Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Round Three
Paul Co-Medalist As Buffs Finish Fourth In Oregon
March 25, 2014 | Men's Golf
CRESWELL, Ore. — The University of Colorado men's golf team finished fourth here Tuesday but saw freshman Jeremy Paul turn in a record performance in sharing medalist honors as the 25th Annual Oregon Duck Invitational came to a close.
Paul opened with a first round 76 but then played the next 36 holes at 7-under par to become just the second freshman to win a collegiate golf tournament in CU history, but the first to do so in a 54-hole meet.
No. 62 Oregon State turned in the best score of the final round and pulled away for the team win, finishing with a 9-over par team scorer of 873; a regular participant in this event, it was the Beavers' second win in its rivals home tournament to go with its only other it captured back in 1998. No. 73 Minnesota vaulted into second with an 882 total, while host and No. 45 Oregon finished third (884).
Colorado, ranked No. 52 and which started the day tied for seventh, shot the third best team score (a 9-over 297) in the final round and jumped three spots into a fourth place finish with an 892 total, or 28-over par. Loyola-Marymount rounded out the top five (893).
The conditions were challenging to say the least, with light rain off and on, and while the temperature did warm into the mid-50s, the winds picked up around midday and gusted from 19 to 30 miles per hour at times.
"Jeremy played really well and we're really excited for him to win the tournament, and he had a spectacular finish to do to so,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “He didn't let his first round bother him and went right back out and played better than anyone else over the last 36 holes.”
Paul birdied his final two holes of the day, Nos. 3 and 4, to pull into a tie for medalist honors; he closed with a 2-under 70, giving him a 3-under 213 total overall on the 7,165-yard, par-72 Emerald Valley Golf Club course layout. Paul, who started the day two out of the lead, tied for the top spot with Minnesota's Jose Mendez, who finished things off with a 1-under 71 after entering the day one back of the top spot.
Paul started his day on No. 5 in the shotgun format, and mainly scored pars, as through 16 holes, he had 14 of those along with a birdie on No. 8 and a bogey on No. 18. On No. 3, he made an 18-foot putt for his birdie, and then on his last hole, the 405-yard, par-4 No. 4, he hit what he called his “best shot of the day,” a 6-iron against the wind to within five feet and made birdie from there.
Paul, who had the only second round score in the 60s (a 5-under 67 at that), also shot the low score Tuesday, matched by just one other player as only five players bettered par. He was the only player in the field to shoot back-to-back rounds under par and along with Mendez, were the only ones in the 88-player field to best par twice.
“I knew that (he needed two birdies), because of the live scoring that I was two behind, but he (Mendez) also had some holes left, too,” Paul said. “I thought a couple of birdies to close out might be enough to either win it or at least tie.
“My game felt pretty good, I just made a couple of bad decisions (in the first round) that cost me a couple of shots, but my long game felt pretty good overall. I just continued playing the same way, made better decisions and then I made some putts for a really good score. My long game was really, really good and just kept getting better.”
The last Buffalo to earn medalist honors was Jason Burstyn, who captured the Air Force Falcon Invitational in September 2012; Paul also was the first CU player to medal in an out-of-state tournament since the fall of 2009, when Derek Tolan won both the USF Olympic Challenge and the New Mexico Tucker Invitational.
Paul finished among the tournament leaders in par-3 (-1, sixth), par-4 (+2, fourth) and par-5 scoring (-4, fifth), birdies (10, seventh), pars (36, 11th) and was one of six players to score an eagle; his 47 holes of par or better were second to Mendez' 48.
Junior David Oraee was one of those other five players who tamed Emerald Valley, as he finished with a 1-under 71 for an 8-over 224, which tied him for 25th. He tied for a team-high four birdies in the final round, one more than he managed in the first 36 holes, and scored 11 pars to just three bogeys, with his Tuesday highlight a run of three straight birdies on holes 1 through 3. His 34 pars for the week were 18th in the field.
All three other Buffs closed things out with 6-over par 78s. Sophomore Philip Juel-Berg and freshman Andrew Bonner both tied for 51st with 13-over 229 efforts, while freshman Yannik Paul tied for 66th with a 17-over 233.
Bonner, who was tied for third after the first round after posting one of just eight under par scores (2-under 70), appeared as if he would go low again after opening with three straight birdies on Nos. 6-8, but a triple bogey on No. 12 brought him back down to Earth, so-to-speak. He was still even after his first nine holes but two doubles and two bogeys down the stretch led to his 78. He tied for the third most birdies in the field with 11, and played the dozen par-3 holes here at even overall, tied for 11th.
Juel-Berg had a birdie and 11 pars Tuesday, against five bogeys and a double; he birdied his third hole of the day and was still 1-under through nine, but had some struggles down the stretch and played his last four holes at 4-over. He had 32 pars for the tourney.
The younger Paul identical twin started off with one of his two birdies Tuesday, but like his two teammates that matched his 78, lost strokes late as he played his last holes at 3-over. He did play the 12 par-3 holes well, as collectively at 2-under, he was fourth best in the field.
“We're glad we moved up the board a little bit, we had a chance to have a really good round, but some of the guys just struggled a little bit on a tough golf course,” Edwards said. “We're disappointed in the fact that we thought we could have finished a little bit better. But when it's a difficult course and with the wind, I think overall it was a satisfying day with Jeremy rallying to win and that we were still able to move up in the standings. There was good energy from the group.”
|
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
|
T1. |
76-67-70—213 |
|
|
T25. |
75-78-71—224 |
|
|
T51. |
70-81-78—229 |
|
|
T51. |
73-78-78—229 |
|
|
T66. |
77-78-78—233 |
|
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
|
T1. |
Jeremy Paul, Colorado |
76-67-70—213 |
|
T1. |
Jose Mendez, Minnesota |
69-73-71—213 |
|
T3. |
Brandon Baumgarten, Oregon |
73-72-71—216 |
|
T3. |
Kevin Murphy, Oregon State |
72-73-71—216 |
|
T3. |
Byron Meth, Pacific |
69-72-75—216 |
|
TEAM STANDINGS |
|
1. |
Oregon State |
292-290-291—873 |
|
2. |
Minnesota |
294-294-294—882 |
|
3. |
Oregon |
292-292-300—884 |
|
4. |
COLORADO |
294-301-297—892 |
|
5. |
Loyola-Marymount |
292-293-308—893 |
|
T6. |
Nevada |
295-295-305—895 |
|
T6. |
Boise State |
295-299-301—895 |
|
8. |
Santa Clara |
301-300-298—899 |
|
9. |
St. Mary's |
298-301-303—902 |
|
10. |
Utah |
295-301-307—903 |
|
T11. |
Wyoming |
304-296-306—906 |
|
T11. |
Pacific |
306-295-305—906 |
|
T11. |
San Jose State |
306-301-299—906 |
|
T14. |
Idaho |
295-300-314—909 |
|
T14. |
Gonzaga |
302-301-306—909 |
|
16. |
Air Force |
295-303-314—912 |
