Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
NCAA Central Regional
Golfers Slip Back Into Second At NCAA Regional
May 15, 2015 | Men's Golf
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — The University of Colorado men's golf team didn't match its first day effort, but still stands in good shape as the Buffaloes are in second place through two rounds of the NCAA Central/Noblesville Regional, the second of which was completed here Friday.
No. 28 SMU used the best round of the day – and even-par 288 – to wrestle the lead away from the Buffs, as the Mustangs took over the top spot with a 573 score (3-under par). Colorado had its struggles and turned in a 12-over 300, but buoyed by what is still the best score in the meet, its first round 11-under par 277, the Buffs are holding down second place with a 1-over 577 total. Illinois, the top seed here and ranked No. 1 by Golfweek and No. 3 by the coaches, is third (579), with no changes in the fourth through six positions: No. 15 UCLA (585), No. 33 UNLV (585) and No. 8 Oregon (590).
While CU shot the 11th-best round in the field Friday, between the wind blowing and the course being a tough challenge overall, only a handful of schools made up significant ground on the Buffs.
The top five teams, plus the top individual not on those squads, will advance to the NCAA Championship Finals later this month. Colorado has not done so since the 2001-02 season, and currently has a 13-stroke cushion over Oregon, the sixth place team, a 19-stroke edge over seventh-place Marquette and a 20-shot advantage over the two-time defending NCAA champ, Alabama.
Colorado, ranked No. 48 (Golfweek; No. 52 GolfStat), has advanced to the Finals four times out of regional play, but each time when there were just three regionals and 10 moved on from each. CU was firmly entrenched in the top 10 on two occasions, finishing third and second, respectively (1989, 1994), and recorded big-time rallies to finish in 10th place the other two times it advanced (1999, 2002).
“We had a few too many big numbers, but more than anything I was happy how the guys grinded out their rounds,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “David (Oraee) obviously had a good, solid round (2-under 70), but generally, I felt like we were a little off. It's a hard golf course, and there are a lot of really good teams. It wasn't the score we wanted, especially after the way we played (on Thursday), but we managed our games as best we could, especially late in the round.”
CU played the fourth toughest holes Thursday considerably better than all other teams in the field (1-over combined), but on Friday, it accounted for its entire total over par. The four hardest holes in the second round, in order, were Nos. 8, 16, 4 and 11, and the Buffs' four scorers played those 12-over par, as did Illinois. SMU, on the other hand, played the same quartet at just 2-over.
Senior David Oraee is tied for second in the individual standings, as his 6-under 138 score is one out of the lead entering Saturday's final round. He has been a model of consistency, with an eagle, seven birdies and 25 pars, the latter the second most in the field, with just three bogeys after two trips around the 7,173-yard, par-72 Sagamore Club course layout.
Oraee leads the field in par-5 scoring (6-under), is even on the par-3 holes (tied for third) and the par-4s (tied for seventh). He's redeemed himself from a disappointing 61st place showing in the Pac-12 title meet, and is now in position to record CU's third top five individual effort in a regional.
“I'm really happy with his round today, he kept our team up there in the standings,” Edwards said. “It doesn't surprise me at all. He's in a great position. When he's confident, he plays well and has all aspects of his game clicking, and he's doing a great job of that this week.”
Sophomore identical twins Jeremy and Yannik Paul are tied for 10th place, each with 1-over 145 scorecards; Jeremy shot a 77 and Yannik a 75 on Friday. Jeremy, CU's stroke average leader (71.8), had three birdies and 11 pars against two bogeys, a double and a quadruple, scoring the latter for the first time in his career. With 10 birdies over two days, he's tied for third in the field, and along with Oraee, has played the par-4s even, tied for seventh-best.
Yannik had four birdies and 10 pars against two bogeys, a double and a triple, and had nine birdies, tied for the seventh-most in the field, and 20 pars through two rounds. He's also tied for eighth in par-3 scoring (+1).
The twins have finished one tournament in their career tied – last September's CU-Mark Simpson Invitational, when both tied for sixth with 3-under 141 scores.
