Colorado University Athletics
Golfers 13th In Suspended Western Intercollegiate
April 16, 2011 | Men's Golf
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The University of Colorado men's golf team is in 13th place with nearly two rounds completed in the 65th Annual Western Intercollegiate, the longest running college golf tournament west of the Mississippi River.
Play was suspended due to darkness just after 8 p.m. PST, with most teams having one or two holes remaining to play. The start of the tournament was delayed by 1 hour and 45 minutes due to fog that often rolls into the San Francisco Bay Area after sunrise.
Scores were tabulated through anywhere from 13 to 15 holes completed for all the teams; No. 3 UCLA owned a comfortable 10-stroke lead at the end of Saturday's play, as the Bruins were the only team under par (minus-2) when play was stopped. No. 7 Augusta State is in second (8-over), while No. 22 Arizona State and No. 26 Oregon are tied for a distant third (plus-18).
Colorado, ranked No. 97, shot a 32-over 382 team score in the first round, but rebounded to stand at 17-over the second time around the 6,615-yard, par-70 Pasatiempo Golf Course layout. The Buffs are thus 49-over par, standing 13th in the 15-team field.
This meet is also one of the few that have six golfers competing for each team, with five counting toward a school's overall team score. That has basically hurt the Buffaloes, who have struggled to find some consistency in the fourth and fifth spots this season, much less six positions deep.
The average first round score in the 92-man field was 74.2, but 73.1 for the five scorers for each team; Colorado's numbers were 77.7 and 76.4, respectively, thus accounting for the Buff struggles for the opening 18 holes. The six Buffaloes had as many birdies (14) as they did double bogeys (12) or worse (two triples) as CU was in 14th place.
Many of CU's problems developed early; all six Buffaloes failed to score par on their opening holes (four bogeys, two doubles), and collectively had just seven pars over the first 24 holes. The five would-be scorers were 17-over at that point, but did rebound to play the next 14 holes at a combined 13-over. Fast-forward to the second round, and CU's start was light years better on those first four holes, with four birdies and 14 pars, and the five low scores at only plus-4.
"We just made too many big numbers, too many penal mistakes, like hitting it out of bounds," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "The greens are extremely difficult here, but we still had too many three putts. Just kind of a sloppy day overall. It's a really hard golf course, and to play well, you have to be really disciplined. It plays more difficult than the yardage listed on the cards. We started terrible, but you have to give the guys credit, they battled back, especially at the end of the round. It was good to see them fight."
Sophomore Jason Burstyn turned in CU's best first round score, a 2-over 72, rallying with four birdies on his last five holes after standing at 6-over through 13. He was doing the same the second 18, as he was 1-over with just the par-5 No. 9 hole remaining to complete his round. Burstyn's eight birdies Saturday were a team-best, and his 3-over score for the day had him in a tie for 20th.
Junior Sebastian Heisele is tied for 34th, opening with a 4-over 74 and standing at 2-over through 17 holes in his second loop around Pasatiempo for an overall 6-over score. He was actually 1-under through 12 in the afternoon before scoring a bogey and a double back-to-back on the Nos. 5 and 6 holes.
Sophomore Pat Wilson and junior Kevin Kring are tied for 71st, both at 12-over par through 35 holes. Wilson opened with a 78 and Kring a 79.
Two Buffaloes did complete their second rounds. Senior Luke Symons recorded a pair of 79s for a 158 (18-over) total, tied for 83rd, while sophomore Derek Fribbs logged an 84-81-165 scorecard to stand in 91st place.
Stanford's Andrew Yun was leading at the close of play Saturday, as he recorded a 2-under 68 in the morning and was 1-under par through 15 holes in the afternoon, taking a 3-under score into the clubhouse. That led five players by one shot.
The meet is almost a preview of CU's first Pac-12 Conference championship meet that is still over a year away - seven teams in the field, all in the nation's top 30, are members of the league the Buffaloes officially join this July 1. Prior to this weekend, the Buffs had already lined up 29 times against Pac-12 competition (including fellow newcomer Utah), fairly typical of CU's long-standing schedule philosophy, while seeing Big 12 league members just eight times.
"If we get to play tomorrow, I think will turn in a much better round. They are starting to figure out the golf course," Edwards said.
This is the seventh time the Buffs are competing in the Western, with great success two of the last three visits here. Colorado won the 2004 event and tied for second two years ago.
The second round will be completed Sunday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start, pending possible foggy conditions, and then the teams will continue play right into the third and final round. It will be CU's final competitive round ahead of its last appearance in the Big 12 Championships, which are set for April 25-27.
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| T20. | Jason Burstyn............. | 72-(+1)-(+3) |
| T34. | Sebastian Heisele.... | 74-(+2)-(+6) |
| T71. | Pat Wilson..................... | 78-(+4)-(+12) |
| T71. | Kevin Kring.................. | 79-(+3)-(+12) |
| T83 | Luke Symons.............. | 79-79-158 |
| 91. | Derek Fribbs............. | 84-81-165 |
| TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS |
| 1. | Andrew Yun, Stanford...................... | 68-(-1)-(-3) |
| T2. | Patrick Reed, Augusta St. .............. | 66-(+2)-(-2) |
| T2. | Alex Kim, UCLA.................................... | 68-( E)-(-2) |
| T2. | Mark Hubbard, San Jose St. ........ | 69-(-1)-(-2) |
| T2. | Jesper Kennegard, Arizona St..... | 66-(+2)-(-2) |
| TEAM SCORES |
| 1. | UCLA....................................................... | 347-(+1)-(-2) thru 15 holes |
| 2. | Augusta State................................. | 355-(+3)-(+8) thru 15 holes |
| 3. | Oregon.................................................. | 360-(+8)-(+18) thru 14 holes |
| 3. | Arizona State................................... | 355-(+13)-(+18) thru 14 holes |
| 5. | San Diego State............................ | 354-(+15)-(+19) thru 14 holes |
| 6. | Southern California................. | 362-(+8)-(+20) thru 13 holes |
| 6. | California......................................... | 354-(+16)-(+20) thru 14 holes |
| 8. | San Jose State............................... | 365-(+11)-(+26) thru 14 holes |
| 9. | UC-Irvine.......................................... | 370-(+8)-(+28) thru 14 holes |
| 10. | New Mexico State...................... | 368-(+14)-(+32) thru 14 holes |
| 11. | Stanford............................................ | 375-(+10)-(+35) thru 14 holes |
| 12. | Washington.................................... | 361-(+26)-(+37) thru 15 holes |
| 13. | COLORADO.......................... | 382-(+17)-(+49) thru 15 holes |
| 14. | Denver................................................... | 380-(+20)-(+50) thru 13 holes |
| 15. | Hawaii.................................................... | 393-(+37)-(+80) thru 13 holes |
