Golfers Finish 12th In Battle At The Beach

Sunday, February 14

Newport Beach, Calif.

TBA

Colorado

All Rounds

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

February 16, 2010 | Men's Golf

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. ? The University of Colorado men's golf team, despite shooting its best score in three rounds, finished in 12th place here Tuesday in the inaugural Battle At The Beach.

Co-host and No. 14 UCLA rallied to win the event, as the Bruins posted a team score of 1,055, edging No. 6 Washington and No. 48 Arkansas by a single shot. No. 24 Oregon State, which led after the first two rounds, though by a single shot both days, slipped into a fourth place finish with a 1,060 score, while No. 35 San Diego State rounded out the top five with 1,070.

Colorado, ranked No. 83, shot a 363 (8-over par), its best round of the tournament, to finish up with a 1,097 score, though the Buffaloes were just three strokes out of ninth. The three teams ahead of CU were progressively just one stroke lower, as the 14-team field, which included eight of the top 50 ranked teams, had logjams in four distinct places.

Sophomore Kevin Kring shot a second straight even-par 71 for a three round score of 216, tying him for 31st in the standings as he was CU's top individual performer here. He had five birdies, eight pars and five bogeys Tuesday, and for the week scored birdies or pars on 43 of 54 holes on the 6,945-yard, par-71 Ocean North Course at Pelican Hill Golf Club.

Junior Michael Imperato shot his best round of the season, a 1-under 70, to close with a 221 total that tied him for 51st. He finished up with a solid round, that included three birdies, 13 pars and just two bogeys.

Senior Justin Bardgett, who had led CU in the first two rounds, got into some early trouble and wound up recording an 8-over 79, giving him a 222 total that tied him for 56th. He was 1-over through six holes, but then suffered a triple bogey on No. 14 (par-4), and couldn't catch fire after that, closing the day with one birdie, nine pars, seven bogeys and that triple.

Freshman Derek Fribbs closed with a 1-over 72, and tied for 58th overall with a 223 score. He played a solid round with three birdies, 13 pars and three bogeys.

“There was definitely improvement today for the most part,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “Michael, Kevin and Derek all played pretty solid rounds. Sebastian struggled a bit but hung in there to shoot 75, but he's got to keep getting better. Jason did a good job as well of hanging in there as well after an early triple bogey. As for Justin, he had some early bogeys, and then a couple of bad breaks, and that affected him a bit. Things often will snowball, and that's basically what happened to him today. He'll brush it off.”

“This is a good lesson for us, we shoot four shots lower and we beat three other teams,” Edwards added. “That's an important stat for us, because we have to get to the .500 mark to qualify for the NCAA tournament. We need to start saving those extra shots instead of losing them.” Colorado is 35-52 this season against Division I competition.

“We have some tournaments coming up that we need to do well in. We just need to be smart, play confident and keep fighting for shots. Then our record will take care of itself with higher finishes.”

CU again closed fairly strong, the six players combining to play the last three holes 1-over, and at 4-under for the week. That corrected a trend that CU endured in the spring opener in Hawai'i, where the Buffs lost numerous strokes all three days late in the round.

Sophomore Sebastian Heisele and redshirt frosh Jason Burstyn tied for 67th, both finishing up with 4-over par 75s for 225 totals. Heisele had one birdie, 12 pars and five bogeys on his round, as he was 4-over on the back nine but played the front side even. Burstyn parred his first three holes, and then ran into trouble on No. 9 with a triple bogey; after he bogeyed the next two holes, he settled down and played the remainder of the round at 1-under par (one birdie, 11 pars).

Washington's Chris Williams and Arkansas' David Lingmerth shared medalist honors with 8-under par 205 effotrts. Williams led the field by two strokes heading into the final round, but Lingmerth was able to catch him with a tournament-best round of 64, carding seven birdies in doing so.

This tournament was unique in the sense that it is one of the few that has five players scoring for each team instead of the usual four, and also that the schools play in foursomes with just one other team, thus each group features two teammates. Edwards liked the format and may incorporate some of into future CU tournaments.

The Buffaloes now have a chance to regroup a bit and work on the intangibles, as CU's next competition isn't for three weeks, when the team will travel to Lafayette, La., for its annual appearance in the Louisiana Classics March 8-9.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T31. Kevin Kring................................... 74-71-71?216

T51. Michael Imperato........................ 78-73-70?221

T56. Justin Bardgett........................... 73-69-80?222

T58. Derek Fribbs................................ 75-76-72?223

T67. Jason Burstyn............................. 74-76-75?225

T67. Sebastian Heisele....................... 73-77-75?225

TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS

1. Chris Williams, Washington ..... 69-65-71?205

T1. David Lingmerth, Arkansas........ 70-71-64?205

T3. Diego Velasquez, Oregon State.. 66-72-68?206

T3. Jamie Marshall, Arkansas......... 71-70-65?206