Colorado
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Golfers Battle Elements To Finish Fifth In Oregon
March 12, 2011 | Men's Golf
BANDON, Ore. ? The University of Colorado men's golf team battled the elements and turned in its finest performance of the season, as the Buffaloes finished fifth in the Bandon Dunes Championship here Saturday on the central Oregon coast.
No. 27 Washington left from start-to-finish and won by eight strokes over rival and No. 37 Oregon, as the Huskies finished with a 7-over par 871 team score. After Oregon grabbed runner-up honors with an 879 total, No. 4 Florida came in third (881), followed by No. 40 Oregon State (890) and Colorado (893) to round out the top five.
The teams battled gusting winds in the 30-to-48 mile per hour range much of the round, along with some light rain that permeated the area off-and-on throughout. The start of play was delayed about three hours due to heavy rain overnight that produced standing water around the course. And with the temperature hovering around 40 degrees, the wind chill was in the 25-to-30 degree vicinity most the day.
Junior Sebastian Heisele turned his best effort of the season as well as one of his top career tournaments in tying for sixth. He shot a 2-over 74 to finish with a 219 score, or 3-over par on the 6,798-yard, par-72 Bandon Dunes course layout. He had tied for the team best with 11 birdies over three rounds, including three Saturday, with 29 pars and 14 bogeys, playing around par the entire tournament through.
Heisele matched his second best finish in a major collegiate tournament, surpassed by a tie for fourth in the Wyoming Cowboy Classic last April and equaling the sixth-place tie he had as a freshman in the Alister Mackenzie Invitational.
Sophomore Jason Burstyn matched Heisele's 2-over 74 round, tying for 13th overall with a 5-over 221 score. He also was consistent in Saturday's conditions, duplicating Heisele's three birdie-10 par-five bogey round. It was his first career top 20 finish in college major. Burstyn had team bests for the most pars (36) and the fewest holes over par (12, all bogeys).
The two 74s by the Buffaloes tied for the fifth best 18-hole score in the final round. Only one player bested par (that a 1-under 71), with one equaling it along with a pair of 73s. The average score in the 91-man field was 78.3, with 31 golfers unable to break 80; that was up from 75.4 for the first round and 77.2 for the second.
Sophomore Derek Fribbs closed with a 6-over 78 to give him a 225 score (9-over), still good for a 25th-place tie. He opened with a double bogey, his lone one of the meet, but got right back to even with two straight birdies. He tied for the team-high with 11 birds, three Saturday, when he also had seven pars and seven bogeys with the one double.
Senior Luke Symons had a 7-over 79 to wrap the tournament, in which he started with 68 en route to a 231 total, 15-over par, tying him for 41st. He had two birdies, eight pars, seven bogeys and one double during his final round.
Junior Kevin Kring struggled here both days, closing with a 10-over 82 after a pair of 81s Friday; that gave him a 28-over 244 total to place 77th. He had 10 pars, seven bogeys and a triple, his third in as many rounds, after going 331 holes this season without one; that was either one of or the longest streak in the nation. CU's stroke average leader entering the meet managed just one birdie, most uncharacteristic for the steady Kring.
“Definitely some of the worst conditions you can ever have to play, extremely windy on a tough golf course,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “It could have been worse, it could have rained a lot harder. What's crazy was the Pacific Ocean (bordered the golf course), it was producing the largest waves I've ever seen and they just came flying in. It's an incredibly tough golf course and when you add that in, it was very intimidating.
“It was great to see Sebastian and Jason play as well as they did this week, and their rounds today were really exceptional. There's no other way to put it,” he continued. “Overall, the guys really wanted to come out play solid this week and build into the coming weeks. That's exactly what they did and I'm proud of them for that.”
Washington's Charlie Hughes, who was 9-under par after two rounds, succumbed like the rest of the field, finishing up with a 3-over 75 for a 210 total, still 6-under, to win going away by six strokes.
The Buffaloes will resume play in just under two weeks, returning to the Beaver State to participate in the Oregon Duck Invitational in Eugene.
Note: This tournament was an “Under Four Sanctioned” event, where methods were applied to play a round of golf in less than four hours rather than the usual five-plus hours for a collegiate round. This was the fourth such tournament with the rules (challenging to playing ready golf in a unique way, ridding the game of idle time, etc.), with length of play in the other three drastically reduced. The methods enjoyed some success this week.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
T 6. Sebastian Heisele....................... 68-77-74?219
T13. Jason Burstyn............................. 76-71-74?221
T25. Derek Fribbs................................ 75-72-78?225
T41. Luke Symons.............................. 68-84-79?231
77. Kevin Kring................................... 81-81-82?244
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
1. Charlie Hughes, Washington...... 67-68-75?210
2. Chris Williams, Washington...... 70-72-74?216
3. Wesley Bryan, South Carolina... 70-73-74?217
T4. Andrew Vijarro, Oregon.............. 68-77-73?218
T4. Jack Dukeminier, Oregon........... 70-73-75?218
TEAM SCORES
1. Washington............................. 281-285-305?871
2. Oregon..................................... 282-299-298?879
3. Florida...................................... 283-291-307?881
4. Oregon State........................... 292-296-302?890
5. COLORADO............................. 287-301-305?893
6. San Jose State........................ 300-293-301?894
7. St. Mary's................................ 293-300-307?900
7. South Carolina......................... 296-298-306?900
9. Vanderbilt................................ 298-304-302?904
10. Loyola-Marymount................. 312-302-316?930
11. Mercer..................................... 303-312-317?932
12. Northern Colorado................... 298-319-318?935
13. Utah Valley State.................... 315-310-317?942
14. Gonzaga................................... 312-317-317?946
15. Boise State.............................. 312-328-325?965
16. British Columbia..................... 307-315-WD?DNF
Players Mentioned
