Golfers Struggle In First Round Of The Spring

Thursday, February 4

Big Island, Hawaii

All Day

Colorado

Round One

February 04, 2016 | Men's Golf

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

WAIKOLOA, Hawai'i — The University of Colorado men's golf team didn't have the kind of start to its spring season it had hoped for here Thursday, ending the first round of the 25th annual Amer Ari Invitational in a tie for 17th place.

The Pac-12 Conference dominated the first-day leaderboard, both in the team standings and individually. No. 5 Stanford and No. 7 Southern California are tied for the lead with 10-under 278 scores, with No. 23 UCLA third (279), with No. 30 Oregon tied for fourth with the No. 12 Oklahoma State at 282.

Colorado turned in an 8-over 296 to stand tied for 17th in the 19-team field, similar to the start it had here last year before finishing up with two solid rounds to finish 12th a year ago. The nation's top-ranked team, Auburn, also had its struggles, as the Tigers were just three shots better than the Buffs and are in 15th place.

“Tough day overall, CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “We definitely had good effort and competitiveness by the team but putts weren't falling and we made too many doubles. We need to forget about today and move on to tomorrow. There is a lot of golf to be played and the tournament is very tightly packed so a good two rounds will move us up the leaderboard by quite a bit."

While Colorado's five designated scorers were second in the field with 63 total pars, the Buffs were last with just nine birdies. Thirteen birdies and five doubles erased those and then some.

The Buffs were paced by juniors Ethan Freeman and Jeremy Paul Thursday, as both carded 1-over par 73s to tie for 57th individually. Paul, CU's stroke average leader in the fall (70.6) scored two birdies and 13 pars with three bogeys while Freeman had a team-high three birdies with 11 pars but four bogeys.

Senior Philip Juel-Berg and freshman Wilson Belk both fashioned 3-over 75s, tying the pair for 79th. Juel-Berg recorded two birdies and 12 pars against three bogeys and a double, while Belk had a birdie and 14 pars, the latter tied for sixth in the 115-man field, with two bogeys and a double.

Sophomore John Souza, who was bothered by a back injury much of the fall, qualified for the travel squad and got off to a solid start, parring the first nine holes and standing at 1-under through 11. But three double bogeys and a single boge down the stretch had him finish with a 6-over 78, tied for 103rd.

Freshman Pierce Aichinger is competing here as an individual, and he would finish with a 6-over 78 as well. He actually got off to CU's best start Thursday and was 2-under par through seven holes (back-to-back birdies on Nos. 2 and 3), but he closed out with four bogeys and two doubles over his last 11 holes.

Oregon State's Connor Kumpula leads the individual field with a 6-under 66, with Stanford's David Boote one back with a 67. Pac-12 golfers occupy the top five spots and 18 of the top 28.

The second round is set for Friday morning with a shotgun start at 10:30 a.m. mountain time. Colorado will be paired with No. 1 Auburn, No. 12 Oklahoma State and Hawai'i and will start on the front nine after beginning on the No. 10 tee Thursday.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T57.	Jeremy Paul	36-37—73
T57.	Ethan Freeman	37-36—73
T79.	Philip Juel-Berg	36-39—75
T79.	Wilson Belk	39-36—75
T103.	John Souza	40-38—78
T103.	*Pierce Aichinger	37-41—78

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

1.	Connor Kumpula, Oregon State	34-32—66
2.	David Boote, Stanford	34-33—67
3.	Maverick McNealy, Stanford	37-31—68
3.	Zach Foushee, Oregon	34-34—68
3.	Rico Hoey, USC	34-34—68

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Southern California	278
1.	Stanford	278
3.	UCLA	279
4.	Oregon	282
4.	Oklahoma State	282
6.	Texas Tech	284
7.	San Jose State	285
8.	TCU	286
8.	Oregon State	286
10.	Osaka Gakuin	288
11.	Hawai'i	289
12.	Arizona State	290
12.	Georgia Tech	290
12.	Hawai'i-Hilo	290
15.	Auburn	293
16.	Pacific	294
17.	COLORADO	296
17.	UC Davis	296
19.	CSU-Monterey Bay	297