Oregon Outduels Buffs In Wyoming Intercollegiate

Sunday, February 23

Palm Desert, CA

All Day

Colorado

Round Four

February 23, 2014 | Men's Golf

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

PALM DESERT, Calif. — The University of Colorado men's golf team dueled back and forth for the lead with Oregon here Sunday, but in the end, the Ducks held off the Buffaloes as CU finished second in the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate.

Oregon, ranked No. 46 in the nation, finished with a team score of 837, good for a three-stroke win over No. 62 Colorado, which had a 24-under par tally of 840. The Ducks entered the final round a stroke up on the Buffs, and the lead see-sawed through the first 10 holes. Oregon took control after CU had some troubles on No. 11, one time building the lead to six strokes; Colorado cut that in half but ran out of holes and settled for the tournament's runner-up.

No. 41 and Idaho tied for third with 849 scores, while No. 67 Oregon State rounded out the top five (855).

"Overall, it was a very good tournament for us, but we're disappointed we didn't get the win,” said CU head coach Roy Edwards. “We did beat a lot of good teams, and it (February) was a very good month for us. We got a lot of work done, a lot of practice in, and we're satisfied with where we are. The team is growing up right before my very eyes, and each tournament we're a little bit better than the last.” CU beat four teams ranked ahead of it in last weeks polls.

The Buffs leave Palm Desert after making a few additions to the school's record book. Colorado has now turned in 12 straight rounds at or under par (10 under, two even), doubling the previous school record, with the last six of those all under par, equaling the mark that was done twice previously, first in the 1999-2000 season and again in 2010-11. Freshman Jeremy Paul was under par all three rounds here, extending his streak to seven; the old mark of five was held by three players.

CU's 24-under par team score tied the second best tournament score in school history, previously accomplished twice (in 2005 and 2011), and along with CU's 17- and 18- under efforts in its last two meets, the Buffs have recorded three of its eight best scores in history their last three times out. Colorado's 59-under par count over these three meets is another school best.

“We played well, we're a really good ball-striking team,” Edwards said. “The difference was we putted our best in the first round and as a result, put our best single round score in to the books. We just couldn't get a lot of putts to fall the last two days.”

Freshman Yannik Paul, one minute younger than his identical twin Jeremy, led the Buffaloes here with a 6-under 210; he was the tournament's individual leader after a first round 66 and entered the final round tied for 12th. He closed with a 70 on the 7,305-yard, par-72 The Classic Course layout for a 6-under 210 total and in a three-way tie for fifth. He wrapped things up with three birdies, 14 pars and a bogey Sunday, and had an eagle, 11 birdies and 35 pars on the weekend against just seven bogeys. He also tied for third among the 128-man field in par-5 scoring, as he played the dozen of those at 7-under par.

Three Buffs tied for 10th with 4-under 212 scores, junior David Oraee, sophomore Philip Juel-Berg and the elder Paul twin, who shot the best final round of the trio, a 2-under 70.

Paul mirrored his younger brother with three birdies, 14 pars and a single bogey in the final round. He was fifth in the tournament with 40 total pars, with his 4-under combined score for the 30 par-4 holes also fifth-best in the field. Paul lowered his team-leading stroke average to 72.05, a shade better than his twin's 72.11, as including his current record streak of seven straight under par rounds, 11 of his last 12 have been red numbers which has led to four straight tournaments under par, all at 4-under or lower, another all-time CU best.

Juel-Berg closed with a 1-under 71, scoring an eagle, four birdies and eight pars against five bogeys Sunday. He tied for the lead in par-5 scoring, playing the dozen long ones at 12-under, and led the Buffaloes in birdies with 13, tied for 11th most overall. The 212 matched his career collegiate best and was his third straight tournament under par.

