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Golfers Rally But Fall Short Of NCAA Finals
May 16, 2009 | Men's Golf
No. 14 Arizona State led from wire-to-wire, shooting under par in each round including a closing 14-under 274 to win going away with an 828 team score. That 36-under par effort kept No. 35 Oregon at an arm's length, even though the Ducks finished up at 27-under 837. No. 12 Texas A & M used the best single round of the meet, a 15-under 273, to grab third at 840, while
The battle on the day was for the fifth and final qualifying position for the NCAA Finals in two weeks in
It was the best round CU had ever logged in NCAA play, both for raw score (279) and for strokes under par (-9); the previous best were a pair of 4-under 280's shot on par-71 courses.
The Buffs started the day 16 strokes out of the fifth and final spot, but with many teams playing under or close to par, it was going to be hard to make up much ground. CU, finally with the hot start it desired, pulled to within seven shots of fifth about halfway through, but could get no closer in eventually finishing 11 shots back of USC.
“We were excited that we played well today and finish on a good note in the sense that we played closer to what we're capable of,” head coach Roy Edwards said. “One of our goals going into the day was to shoot the low round in the field, and while we didn't do that, we came fairly close. It was about trying to get some momentum for the guys to finish up the season. We weren't totally out of it, but we were behind the 8-ball. We played the middle of he round fairly strong, but didn't play 4, 5 or 6 very well. Had we done that it might have set things up different on (par-5) number 9. We just lost a little steam there in the middle.”
“I'm definitely proud of the guys,” he continued. “We definitely have a better taste in our mouths after what transpired yesterday.”
Junior Luke Symons tied for 18th to lead the Buffaloes here, wrapping things up Saturday with a 4-under par 68. He had seven birdies and eight pars against three bogeys in finishing the three rounds with 16 birdies, tied for the second most in the field. He played the par-3 holes the sixth best and the par-4 ones the eighth best this week in finishing with a 3-under 213 score.
Symons at one point birdied five straight holes, Nos. 17 and 18 on his first nine, and then Nos. 1, 2 and 3 after making the turn. He was the only player to record five consecutive subpar holes over the three days of the tournament. It made the 9 he had to take on No. 18 in the second round a distant memory, though he did a great job of not mailing things in after the bad breaks he suffered on the hole that led to the quadruple bogey. He played even the rest of Friday after that and bounced back Saturday matching his best score of the season.
“I really thought I did a good job of not letting that weigh me down too much,” he said of the unlucky quad. “I actually stopped and told myself that, ?I'm playing well. Don't let that get in your way.' There were a lot of birdies out there, I was going along and playing well, and boop, nine.”
Symons will redshirt for the 2009-10 season to undergo surgery in late summer to repair a torn labrum in his hip. He will play the amateur circuit both in and out of
CU's senior sensations Patrick Grady and Derek Tolan tied for 31st with even-par 216 totals, with Tolan ending with a 3-under 69 and Grady with a 2-over 74 on the 6,849-yard, par-72 Lake Merced Golf Club course layout. Tolan was 4-under at one point but had some bad luck on No. 4 and wound up with a double bogey, but the way it came about almost made him feel good.
“I got off to a good start, which was what I was trying to do, and even though I missed some short putts for birdie on the first few holes, they were tough putts and I didn't let them bother me,” Tolan said. “Then I made a couple of birdies, and I put myself in position where if I had a rally good back nine, I could have put myself in position for something. But the double on (No. 4) set me back.” On that hole, after his tee shot ricocheted off a tree, he wound up having to get up-and-down for the double, which included a 15-foot putt. “After that, I came back pretty good because it felt like I had stolen something.”
Grady, despite fixing what he thought was a flaw in his swing, couldn't transfer it to results on the course. Though he had 35 pars for the week, 14th most in the field, he opened with three bogeys in his first six holes
“I hit it better today than any day of the week, but I got a couple of bad breaks early and I didn't make a putt all day,” Grady said. “I just never got anything going, and when I did, I doubled number 5 (his 14th hole) and never found my groove. I felt like this was one of if not the easiest course we played all year, and to shoot even was kind of a terrible score.”
“They were great leaders,” Edwards said of his two seniors, both of whom shared CU's Male Athlete of the Year honor for all sports and will now turn professional and play as pros for the first time next month. “They didn't play how they wanted to this week, but I'm very proud of the effort and the leadership and the attitudes they put forth. They're going into the record books as two of the best players in our history, and we're going to miss those guys. We wish them best of luck in the professional ranks.”
“I'm really excited ... been looking forward to it for what, 17 years now? Tolan said of turning pro. “I'm not sad right now, but somewhere down the line I'm going to miss it (college golf). That's been the best part, traveling with four of your best friends.”
“Walking upon the last fairway, I was really disappointed because I knew I had no chance of going to nationals, but in the grand scheme of things, it was a pretty good run we had this year,” Grady recounted. “I came from averaging 77 or 78 as a freshman to one of the best stroke averages in CU history, so it's a testament to a lot of hard work. On the range when I was trying to correct a few things here, I thought of what (late head coach) Mark Simpson used to tell me when I was hitting it really bad. He taught me good set-up fundamentals like ball position and alignment.”
