University of Colorado Athletics
Golfers Tied For Second In Cowboy Classic
April 05, 2010 | Men's Golf
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The University of Colorado men's golf team is tied for second after a solid opening round here Monday in the 8th Annual Wyoming Cowboy Classic.
The 24 participating teams were scheduled for 36 holes Monday, but play was suspended due to darkness just after 7:30 p.m. local time, with a handful of teams finish but with most players having anywhere from one to three holes remaining.
UC-Santa Barbara posted the best first round score, a 5-under 275, with Big 12 colleague and rivals, No. 90 Colorado and No. 78 Oklahoma four back at 1-under 279. Old Dominion and No. 25 San Diego rounded out the top five with 281 totals. CU is the fourth highest ranked team in the field, behind USD, OU and No. 70 Nevada.
The first round took almost 6? hours to play, with 24 teams and 130 individuals packed on the 7,133-yard, par-70 Talking Stick Golf Club's North Course. With that many players and just two par-5 holes, things were bound to get stacked up so patience became a factor as much as anything.
Senior Justin Bardgett was tied for fifth after opening with a 3-under 67 (35-32), but was even for the day with two holes remaining. Sophomore Sebastian Heisele was right there with Bardgett, tied for seventh with a 2-under 68 (33-35); he too was 3-over in the second round with two to go, placing him 1-over par overall.
Freshmen Derek Fribbs carded a 1-over 71 his first time around (36-35), but was 4-over for his afternoon round with two left, while junior Michael Imperato opened with a 3-over 73 (33-40) and was also 4-over but with four holes left in his second round. Sophomore Kevin Kring, usually a strong starter with a 72.3 average for his opening round on the year, shot an 8-over 78 (39-39), but had CU's top second round (2-over) with two holes left for the afternoon.
"If we can rally a bit and pickup a couple of strokes as we finish the second round, and then play well in the third round, I think we'll have a chance," head coach Roy Edwards said. "It's of kind of hard to gauge exactly where we are since we don't know who are what the leaders are doing. A few teams were done and will shoot a little lower than us, but I sense we're pretty close."
Edwards was pleased with how his team handled the slow play.
"You have to be patient, and I think we did a pretty good job of managing that and I don't think it affected us that much one way or another," he said. "The guys had pretty good focus and we played pretty solid in the morning. They didn't change the hole locations for the second round, but the difference was there was no wind in the morning but it picked up to 15, maybe 20 miles per hour in the afternoon.
"It was a long day, that's for certain, but essentially in college golf, they're mostly the same: you tee off just after sunrise and arrive home when it's dark."
Nevada's Taylor Coffman carded a 5-under par 65 to own the individual lead after the one round; that was good for a 1-shot lead over three others, including Santa Barbara's Russell Boring, who had a 31 on the front side, the low nine hole score of the day.
The teams will complete the second round at 8:30 a.m. (MDT), and then begin the third round with a 9:30 a.m. shotgun start.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
T5. Justin Bardgett........................... 67-(+3/thru 16)
T7. Sebastian Heisele....................... 68-(+3/thru 16)
T36. Derek Fribbs................................ 71-(+4/thru 16)
T58. Michael Imperato....................... 73-(+4/thru 15)
T112. Kevin Kring................................... 78-(+2/thru 16)
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
1. Taylor Coffman, Nevada............. 33-32?65
2. Scott Clayton, UC-Riverside...... 32-34?66
2. Tyler Rody, Oklahoma................. 32-34?66
2. Russell Boring, UC-Santa Barb.. 31-35?66
T5. Justin Bardgett, Colorado........... 35-32?67
T5. Gunner Wiebe, San Diego........... 33-34?67
TEAM SCORES
1. UC-Santa Barbara................... 275
2. COLORADO............................. 279
2. Oklahoma................................ 279
4. Old Dominion........................... 281
4. San Diego................................ 281
6. Utah Valley.............................. 282
6. Cal State-Northridge............... 282
8. Arkansas-Little Rock.............. 284
8. Gonzaga................................... 284
8. Nevada.................................... 284
8. Utah State............................... 284
12. UC-Riverside........................... 285
12. Western Carolina.................... 285
14. Idaho........................................ 286
15. Western Kentucky.................. 288
16. New Mexico State.................. 289
17. Northern Colorado................... 291
17. Wyoming................................. 291
19. Texas-El Paso......................... 292
20. Seattle..................................... 293
21. Air Force.................................. 295
22. Southern Utah......................... 299
22. Utah......................................... 299
24. Weber State............................ 300
