Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Pac-12 Championships
Golfers Finish 11th At Pac-12 Championships
April 29, 2015 | Men's Golf
PULLMAN, Wash. — The University of Colorado men's golf team logged its best score of the four this week Wednesday, but remained stuck in the standings and finished in 11th place as the 56th annual Pac-12 Championships came to a close.
No. 9 Stanford ran away from the field, recording the best single round of the tournament on the last day, a 10-under 340, to finish at 4-under par (1,396). That was 14 strokes better than No. 8 Oregon, which had a 6-under 344 to rise from fourth into second (1,410). Third round leader, No. 3 Arizona State, fell into third, carding a 14-over 364 for a 1,411 total; No. 16 Southern California (1,417) and No. 12 Washington (1,435) rounded out the top five.
Colorado, ranked No. 48, posted a team score of 9-over 359 for a final score of 1,459, or 59-over par; CU flirted with 10th place much of the day but faltered late to slip back into 11th.
The Buffaloes were in position to shoot one of the top three scores in the final round, possibly under par, until the five players who wound up scoring toward the team total played the last four holes of the day at 12-over par. CU closed with its best round of the 72-hole meet, a 9-over 359, which was still the fifth best of the day. The struggles the Buffs endured down the stretch cost CU just one spot in the standings, as there was too much ground to make up after a tough opening day.
Sophomore Yannik Paul led CU from wire-to-wire here, as he turned in a 2-under 68, tied for the sixth best score in the final round. He tied for 19th overall with a 5-over 285 on the 7,257-yard, par-70 Palouse Ridge Golf Club course layout. He had an eagle on No. 2, a 379-yard, par-4, pitching in from 45 yards out; he also had five birdies, seven pars and five bogeys. His 12 birdies for the week tied for the 13th-most in the field, and he played the par-5s the 10th-best at 4-under. Paul's 285 is the second best gross score for a 72-hole tournament in school history (tying for 12th best in relation to par), and CU's best in the Pac-12 meet, the second best in relation to par.
“It was a better day, but still wasn't a very good tournament,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “We had a good round going, but just weren't able to finish it off.
“Yannik played well overall, but in a six-count-five, there's very small room for error,” he continued. “We definitely made too many big numbers in the overall scheme of things. The first two rounds, we didn't execute or stick with our game plan, and had too many mistakes early on. Those shots count the same. Ultimately, we just need to keep improving in a few areas.”
Sophomore Jeremy Paul, the older identical twin and CU's stroke average leader (71.7) fired a second straight 1-under 69 to finish with an 8-over 288, tying him for 29th. Both 69s were identical – three birdies, 13 pars, two bogeys – and his 48 pars were 12th-most for the tournament. He played the par-4 holes even for the week, tied for fourth best in the field. He was one of just 13 players under par in the final round.
Junior Philip Juel-Berg closed with an even-par 70 for a 10-over total of 290, which tied him for 34th; he was in position for an under par round until he scored bogeys on his last two holes of the day. He had four birdies Wednesday, giving him 10 for the week, the second-most by a Buff, along with 10 pars and four bogeys.
Both Paul brothers had just two holes worse than bogey for the week, with Juel-Berg just scoring three higher.
Senior David Oraee never got untracked here, placing 61st with a 21-over 301 after a final round 74, which was his best of the four; he had two birdies, 12 pars, two bogeys and two doubles to close things out. He didn't have any big numbers here, and just five double bogeys, but his birdie count for the week – five – was his lowest for the year in any tournament. Second on the squad in stroke average coming in (71.8), his 46 pars tied for the 25th most in the 72-man field, however.
Sophomore Ethan Freeman finished 65th as he wrapped things up with a 8-over 78, giving him 306 total for the tournament, or 26-over par. He had two birdies and seven pars against nine birdies in the final round, with nine birdies and 37 pars for the week; almost half of his overage can be traced to just four holes here, two doubles, a triple and a quintuple accounting for 12 of those extra strokes.
Junior Drew Trujillo rounded out the CU contingent here, but was unable to match the success he has in the middle rounds, closing with an 80 for a 27-over 307; after opening with an 85, he had bounced back with the best middle 36 holes by a Buffalo here (72-70—142, or 2-over). Just three over par through 12 holes Wednesday, he struggled down the stretch with three bogeys and two doubles. He did have an eagle, nine birdies and 33 pars overall in finishing 66th.
NOTES: The weather was the most challenging of the three days, with cooler temperatures (low 50s) but the winds constantly in the 15-20 mile per hour range ... The NCAA will announce the 81-team national championship field this coming Monday (May 4), between 8-9 a.m. MDT on the Golf Channel; the schools will be spread over six regional sites ... CU did lose to seven teams ahead of them in the national rankings, plus the host school (Washington State), which usually gets a boost playing its home course ... CU's gross team score – 1,459 – was actually the lowest in the four years it has been a member of the Pac-12, as well as its lowest-ever in a 6-score-5 tournament; part of that is due to the par-70 configuration, with one less par-5 and additional par-3 ... Those par-5s uncharacteristically hurt CU here, as the Buffs usually feast on them but played the 60 combined at 6-over par this week; Oregon led the fields at 25-under ... The average score in the tournament was a 72.85 (Colorado's was 74.04) ... CU, Stanford and Arizona were the only schools to improve their team score in each round.
|
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
|
T19. |
72-71-74-68—285 |
|
|
T29. |
76-74-69-69—288 |
|
|
T34. |
74-73-73-70—290 |
|
|
61. |
77-75-75-74—301 |
|
|
65. |
75-75-78-78—306 |
|
|
66. |
85-72-70-80—307 |
|
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
|
1. |
Maverick McNealy, Stanford |
65-68-68-61—262 |
|
2. |
Aaron Wise, Oregon. |
65-70-70-67—272 |
|
T3. |
George Cunningham, Arizona |
71-70-68-67—276 |
|
T3. |
Jonathan Garrick, UCLA |
69-72-70-65—276 |
|
5. |
Broc Johnson, Arizona State |
69-72-65-72—278 |
|
T6. |
Cheng-Tsung Pan, Washington |
70-70-70-70—280 |
|
T6. |
Zach Foushee, Oregon |
70-74-68-68—280 |
|
T6. |
K.K. Limbhasut, California |
70-69-66-75—280 |
|
T6. |
Sean Crocker, Southern Cal |
72-68-72-68—280 |
|
T6. |
Jon Rahm, Arizona State |
70-68-74-68—280 |
TEAM STANDINGS
|
1. |
Stanford |
362-348-346-340—1396 |
|
T2. |
Arizona State |
354-351-342-363—1410 |
|
T2. |
Oregon |
357-360-349-344—1410 |
|
4. |
Southern California |
355-344-361-357—1417 |
|
5. |
Washington |
363-353-357-362—1435 |
|
6. |
Oregon State |
361-357-357-363—1438 |
|
7. |
California |
359-361-356-364—1440 |
|
8. |
UCLA |
364-358-358-362—1442 |
|
9. |
Arizona |
372-364-359-351—1446 |
|
10. |
Washington State |
363-347-366-377—1453 |
|
11. |
COLORADO |
374-365-361-359—1459 |
|
12. |
Utah |
382-376-382-375—1515 |