Oraee shot a 1-over 73, the only over par round in the meet CU had to count toward team scoring, with that directly traced to trouble he had on No. 11, a challenging 459-yard, par-4; he put his drive in the water and eventually took a double bogey. Otherwise, he had two birdies, 14 pars and a bogey to wrap things up, with that double just his sixth hole all year (out of 378) that was worse than a bogey. His 2-under total on the par-4 holes was still sixth-best in the meet after he had played them the best after each of the first two rounds.

Rounding out the CU designated scorers was freshman Andrew Bonner, who entered the day tied for seventh but struggled to a 6-over 78; he finished tied for 42nd after fashioning a 1-over 217 overall. He, too, had trouble on No. 11, as he knocked two into the water and had to take a quadruple bogey, to go with a birdie, 13 pars and three bogeys for his round. He did play the 12 par-5 holes at 6-under par, tied for eighth-best in the field.

Sophomore Drew Trujillo, one of two Buffaloes who competed individually here, posted three straight even-par 72s, which tied him for 36th. That score would have led four teams and been the second-best on nine others here third weekend. He closed with three birdies, 13 pars, a bogey and a double, and had nine birdies and 37 pars with just eight holes over par (seven bogeys) in the meet.

Redshirt freshman Kraig McLeod struggled to a 5-over 77 in the final round, and tied for 100th with a 12-over 228 total. He managed one birdie and 12 pars with four bogeys and a double Sunday to close out his effort here. A bright spot for his was that his 1-under combined score on the 12 par-3s tied for ninth best in the field, with Oraee and Trujillo joining him.

Of the 12 scores that counted toward CU's team score, 11 were under par and the twelfth was just 1-over; for those 216 holes, the scorers combined for two eagles, 46 birdies and 145 pars, with just 23 holes worse than par (20 bogeys and three doubles). Colorado is now 42-under par for the spring.

TCU's Julie Brun defended his individual title here by shooting the low round of the tournament, a 7-under 65 to finish at 13-under 203. He ran away from the field, as Oregon's Sulman Raza was second at 8-under 208.

The Buffs will return to action next month in the Bandon Dunes Invitational March 9-11 in Bandon, Ore., where Colorado will try to defend its tournament title won last March.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T5.	Yannik Paul	66-74-70—210
T10.	David Oraee	68-71-73—212
T10.	Philip Juel-Berg	70-71-71—212
T10.	Jeremy Paul	71-71-70—212
T36.	*Drew Trujillo	72-72-72—216
T42.	Andrew Bonner	68-71-78—217
T100.	*Kraig McLeod	75-76-77—228

*—competed individually.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

1.	Julien Brun, TCU	72-66-65—203
2.	Sulman Raza, Oregon	70-68-70—208
T3.	Ryan Porch, Idaho	79-69-65—209
T3.	Ryann Ree, Oregon	71-66-72—209
T5.	Yannik Paul, Colorado	66-74-70—210
T5.	Brandon McIver, Oregon	68-72-70—210
T5.	David Gazzolo, UC-Riverside	70-70-70—210

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Oregon	276-279-282—837
2.	COLORADO	272-284-284—840
T3.	Idaho	289-277-283—849
T3.	TCU	293-279-277—849
5.	Oregon State	283-283-289—855
6.	Iowa State	291-281-287—859
7.	Santa Clara	284-285-291—860
8.	Loyola-Marymount	290-283-289—862
9.	UT-Arlington	284-290-290—864
10.	Cal-Poly	293-287-285—865
11.	Louisiana-Monroe	294-295-280—869
12.	Texas Tech	290-291-290—871
13.	San Francisco	290-299-283—872
14.	UC-Santa Barbara	290-290-297—877
T15.	Kansas State	291-295-293—879
T15.	Kansas	299-291-289—879
17.	Denver	298-293-289—880
18.	Nebraska	291-293-297—881
T19.	UC-Riverside	300-293-296—889
T19.	Wyoming	298-298-293—889
21.	Southern Utah	301-296-295—892
22.	Arkansas-Little Rock	299-297-310—906
23.	George Mason	306-305-302—913