since then, I've been hitting it horrendously," he admitted. "For me to finish sixth at the Big 12 took one of the best short games of my life to do so, because I was just terrible in basically anything long-game, both off the tee and approach shots."
Junior Luke Symons is tied for 35th, as he followed up a 2-under 70 with a 3-over 75 for a 145 total. He's tied for 10th in the field with nine birdies, four of which came Friday, and is also tied for 10th in par-4 scoring. But two par-5 holes hurt him in the second round: on No. 18, his third shot into the green hit a tree and deflected out of bounds; once on in six, he would three-putt for a 9; and on No. 9, the last hole of the day, his short par putt rimmed out and had a second three-putt for the round.
Senior Derek Tolan got off to a hot start, birdying two of his first three holes, and still had it 1-under at the turn. But four bogeys on his back nine, largely due to trouble on the greens, left to him finishing 2-over. He has a 147 total which has him tied for 49th overall.
"I felt kind of lost on the greens a little bit, they were a little bit spongy from all the traffic and the kind of grass it is. There were a lot of short putts that everyone seemed to be missing all day long. You had to hit really solid putts to hold the line, and I just didn't do that today.
Tolan has thought about how tomorrow's round, the 151st of his CU career, could be the last of his collegiate career.
"I've thought about it, sure," he lamented. "It's unfortunate the situation we're in, but there is still that chance we can pull something off. We know it has to be something spectacular. But every time I step up it's an important round of golf for me, whether it's a nine hole competitive match against a teammate, a round in the dead of winter, or in tournament play or what could be the last of my college career.
"Growing up, my Dad always told me, --When you're playing golf, give it your all. So if you do get yourself in a critical situation, you're familiar with the pressure and having to execute.' So tomorrow won't be any different and that's how I will approach it."
CU's two freshmen competing here are still frustrated, though not posting astronomical scores by any means, but at their inability at this point to score well and help the team.
Kevin Kring shot a 3-over 75 for a 152 total, which has him tied for 70th. He had four birdies and seven pars against seven bogeys in the second round, having not scored worse than bogey through 36 holes. "Still have a chance to do something tomorrow, so that'll be my focus," he said after his round; his 73.73 final round average is third best on the team after CU's two senior leaders, Tolan (71.33) and Grady (72.33).
Johnny Widmer turned in a 5-over 77 to give him a 153 score, placing him 72nd. He had two birdies, 11 pars, three bogeys and two doubles on his round.
Both will be gunning for the third and/or fourth rounds in the 60s by a CU freshman in NCAA play. Matt Zions shot a 69 to move into 24th place in the final standings in the 1999 Central Regional, and Kane Webber carded a 67 to finish 60th the following year.
Arizona State's Jesper Kennegard carded a 4-under 68 for a 10-under 134 total through 36 holes, taking over the lead from Southern Cal's Matthew Giles, who is in second, two off the lead after a second round 71. The individual leader not attached to a team that would advance after two rounds is BYU's Brady Johnson, who leads that race with a 5-under 139 score.
"We were a little down, but let it go (Friday afternoon) after a pretty grumpy lunch," Edwards concluded. "We know what we're faced with and we'll see if we can embrace it. It will take a tremendous round tomorrow to get back in it, but that's what our goal will be. These guys do a good job of fighting, so that will be the case tomorrow."
The third and final round is set for Saturday morning, with the Buffaloes to be paired with UC-Davis and Oregon State, going off the No. 10 tee at 9:20 a.m. PST. A third straight day of near-perfect weather is expected.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
T18. Patrick Grady.................................. 72-70--142
T35. Luke Symons.................................. 70-75--145
T49. Derek Tolan.................................... 73-74--147
T70. Kevin Kring..................................... 77-75--152
72. Johnny Widmer................................ 76-77--153
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
1. Jesper Kennegard, Arizona State........ 66-68--134
2. Matthew Giles, USC......................... 65-71--136
3. Robbie Ziegler, Oregon...................... 69-69--138
3. Chan Kim, Arizona State................... 71-67--138
5. Isaiah Telles, Oregon........................ 72-67--139
5. Brady Johnson, BYU......................... 67-72--139
TEAM SCORES
1. Arizona State.............................. 279-275--554
2. Oregon....................................... 282-278--560
3. San Diego................................... 288-278--566
4. Texas A&M................................. 281-286--567
5. Southern California...................... 285-284--569
6. San Francisco............................. 291-280--571
7. New Mexico................................ 280-292--572
8. San Diego State.......................... 286-287--573
9. UC-Irvine.................................... 289-287--576
10. UC-Davis.................................... 298-285--583
10. Oregon State............................... 300-283--583
12. COLORADO............................... 291-294--585
13. Kansas State.............................. 294-292--586
2009 NCAA WEST REGIONAL NOTES
u If Colorado doesn't rally for a top five finish Saturday, odds are that the team stroke title will be decided here. Grady (71.92) passed Tolan (71.97) for the first time since after the first round of the year last September, with the duo separated by just two strokes over 39 rounds and 702 holes; unless one or the other goes low to become the individual to advance, the team leader will be determined on what would become the final round of the year. That last happened for the 1982-83 season, when Tim Smith (76.42) and Mike Hogberg (76.46) entered the final round of the Big 8 Championships dueling for the honor; Hogberg recorded a 71 to win the title with a 76.26 number, while Smith shot a 78 to finish at 76.47.
u The sun never came out on Friday, the cloud cover keeping the temperature in the mid-50's most of the day with stiff breezes on occasion. There was no precipitation for the second straight day.