Junior Philip Juel-Berg fired a 6-over par 78 for a 5-over 149 total, which has him in a tie for 25th place. He had a birdie and 13 pars and a single bogey Friday, but three double bogeys accounted for his overage, two of which came on Nos. 16 and 17 near the end of his round. He's played the par-5 holes (eight overall at this junction) eighth-best in the field.
Junior Drew Trujillo, playing as CU's No. 5 man, has yet to get untracked, struggling a second straight day as he recorded a 17-over 89 for a 174 total, or 30-over par, which has him in 74th place. He was already 8-over through 14 holes but came undone a bit to close things out, playing the last four holes at 9-over. He is still looking to score his first birdie here, but does have 19 pars through two rounds.
Colorado will again be paired with Illinois and SMU in Saturday's third and final round and will start from the No. 1 tees between 6:15-6:59 a.m. (MDT); times have been moved up 30 minutes from what was scheduled to the threat of rain in the afternoon.
"It's going to important for us to go out tomorrow and have fun, compete and just enjoy the moment,” Edwards said. “We're going to out and do what we always try to do, and that's to smartly manage our games, not force things and hit to the best hole locations. If we do that and four teams pass us, so be it, but we have a chance to win the regional and that's what we're focusing on.”
PAC-12 UPDATE: This is one of six regionals taking place around the nation, and eight Pac-12 teams are playing in five of them. In addition to Noblesville (CU second, UCLA fourth, Oregon sixth), Stanford is leading the Chapel Hill regional, Arizona State is second in San Diego, USC is third and Washington seventh in Bremerton (Wash.) and Cal is seventh in Lubbock.
NOTES: Virginia Tech's Scott Vincent set the competitive course record Friday with a 6-under par round of 66; he moved from 39th into a tie for seventh in the standings ... Only 10 rounds in the 60s have been recorded here over two days, just four on Friday, making Vincent's effort even more outstanding ... Bobby Kalinowski (second, 1994), John Lindberg (third, 1989) and Derek Tolan (tie for seventh, 2008) own CU's top individual finishes in NCAA regional play ... The temperature warmed into the mid-70s, but the wind again gusted up to 15 miles per hour, adding to the challenge the Sagamore Club presented to the field ... The average score in the field Friday was 75.31, slightly under that of the first round (76.00); overall for 148 rounds it stands at 75.66 … Colorado has the second-most pars (104) and seventh-most birdies (33) through two rounds, and is fourth in par-3 (+16) and par-5 (-10) scoring; the Buffs are ninth on the par-4s (+25) ... CU is bidding to return to the NCAA Championship Finals for the first time since 2002; the event this year is May 29-June 3 in Bradenton, Fla. (which is just south of Tampa-St. Petersburg).
|
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
|
2. |
68-70—138 |
|
|
T10. |
68-77—145 |
|
|
T10. |
70-75—145 |
|
|
T25. |
71-78—149 |
|
|
74. |
85-89—174 |
|
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
|
1. |
Jonathan Garrick, UCLA |
69-68—137 |
|
2. |
David Oraee, Colorado |
68-70—138 |
|
3. |
Brian Campbell, Illinois |
69-72—141 |
|
T4. |
Bryson Dechambeau, SMU |
69-73—142 |
|
T4. |
Benjamin Baxter, SMU |
68-74—142 |
|
T4. |
Jose Montano, Xavier |
72-70—142 |
|
TEAM STANDINGS |
||
|
1. |
SMU |
285-288—573 |
|
2. |
COLORADO |
277-300—577 |
|
3. |
Illinois |
285-294—579 |
|
4. |
UCLA |
293-289—582 |
|
5. |
UNLV |
295-290—585 |
|
6. |
Oregon |
297-293—590 |
|
7. |
Marquette |
306-290—596 |
|
8. |
Alabama |
298-299—597 |
|
9. |
Georgia Southern |
301-297—598 |
|
10. |
East Carolina |
306-293—599 |
|
11. |
Virginia Tech |
309-294—603 |
|
12. |
New Mexico State |
309-301—610 |
|
13. |
Alabama State |
302-318—620 |
|
14. |
Penn |
322-305—627 |
Players Mentioned
