Colorado University Athletics
Golfers Open In Seventh Place At NCAA Southeast Regional
May 16, 2016 | Men's Golf
The men's golfers got off to a collective poor start Monday, but rebounded late to get back into contention after the first round in NCAA Regional action.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Colorado men's golf team got off to a collective poor start Monday, but rebounded over the last five holes to get back into contention after the first round of the NCAA Southeast/Tuscaloosa Regional.
CU junior Jeremy Paul turned in a 4-under par 68 to tie two others for the individual lead with two rounds remaining. The top five teams and top individual not on those teams will advance to the NCAA Championship Finals later this month.
No. 5 Georgia owned the day one lead with a 4-under 284 score, with No.17 South Carolina the only other school under par, at 287 (-1). No. 32 Kentucky turned in an even-par effort of 288, with No. 29 UNLV (290) and host and No. 19 Alabama rounding out the top five at 292. No. 8 Auburn (294) bridged the gap between the top five and No. 66 Colorado.
The Buffs started off well, and were 3-under as a team after five holes and in second place; but the next eight holes weren't as kind, as the four scorers played them at 15-over and had just one birdie among them. However, CU closed playing the last five holes at 4-under to get back to 8-over, or a gross score of 296 to stand in seventh.
Paul, the 40th-ranked player in the nation, tamed the challenging Ol' Colony Golf Course as well as anyone Monday, as he recorded an eagle, four birdies, 11 pars and just two bogeys on its 7,512-yard, par-72 layout. The average score in the field was high – 75.73 – especially considering the field includes eight teams ranked in the nation's top 44 along with 20 of the top 100 players in the country.
Only four players shot scores in the 60s, with just 12 under par and another five recording even scores; otherwise 58 of the 75 players in the field were over par, including 18 who turned in scores in the 80s.
"It's a 'big boy' golf course," CU head coach Roy Edwards said of all the high scores. "Jeremy had a terrific round, 68 out here is a really good score. As a team, we started out poorly, but I am pleased with how the guys saved the round with a strong finish to get back in it.
"Jeremy just continued his play this spring, in that he's really been in complete control of his game. He was hitting it well off the tee and made some good putts. He never put himself into a bad situation today. You really have to find a way that when you make a mistake or two, you have to make par or bogey and he did a really good job of that."
It was Paul's 18th round in the 60s this season, adding to his own school record, and the most by any player in the field here. He played all three hole configurations here Monday in the top five in the field, as he was second on the par-5s (3-under) and fifth on the par-4s (-1) and the par-3s (even). He was in the top five all round after scoring a birdie on his fourth hole (No. 13, one of just five on what proved to be the day's toughest hole) and backing that up with an eagle 3 on No. 14.
Senior Philip Juel-Berg, who became just the sixth player in school history Monday to play in four NCAA championships, turned in a 2-over 74, scoring two birdies and 12 pars against four bogeys; the 12 pars tied for the 12th-most in the field. He opened play with a birdie but scored all his bogeys on his next 11 holes before closing with one more down the stretch.
"I think early on we had too many big numbers, a bunch of doubles and a triple, and other times where we able to save bogey," Edwards added. "The guys knew that if we made mistakes, we needed to find ways to make bogeys and limit the bigger numbers. But we really had a good stretch at the end of the round."
Junior Ethan Freeman endured a triple bogey early on to shoot a 75, as he gathered in three birdies and 11 pars; at one point he was 5-over, but back-to-back birds on Nos. 5 and 6 got him back to plus-3 as well as aiding the team in its late rally.
Freshman Wilson Belk survived his first NCAA appearance, and in fact opened with a birdie before a rough patch where he had a bogey and three doubles on his next six holes. But he settled down to play the last 11 at just 1-over par and closed with a 7-over 79.
Sophomore John Souza, also appearing in his first NCAA's, struggled to an 8-over 80; he had three birdies and six pars against seven bogeys and two doubles. He was even through six but played his next six holes at 7-over, with five of those bogeys and a double.
A pair of Georgia golfers are tied with Paul, Greyson Sigg (ranked No. 31 in the nation) and Zach Healy (No. 64).
Colorado will be paired with the College of Charleston and Lipscomb in the second round and will begin play off the No. 10 tee at 7 a.m. MDT. The third and final round is set for Wednesday.
NOTES: Eight teams had at least one player shoot an 80 or higher, and two others had 79s … Only South Carolina (73) and Alabama (74) didn't have at least one scorer have a 75 … Colorado was also seventh in pars (50) and birdies (14) … There are five other regionals are taking place, in Albuquerque, Kohler (Wis.), Nashville, Stillwater and Tucson; six of the other seven Pac-12 schools are in the top five after the first round: Stanford (first), Oregon (third) and California (fifth) in Tucson, Arizona State (first) and USC (third) in Albuquerque and Washington (third) in Nashville; UCLA is ninth in Wisconsin … The NCAA Championship Finals will be in Eugene from May 27-June 1.
|
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
|
T1. |
34-34—68 |
|
|
T26. |
37-37—74 |
|
|
T32. |
36-39—75 |
|
|
T54. |
37-42—79 |
|
|
T58. |
40-40—80 |
|
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
|
T1. |
Jeremy Paul, Colorado |
34-34—68 |
|
T1. |
Greyson Sigg, Georgia |
34-34—68 |
|
T1. |
Zach Healy, Georgia |
35-33—68 |
|
4. |
Michael Johnson, Auburn |
35-34—69 |
|
T5. |
Four tied |
70 |
|
TEAM STANDINGS |
|
1. |
Georgia |
284 |
|
2. |
South Carolina |
287 |
|
3. |
Kentucky |
288 |
|
4. |
UNLV |
290 |
|
5. |
Alabama |
292 |
|
6. |
Auburn |
294 |
|
7. |
COLORADO |
296 |
|
8. |
Charleston |
298 |
|
9. |
Lipscomb |
302 |
|
10. |
Kansas |
308 |
|
11. |
Southern Illinois |
314 |
|
12. |
Charleston Southern |
315 |
|
13. |
Harvard |
323 |