Kevin Kring shot a 2-under 70 to finish at 6-over 220, which tied him for 62nd place. He had four birdies, 12 pars and two bogeys in the final round, and was the only Buff not to record a score worse than bogey in any of the three rounds this week. In keeping with habit, he once again shot his low score for a tournament in the final round, doing so for the eighth time in 12 tries.
Kring attributed his final round improvement this time to a putting tip he received from CU assistant coach Jim Grady.
“I finally figured out my putting; I was just putting so poorly the first two days,” Kring said. “On the front nine, I probably made more feet in putts than the previous 36 holes combined. Coach Grady gave me a great tip; he told me he noticed the heel (of his putter) was up, so I just flattened out the face and I putted a lot better.”
With Symons redshirting, there are just two upperclassmen on the team next year, senior Justin Bardgett and junior Michael Imperato. Kring knows that this year's freshmen and the incoming recruits will have to play key roles for the team to repeat its successes of this season. He played 37 rounds this year, tied for the third most by any CU freshman in school annals.
“I haven't thought about particular goals next year, but I have a good feeling that I could be playing in a higher spot on the team, so I want to improve my consistency and try to help replace Derek and Pat,” Kring said. “I was number four most of this year, and if I want to take over the roles they vacated, it will require hard work and dedication. And that goes for all of us; we're going to be real young next year, but I think we can step it up and be just as good if we work hard at it.”
Kring's 70 was the third best round in the NCAA's by a CU freshman, behind only a 67 by Kane Webber in the 2000 Central Regional and a 69 by Matt Zions in the '99 Central affair.
Johnny Widmer carded a 72 to finish with a 225 total, tying him for 70th, with the even-par effort matching the fourth best round by a CU newbie in the NCAA's. He had four birdies, 10 pars and four bogeys to close things out. “I left a lot of birdies out there,” he lamented right after finishing his freshman year. “Just had too many pars when I should have been making birdies.”
Arizona State's Jesper Kennegard earned medalist honors, with a final round 70 giving him a 12-under 204 total, good for a one shot win over Texas A&M's Bronson Burgoon, who tied a school and course record with an 8-under 64 Saturday.
“Right now, we're disappointed,” Edwards said. “But we have a lot of proud accomplishments, and in the end, we were just a little too inconsistent. I'm pleased with the progress of our freshmen, and next year we're going to have to rely on some young guys if we're going to be successful, which is exciting.”
T18. Luke Symons.................................. 70-75-68?213
T31. Patrick Grady.................................. 72-70-74?216
T31. Derek Tolan.................................... 73-74-69?216
T62. Kevin Kring..................................... 77-75-70?222
T70. Johnny Widmer................................ 76-77-72?225
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5. Brady Johnson, BYU......................... 67-72-69?208
TEAM SCORES
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5. Southern
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11. UC-Irvine.................................... 289-287-294?870
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13. UC-Davis.................................... 298-285-290?873
2009 NCAA WEST REGIONAL NOTES
u Tolan claimed the team stroke average title with a 71.90 figure, while Grady finished second at 71.98; the two wound up separated by just three strokes over 40 rounds and 720 holes. Tolan, who led the team after 38 of the 40 rounds this season, recaptured the top spot after falling behind for the first time since the first round last September in
u This marked the first time since the 1982-83 season that the stroke average champion was decided in the final round of the year. 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 This was the first time in school history that two players recorded sub-72 average in the same year; in fact, Tolan and Grady posted the second and third best season stroke averages in CU history; only Kane Webber's 71.46 number in 2003-04 was better, and the two finished just ahead of Hale Irwin's 72.04 average his junior year in 1965-66.
u Grady finished with a 71.32 stroke average for the spring, the second best figure in school history; Webber averaged 71.30 in the spring of 2004.
u Tolan finished his career with 151 rounds played, the third most all-time at
u Grady and Tolan also did damage on other CU all-time lists. Grady finished eighth in all-time top five finishes (8), eighth in top 10 efforts (12) and ninth in top 20 finishes (17), while Tolan was 11th in top five (5), second in top 10 (18) while tying for third in top 20 (25) efforts. Both set the school record for the most rounds in the 60s in a single season with 10.
u Symons' 68 tied for the third nest final round score by a Buffalo in the NCAA's, behind a 65 by John Lindberg in the 1989 Central Regional and the 67 by Webber in the 2000 Central Regional. With Symons and Tolan both going sub-70, they were the ninth and 10th rounds in the 60s in the final round by a
u CU finished with a team stroke average of 74.06, the second best in school history as only the 2003-04 squad had a better number at 73.77. The fifth-man/non-scoring average was also an all-time school best of 78.05.
u Coach Roy Edwards and his wife Shelly are expecting their first child, a boy, the first week in June.
