Golfers Finish Sixth In Oregon Invitational

Monday, March 22

Eugene, Ore.

TBA

Colorado

All Rounds

March 23, 2010 | Men's Golf

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

JUNCTION CITY, Ore. ? The University of Colorado men's golf team finished sixth here Tuesday in the Oregon Duck Invitational, and then went straight to the Portland airport to ready for its next competition which starts Thursday.

Host and No. 3 Oregon held on to its second round lead and pulled away from the field for a 7-shot win over No. 33 Arkansas. The Ducks finished as the only school under par with a team score of 1,073 (7-under), while Arkansas was even in the end with a 1,080. Colorado, ranked No. 91, was third after the first round and held on to the sixth position it held after two rounds with an 1,108 tally, or 28-over par.

Senior Justin Bardgett recorded his fourth top 20 finish this season, as a final round 72 on the 7,020-yard, par-72 Shadow Hills Country Club course layout gave him a 219 total (3-over); that tied him for 16th overall. The team leader in stroke average (72.7), it is the fourth time in nine meets Bardgett has turned in CU's top performance in 2009-10.

Freshmen Derek Fribbs and Jason Burstyn had their best performances and 54-hole scores to date. Fribbs tied for 28th, as his final round 74 gave him a 221 total for the meet (5-over); while Burstyn, a redshirt frosh, closed with a 74 for a 223 total to tie for 36th.

Sophomore Kevin Kring (78, 225), junior Michael Imperato (76, 227) and sophomore Sebastian Heisele (79, 227) rounded out the Buff contingent here. They tied for 44th, 49th and 58th, respectively.

“We need to keep improving,” head coach Roy Edwards said. “Our goal for the rest of the year is to keep getting better, but we were pretty stagnant this week. We played the par-5s really bad; we had 10 bogeys on par 5's today, and while the reality is you never want to take a bogey on any par 5, these were particularly easy. And it's especially frustrating since we are playing how we should be on the par-3s and par-4s for the most part. We've really been focusing on our short game this spring, but things just haven't come together. We'll keep at it.”

Colorado was third in par-3 scoring here (+9) and fifth in par-4 scoring (+35), but played the par 5s for the week at 1-over, tied for 10th with only one team scoring higher (UC-Riverside, +3).

“We did have some positives,' Edwards added. “Justin played well all week, Jason was solid after not playing for about five weeks, and Derek has his best tournament by far.”

Oregon's Daniel Miernicki claimed medalist honors with a 7-under par 209 score, after recording a final round 67. That was one of just two rounds in the 60s Tuesday, which saw the 84 players in the field average 75.3 strokes, the highest of the three rounds this week. Only nine players bettered par overall, with three others matching it in the final standings.

The Buffaloes caught a 6 p.m. flight to San Diego following Oregon's tournament; CU will practice Wednesday in preparation to play in the Barona Collegiate Cup this Thursday and Friday.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T16. Justin Bardgett........................... 71-76-72?219

T28. Derek Fribbs................................ 71-76-74?221

T36. Jason Burstyn............................. 74-74-75?223

T44. Kevin Kring................................... 73-74-78?225

T49. Sebastian Heisele....................... 76-71-79?226

T58. Michael Imperato........................ 73-78-76?227

TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS

1. Daniel Miernicki, Oregon............ 70-72-67?209

T2. Eugene Wong, Oregon................ 71-69-71?211

T2. Stefan Richardson, Idaho............ 68-72-71?211

T4. T.J. Bordeaux, Pacific................. 69-71-72?212