Golfers Finish 12th In Spring Opener In Hawai'i

Saturday, February 7

Waikoloa Beach Golf Club - Kings Course: Waikoloa, Hawaii

All Day

Colorado

Amer Ari Intercollegiate

Photo by: J and L Photo

February 07, 2015 | Men's Golf

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

WAIKOLOA, Hawai'i — The University of Colorado men's golf team turned in a decent final round effort here Saturday, but it wasn't' enough to propel it upward in the standings as the Buffaloes finished 12th in the 24th Annual Hawai'i-Hilo Amer Ari Invitational, the first tournament of the spring season.

The Buffaloes, ranked 39th in the nation, recorded an 8-under par 280 team score to finish with an 846 total, which was 18 shots under par. However, it tied for just the ninth best round in the field and CU wound up slipping one spot from its 11th place standing heading into the day.

No. 29 Arizona State used a 17-under final round jump from fourth into the top spot, as the Sun Devils finished with an 826 score (38-under par), defeating second round leader, No. 22 Washington, by two shots (828). No. 3 Oregon and No. 15 Southern California tied for third with 829 scores, giving the Pac-12 the top four spots in an 18-team field featuring 13 top 50 schools, including three in the top 10 and eight in the top 20.

“It was a pretty decent day, we got off toa little bit of a slow start, and were a little disappointed with our finish with a couple of late bogeys,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “We were right there to have a good finish, a top 10 finish in perhaps what will be the strongest field in any regular season event this year, but there were some solid rounds (by other teams) out there today.”

When asked if the Buffs were lamenting their opening round, when they were mired in 16th place at 7-over par, Edwards responded, “Everybody realized that the first round cost us a good finish here, but we wanted to come out after that and play like we knew we were capable of, and we did just that. We can focus on the last two rounds and that will give us momentum for us to build upon heading into the rest of the season.”

Colorado was led by sophomore Yannik Paul, who tied for 18th after carding a 4-under par 68 in the final round for an 8-under 208 total on the 7,074-yard, par-72 on the Waikoloa King's Course layout. In recording his team-leading seventh round in the 60s this year, he racked up seven birdies for the second straight day, with eight pars and just three birdies; for the tourney, he scored 15 birds, 32 pars and just seven bogeys. It was the fourth time in his career he finished a 54-hole tournament at six-under or better and his second best effort of the season in relation to par.

He also played the par-4s at 5-under par, tied for seventh in the 112-man field.

Senior David Oraee finished in a tie for 32nd, as he closed things out with an even-par 72 for a 5-under 211; he scored an eagle and three birdies with nine pars and five birdies Saturday.

“Yannik and David had solid performances to open the spring,” Edwards said. “Yannik's back-to-back 67 and 68 in his last two rounds was really strong. He was very consistent, both were very steady.”

Sophomore Jeremy Paul, who came in as the 60th-ranked individual in the country, finished with a 1-under 71 for a 3-under 213 score, tying him for 43rd. He had four birdies and 11 pars against three bogeys. He played the par-5s at 9-under for the meet, tied for fourth-best.

Junior Philip Juel-Berg fashioned a 3-under 69 to get it to under par for the entire meet, as he tied for 53rd with a 1-under 215; it was his first round in the 60s since the first day of the fall season, when he shot the same in the afternoon round at the Air Force Invitational. He had a season-high six birdies with nine pars and three bogeys here Saturday, and was consistent throughout, finishing with 12 birdies and 31 pars against 11 boges.

Sophomore Ethan Freeman struggled a bit in the final round, ending with a 7-over 79 for a 228 score (plus-12), tying him for 96th. He had one birdie and 10 pars against six bogeys a double, the only one of the day by the CU contingent. He opened with three bogeys in his first four holes but then settled in to play his next nine even before having some trouble down the stretch.

Freshman Ben Bradley played in his first collegiate tournament after signing with the Buffs last November, wrapped things up with a 2-over 74, giving him an 8-over 224 total which tied him for 87th. He had one birdie and a team-high 14 pars against three bogeys Saturday. He played here as an individual, as his scores did not count toward CU's team total.

The Buffs as a team finished third in par-5 scoring (-32) and were eighth in birdies (62); however, the Buffs didn't fare as well on the par-3s (15th, +14) and the par-4s (14th, +13) and tied for 16th in pars with 152. The four players who had their scores count toward CU's team score in the last two rounds – both Pauls, Oraee and Juel-Berg – combined to finish those 36 holes with two eagles, 42 birdies, 79 pars and just 21 bogeys (over 85 percent par or better with no big numbers).

Washington's Cheng-Tsung Pan, the nation's top-ranked golfer, led from wire-to-wire to claim medalist honors, closing with a 3-under 69 for a 17-under 199 total. That was good for a 2-shot win over Stanford's Maverick McNealy, who shot a 65 Saturday for a 201 score. The Pac-12 dominated individually as well, with 14 players finishing among the top 25.

“We really feel that this (the Pac-12) is the premier golf conference in the country and it showed here for sure,” Edwards said. “Arizona State's been playing hot and this was their second win of the spring, and in the other, they were minus their best player. You can't take a round off when the field is stacked with Pac-12 schools.”

The Buffaloes will return to action on May 1 with a dual match against Arizona State in LaQuinta, Calif.

NOTES: Colorado's 846 score matched exactly what it shot a year ago in this same tournament (when it finished 13th out of 20 teams). It also tied for the third lowest opening score in a 54- hole tournament to open a spring season; the four lowest scores all took place in this same Hawai'i-Hilo event (844, 845 and now a pair of 846s) … CU's second round 271 score, 17-under par, topped the previous best team round in school history in relation to par (a pair of 16-under par 272s) ... Jeremy Paul lowered his season stroke average to 71.40, and he is now even on the year in his stroke count in relation to par … CU is now 59-38 against Division I competition this season after going 4-11 here … Of the 12 ranked programs CU competed against here, only two were lower than Colorado: the Buffs defeated No. 48 Oregon State but lost to No. 49 TCU, which turned in the best round of the tourney Saturday with a 20-under par 268.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T18.	Yannik Paul	73-67-68—208
T32.	David Oraee	72-67-72—211
T43.	Jeremy Paul	76-66-71—213
T53.	Philip Juel-Berg	75-71-69—215
T87.	*Ben Bradley	74-76-74—224
T96.	Ethan Freeman	75-74-79—228
*--played as an individual.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

1.	Cheng-Tsung Pan	65-65-69—199
2.	Maverick McNealy, Stanford	67-69-65—201
T3.	Brandon McIver, Oregon	67-68-68—203
T3.	Scottie Scheffler, Texas	69-66-68—203
T5.	Rico Hoey, USC	66-66-72—204
T5.	Kristoffer Ventura, Oklahoma St.	68-69-67—204
T5.	Matt Gilchrest, Auburn	71-64-69—204

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Arizona State	277-278-271—826
2.	Washington	277-269-282—828
3.	Southern California	276-273-280—829
3.	Oregon	280-277-272—829
5.	TCU	282-282-268—832
6.	Oklahoma State	282-279-272—833
6.	Texas Tech	280-287-266—833
8.	Auburn	280-274-282—836
8.	Texas	283-278-275—836
10.	UCLA	283-284-274—841
10.	Stanford	278-285-278—841
12.	COLORADO	295-271-280—846
13.	UC Davis	281-284-289—854
14.	Oregon State	280-293-286—859
15.	San Jose State	292-291-292—875
16.	Hawai'i	294-292-293—879
17.	Osaka Gakuin Univ.	298-300-287—885
18.	Hawai'i-Hilo	297-298-295—890