Colorado University Athletics
Golfers Set To Open Spring Season
February 01, 2011 | Men's Golf
BOULDER - The University of Colorado men's golf team will open its spring portion of its schedule Wednesday in a familiar location, on the big island of Hawai'i's Waikoloa coast for the seventh straight year in the Amer Ari Invitational.
The Buffaloes played four tournaments in the fall, their best finish being a seventh place showing in their own CU-Mark Simpson Invitational. The team was not pleased with their fall performances and is itching to get things going this spring.
"The guys are all very excited to get started, and we know that the vast majority of our season is in front of us," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "We were not happy with the results we posted in the fall, we all know we're better than what we showed. So the next two weeks are huge with a couple of big time events, so it presents a great opportunity for us to get off to a great start."
The 20-team field here is most impressive, featuring 12 teams ranked in the top 42 in the nation; four of the top seven are competing: #1 UCLA, #2 Oklahoma State, #5 Georgia Tech and #7 Texas. The No. 1 Division II team, Western Washington is also here, while co-host Hawai'i-Hilo is ranked 22nd in the D-II ranks. Seven of the nation's top 10 individuals are represented here (and 11 of the top 20).
"It's a tremendous field with a lot of top teams, but that's a good thing for us," Edwards said.
After this week's event in paradise, Colorado will take part in the Battle at the Beach in Newport Beach, Calif., February 13-15, with another top field scheduled to compete.
Edwards has six players with him on the trip, senior Luke Symons, juniors Sebastian Heisele and Kevin Kring, and sophomores Derek Fribbs and Johnny Widmer. Senior Michael Imperato is also participating, but will play as an individual and his score will not count toward CU's team totals. Kring (73.00), Fribbs (73.33) and Symons (73.83) led the team in stroke average in the fall.
There's a little urgency for the Buffaloes to get off to a decent start; CU hosts the NCAA Central Regional in May and will automatically be placed there if it qualifies for the postseason. The minimum requirement is a .500 record against Division I competition, where CU posted a 22-35 mark in the fall. A good sign, however, is the team's overall stroke average, 74.46, was the eighth best for a fall season in school history.
"I think that will work itself out by the end of the semester," Edwards said. "If we play well enough to get ranked high enough to be selected, we'll be above .500 anyway, so that should all come out in the wash. We believe we have an opportunity to play well right from the start and get a high finish, and if we can do that two tournaments in a row, we could go on and have a really good spring."
One issue that the Buffaloes always have to deal with this time of year is the amount of practice they can get in with the unpredictable Colorado weather.
"We've had to rely on individual practicing, and the guys worked really hard over the break and did what we could at home, so I feel we're in a good spot, or at least as good as we can be when you're comparing us against who we're playing against," Edwards said.
The 54-hole tournament features 18 holes Wednesday through Friday on the 7,042-yard, par-72 Waikoloa King's Course in Waikoloa, located on the northwest coast of the big island of Hawai'i.
