Colorado University Athletics
Men's Golfers To Open Spring Season In Hawai'i
February 03, 2015 | Men's Golf
WAIKOLOA, Hawai'i - The University of Colorado men's golf team, coming off its highest final fall ranking in six years, will get tested right out of the chute in its spring opener this week, as the Buffaloes will once again participate in the 24th annual Amer Ari Hawaii-Hilo Invitational.
The tournament, which runs this Thursday through Saturday, will provide an indication of where No. 39 CU stands right out of the gate, and not just nationally; with seven other Pac-12 schools competing, the Buffs will get an early idea of where they stand in the conference.
Annually, the field competing here is one of the strongest in the spring, and it's no exception this year, as three of the top 10, eight of the top 20 and 13 top 50 schools will be represented. It also includes 14 of the nation's top 40 individuals.
Colorado was listed 39th in both the final fall rankings by GolfStat and Golfweek, and will be joined in the field by league counterparts Oregon (No. 2 GS, No. 3 GW), UCLA (7/4), USC (14/15), Stanford (16/14), Washington (19/22), Arizona State (25/29) and Oregon State (48/47). Other top schools competing include Texas (4/11), Auburn (13/18), Texas Tech (18/16), Oklahoma State (27/31) and TCU (49/40).
The three-day tournament is a real treat for the participants, as the tournament will be played on the renowned 7,074-yard, par-72 Waikoloa King's Course on Hawai'i's Big Island, a Scottish links-style layout with fairways interspersed between ancient lava fields, along with numerous lakes and pot bunkers. The teams will play 18 holes each day in a shotgun start format at 10:30 a.m. MST, and do so in weather expected to be near-perfect with temperatures in the upper 70s and little chance of precipitation.
Colorado head coach Roy Edwards said the team is looking forward to picking up where it left off in the fall, as well as being excited to capitalize on the great weather last week in Colorado to get in some solid practice time outdoors.
"Everyone is very excited to get the spring season going, Edwards said. "We had a good practice in Arizona (with some CU alumni) and were able to get some good ones in last week at home, so we've headed here to Hawai'i to perform at a high level. Our confidence is really high among the team.
"This tournament is almost always ranked as one of the top 10 amateur tournaments in the world, not just in college golf, due to the players it attracts," Edwards added. "It's often ranked higher than all of the regionals. It's truly an elite tournament, and our guys are motivated to go out and perform well. We want to compete and beat these kind of teams and players and let them know we should be considered in the same category."
Six Buffaloes are on trip: senior David Oraee (72.4 fall stroke average), junior Philip Juel-Berg (75.3) and sophomores Jeremy Paul (71.5, the team leader), Yannik Paul (72.6) and Ethan Freeman (75.0) and freshman Ben Bradley, who signed with the Buffs in November and will be competing in his first college tournament. All of the aforementioned others competed in all six fall competitions. The five veterans will have their scores count toward the team total, while Bradley will be playing as an individual.
CU finished 13th in a field of 20 last year, with Jeremy Paul recording CU's top effort, tying for 16th with a 69-68-70'207 scorecard, or 9-under par. Juel-Berg (212) and Oraee (214) also were under par with Yannik Paul a shade over (218).
