Men's Golf Finishes 21st At Stanford's The Goodwin

Saturday, March 28

Stanford Golf Course: Stanford, Calif.

All Day

Colorado

The Goodwin

March 28, 2015 | Men's Golf

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The University of Colorado men's golf team had hoped for a solid final round, but it never materialized and the Buffaloes finished a disappointing 21st in Stanford's “The Goodwin,” which concluded here Saturday.

No. 38 Alabama-Birmingham, the second round leader, saw No. 32 SMU catch it in the final round as the two shared team title honors with 23-under par 817 team scores. Host and No. 7 Stanford moved into third with an 823 total, with No. 33 TCU snaring fourth (824) and No. 9 Oregon and No. 25 UNLV tying for fifth (826).

The No. 37 Buffaloes managed to move up one spot on Saturday, playing for the first time in three days with a full squad; CU tied for the 13th best team score in the final round (9-over 289), but it wasn't enough to significantly jump it up in the standings in ending with a 35-over par 875 score.

Senior David Oraee led the Buffaloes here, as he closed things out with a final round 72, or 2-over par, giving him a 2-over 212 total for the meet, which tied him for 39th on the 6,727-yard, par-70 Stanford Golf Course layout. He had five birdies, seven pars, five bogeys and a double to wrap his efforts, though he was 3-under through 10 holes before scoring all his bogeys over the last eight holes. He was 3-under par on the par-4 holes for the meet (30 in all), tying for second-best among the 132 competitors here.

Sophomore Yannik Paul scored CU's best round for the second straight day, and just the second subpar round by Buff here this week as he carded a 1-under 69 for a 3-over 213 overall score, tying him for 46th. He had three birdies against two bogeys with 13 pars Saturday, and led the Buffs in par holes for the week with 35.

Sophomore Jeremy Paul, CU's No. 1 man and stroke average leader (71.4) could never get untracked here; he closed with a 5-over 75 for a 14-over 224, which tied him for 101st. He had three birdies and eight pars against six bogeys and a double in what was just the third time in 21 career tournaments he finished over par in double figures.

Sophomore Ethan Freeman turned in his best round of the three days here, a 3-over 73, giving him a 16-over 226 total, tying him for 109th. He had three birdies and 11 pars against two bogeys and two doubles; he had 33 pars over the three rounds along with seven birdies. Freeman was hanging around even par Saturday until he suffered the double bogeys back-to-back on Nos. 18 and 1. He was 1-under par on the combined 15 par-3 holes this week, which tied for fourth-best overall.

Junior Philip Juel-Berg rallied from a two-day bought with flu-like symptoms to play in the final round Saturday after having to withdraw from the first two rounds. Nowhere near full-strength, he still managed a 5-over 75 as he had one birdie, 11 pars and six bogeys.

“This was not the Colorado Buffaloes this week,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “We were in position to shoot a really good score (Saturday), but we had a poor final nine holes as a group. Yannik had a solid round. It was just a really disappointing tournament overall. Jeremy just wasn't himself this week, normally he's really solid. He had too many big numbers, and that's uncharacteristic for him. We have to move on, have a good week of practice and get ready for next week in Phoenix.”

The Buffs made the turn at even-par, but played the front nine at 9-over (CU started on No. 10); Colorado had four birdies but 14 bogeys and a double down the stretch. The Buffs did play the par-4 holes here the 10th best in the field (+28), but normally a team that dominates on the par-5 holes, CU was just 5-under par collectively, or 21st out of 24 teams.

Stanford's Maverick McNeely and UAB's Will Cannon shared medalist honors, both finishing with 13-under par 197 scores. McNealy had the inside track on the solo title, but bogeyed No. 17 to allow Cannon to pull into a tie at the end.

The finish dropped the Buffs to 73-61-1 against Division I competition; schools must finish above .500 or win their conference tournament to qualify for May's NCAA Championships. Roy didn't think the selection committee would take into consideration the Buffs were down a man for two rounds here, so the Buffs need to bounce back strong in Arizona.

Colorado has one final tune-up prior to next month's Pac-12 Championships in Pullman, Wash. The Buffaloes will participate in the Wyoming Cowboy Classic in Scottsdale, Ariz., April 6-7.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T39.	David Oraee	65-75-72—212
T46.	Yannik Paul	71-73-69—213
T101.	Jeremy Paul	75-74-75—224
T109.	Ethan Freeman	74-79-73—226
130.	Philip Juel-Berg	WD-WD-75

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

T1.	Maverick McNeely, Stanford	67-64-66—197
T1.	Will Cannon, UAB	66-62-69—197
3.	Bryson Dechambeau, SMU	67-66-65—198
4.	John Oda, UNLV	64-64-71—199
5.	Austin Smotherman, SMU	70-70-62—202

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Alabama-Birmingham	272-269-276—817
1.	SMU	279-268-270—817
3.	Stanford	276-275-272—823
4.	TCU	264-285-275—824
5.	Nevada-Las Vegas	274-271-281—826
5.	Oregon	280-275-271—826
7.	St. Mary's	277-285-281—843
8.	Southern California	290-277-277—844
9.	UC Davis	274-278-293—845
10.	Washington State	277-285-286—848
11.	Pepperdine	281-286-284—851
12.	Santa Clara	281-280-292—853
13.	Loyola-Marymount	282-292-282—856
14.	Brigham Young	282-284-292—858
14.	San Jose State	278-290-290—858
16.	Northwestern	288-283-289—860
17.	Minnesota	287-295-286—868
18.	San Francisco	290-292-289—871
19.	Colorado State	291-292-290—873
19.	Denver	283-292-298—873
21.	COLORADO	285-301-289—875
22.	Boise State	290-296-290—876
23.	Arizona	291-294-293—878
24.	Princeton	296-302-297—895