Golfers In 12th After First Day of UNM Tucker Invite

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of Colorado men's golf team struggled most of the first day here Friday in the New Mexico Tucker Invitational, ending up in 12th place after two rounds of play.

The Buffaloes started decent enough, and were around even par for the first two-thirds of the first round before playing down the stretch at 8-over. The second round was a rollercoaster, with 15 birdies undone by six double and three triple bogeys. It all added up to CU finishing the day with a 22-over par 598 score and placing down the line in the 16-team field.

Host New Mexico is running away with the tournament, as the Lobos have a 19-under par 555 score to lead Colorado State (569) by 14 shots; Texas Tech (571), UNLV (577) and San Diego State (584) round out the top five.

“There's not a lot to say, just very disappointing overall,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “Nobody was really on their game and unfortunately, those are the kind of days you have every now and then. This is the type of golf course that if you are off, you're going to be in bad spots and find yourselves constantly playing from behind. We were in too many of those most of the day.”

The Buffs mustered just one even par round Friday, including senior Philip Juel-Berg and junior Jeremy Paul, who came in with CU's top two scoring averages, 68.0 and 69.2 respectively. But neither could tame the 7,556-yard, par 72 UNM Championship Course track; both turned in identical 74-74—148 scorecards and are tied for 38th place.

Juel-Berg had seven birdies, including five in the second round, but eight bogeys and a triple early in his second round worked to end a run of four straight rounds in the 60s, one shy of tying the school record. To his credit, after he scored the triple, he came back to birdie three of his next five holes. Paul had six birdies on the day, with eight bogeys and double to counter his scores in red.

Freshman Ross Macdonald turned in a 72-77—149 effort, tying for 47th through 36 holes. He had three birdies and 12 pars in his first round to score the team's lone non-bogey round; he did have four birdies his second time around the course to match Juel-Berg's team-high seven on the day, but otherwise had seven holes over par, including two doubles.

Junior Ethan Freeman is tied for 69th after posting a 74-79—153 score, or 9-over par. He came in with a solid 71.0 scoring average but couldn't get much going on the day, with three birdies and 23 pars against nine bogeys and one of the team's triples.

Freshman Pierce Aichinger rounded out the CU contingent here with a 77-79—156 performance, which tied him for 83rd place. He had a team-high 24 pars, but managed just one birdie to counter 10 bogeys and a triple.

“We've just got to move on from today,” Edwards said. “We know our plan, we need to focus on in it and execute it tomorrow. We know we have a good team, so the objective is to put this behind us and go out and shoot a good round to wrap things up here.”

The final round of the tournament is set for Saturday morning (8 a.m. shotgun); the Buffs will turn right around and host the Sixth Annual Mark Simpson-CU Invitational at Boulder Country Club on Monday and Tuesday. The meet is named for CU's late golf coach who passed away in 2005 and will be held at BCC for the first time.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T38.	Philip Juel-Berg	74-74—148
T38.	Jeremy Paul	74-74—148
T47.	Ross Macdonald	72-77—149
T69.	Ethan Freeman	74-79—153
T83.	Pierce Aichinger	77-79—156

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

1.	Andrej Bevins, UNM	68-68—136
1.	Alex Chiarella, San Diego	68-68—136
3.	Gustavo Morantes, UNM	66-71—137
4.	Hannes Ronneblad, Texas Tech	71-67—138
5.	Andre Garcia, UNM	73-67—140

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	New Mexico	279-276—555
2.	Colorado State	289-280—569
3.	Texas Tech	286-285—571
4.	UNLV	290-287—577
5.	San Diego State	290-294—584
6.	Wyoming	294-291—585
6.	TCU	294-291—585
8.	New Mexico State	293-296—589
8.	San Diego	293-296—589
10.	Bowling Green	298-293—591
11.	Nevada	301-294—595
12.	COLORADO	294-304—598
13.	Denver	306-294—600
13.	Louisiana Tech	307-293—600
15.	Arizona	301-305—606
16.	Texas-El Paso	307-302—609