University of Colorado Athletics
Golfers Slip Into 13th After Two Rounds In Hawai'i
February 03, 2011 | Men's Golf
WAIKOLOA, Hawai'i - The University of Colorado men's golf team slipped three notches into 13th place but are still well within range of posting a quality finish as the second round of the 21st annual Amer Ari Invitational was completed here Thursday.
No. 2 Oklahoma State wrestled the lead away from the pack, and thanks to a 15-under team score of 273, the Cowboys own a seven shot lead with an overall score of 551 (25-under). No. 1 UCLA matched OSU's second round effort and used it to zoom into second, as the Bruins are in with an 18-under 558 tally. First round leader and No. 24 Southern California, which also had a seven stroke lead after a 17-under first round 271, slid all the way into seventh after a 4-over 292.
As for the Buffaloes, for a second straight day the Buffs rebounded from a slow start to finish strong, logging in a 3-over 291 team score for an even 576 total through 36 holes. Though slipping three spots in the standings, CU is just eight strokes out of eighth place.
The 20-team field is easily the toughest CU's faced this season, as it features 12 teams ranked in the top 42 in the nation, including four of the top seven and 11 of the top 20 individuals. Colorado is looking to improve both its ranking (currently No. 122) and its record against Division I competition (22-35).
"Today was a very similar day to Monday," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "We again got off to a kind of rough start but played the rest of our round pretty solid. Overall, I was proud of the guys and thought they did a good job of finishing the round. We finished on some very tough holes right as the wind kicked up. Unfortunately, we had to play all our finishing holes into that wind but we did a good job handling that."
CU's five designated scorers combined for 13 birdies, 58 pars and 19 bogeys, basically playing a steady round, but as Edwards noted, the quintet got off to a slow start with no birdies and 10 bogeys on their first six holes. After that point, the five played a collective 4-under par.
Junior Kevin Kring carded a 2-under 70 on the 7,074-yard, par-72 Waikoloa King's Course for a two-round total of 143, which has him tied for 38th in the standings and atop the CU team leaderboard. He had three birdies and a single bogey for his round, and was never over-par on the round, while also continuing his play as one of the steadiest players in the country: out of nearly 6,600 players, he still has the fewest holes of triple bogey or worse (zero in 252 holes, and with just double bogeys). Kring led the team in final round stroke average (71.8) and will look to continue his solid last round play on Friday.
Sophomore Johnny Widmer followed up a first round 69 with a 75 for an even-par 144 standing through 36 holes, tying him for 49th. He was 3-over after five holes but played the remainder of the way even, finishing his round with three birdies, nine pars and six bogeys.
Senior Luke Symons is tied for 59th after following a first round 71 with a 2-over 74 (1-over 145 total); as the was case with Widmer, he too was 3-over after six holes but settled down played the last dozen at 1-under. He had three birdies, 10 pars and five bogeys on the day.
Sophomore Derek Fribbs is tied for 66th (72-74-146), also opening his round 3-over but through seven holes; he finished up 1-under over the final 11 and closed the day with two birdies, 12 pars and four bogeys. He owned the second best final round average on the team in the fall (72.8) as he also made a habit of closing strong in the fall.
Junior Sebastian Heisele rebounded from an opening 76 to shave three strokes off that score with a 1-over 73 Thursday, his 149 total tying him for 88th. He was never more than 1-over par for his round, which featured two birds, 13 pars and three bogeys.
Senior Michael Imperato is playing as an individual here, and he recorded a second straight 77 for a 154 total, tying him for 105th. He started out gangbusters, eagling his first hole (the 501-yard, par-5 No. 18) and then birdied No. 2 to get to 3-under through three, but closed with four bogeys and two doubles over his final 15 holes.
"We are in a good position to beat some very good teams who are just in front of us and use it as a springboard going into the Battle of the Beach (CU's next tournament)," Edwards added. "I know the guys are excited about getting out there tomorrow and shooting as low as they can."
The 54-hole tournament concludes Friday with the final round, which starts at 10:30 a.m. MST. Colorado will be paired with future Pac-12 colleague Oregon State, San Francisco and San Jose State.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS (*-playing individually)
|
T38. |
73-70-143 |
|
|
T49. |
69-75-144 |
|
|
T59. |
71-74-145 |
|
|
T66. |
72-74-146 |
|
|
T88. |
76-73-149 |
|
|
T105. |
77-77-154 |
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
|
1. |
Daniel Miernick, Oregon |
62-69-131 |
|
2. |
Kevin Tway, Oklahoma State |
67-66-133 |
|
T3. |
Tyler Weworski, Texas Tech |
70-65-135 |
|
T3. |
Sam Smith, USC |
66-69-135 |
|
5. |
Bobby Hudson, Texas |
69-67-136 |
TEAM SCORES
|
1. |
Oklahoma State |
278-273-551 |
|
2. |
UCLA |
285-273-558 |
|
3. |
Texas Tech |
284-275-559 |
|
4. |
Georgia Tech |
278-282-560 |
|
4. |
Texas |
282-278-560 |
|
6. |
Arizona State |
279-282-561 |
|
7. |
Southern California |
271-292-563 |
|
8. |
TCU |
287-281-568 |
|
8. |
UC-Davis |
284-284-568 |
|
8. |
Oregon |
281-287-568 |
|
11. |
Stanford |
293-278-571 |
|
12. |
Washington |
288-285-573 |
|
13. |
COLORADO |
285-291-576 |
|
13. |
Oregon State |
284-292-576 |
|
15. |
San Jose State |
287-293-580 |
|
15. |
San Francisco |
290-290-580 |
|
17. |
Western Washington |
294-290-584 |
|
18. |
Hawai'i |
292-295-587 |
|
19. |
Hawai'i-Hilo |
290-298-588 |
|
20. |
Florida State |
290-299-589 |
