Golfers Slip Into A Tie For Eighth At NCAA Southeast Regional

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Colorado men's golf team couldn't get any real momentum here Tuesday, doing its best to simply hang on in shooting the third highest score in the field in slipping into a tie for eighth place after two first rounds of the NCAA Southeast/Tuscaloosa Regional.

The Buffaloes were 1-under par two holes in, but saw their score grow to 7-over at the turn and finally cease at an 18-over 306 for the round, which added to a 26-over 602 through 36 holes. The top five teams and top individual not on those teams will advance to the NCAA Championship Finals later this month. No. 8 Auburn currently occupies the final team spot with a 584 score.

No. 5 Georgia maintained its lead 10-under 566 score, with No.17 South Carolina holding in second at 569 (-7) and No. 32 Kentucky remaining in third a 575 (-1). No. 19 Alabama moved up a notch into third with an even-par 576. All schools in the top five are thus southern schools and have the advantage of being used to the Bermuda grasses in the region.

Colorado has come from far behind before, and in fact owns the second largest comeback in regional history. In 1999, when there were just three regionals with 27 teams competing in each, the Buffaloes made up nine strokes in leaping from 18th place into a tie for 10th and then defeating Kent State on the first playoff hole to advance to the NCAA Finals; Arkansas still owns the biggest comeback, jumping from 20th into 10th in 1990.

CU junior Jeremy Paul, one of the three first round leaders, recorded a 5-over 77 on the 7,512-yard, par-72 Ol' Colony Golf Course track. It was his high round of the year, in part to scoring just his third double bogey in 20 rounds this spring, while making a single birdie and 12 pars with four bogeys, two of which came on his last three holes. When all was said and done, he fell back into a tie for 14th with a 1-over 145 score.

Paul does remain in the hunt to advance individually if the Buffs can't rally as a team. There are only three players ahead of him through two rounds who are not presently on teams in the top five, with the best of those three at 3-under; thus he is four stroke back in that race.

Junior Ethan Freeman shot CU's best score of the day – a 2-over 74 – that has him in at 5-over 149 through 36 holes, tying him for 32nd. He had five birdies Tuesday, matching the total by his four teammates, with seven pars, five bogeys and a double, the latter of which he scored on his third hole of the day after opening with two of his birds. He has eight birdies which are tied for the eighth-most in the 75-man field.

Senior Philip Juel-Berg struggled to an 8-over 80 Tuesday, giving him a 10-over 154 that had him tied for 50th. He had a birdie and 10 pars but was undone by five bogeys and two doubles, with most of the damage on his front nine where he made the turn at 8-over; he settled down and played the second nine at even-par, the best of any Buff.

Sophomore John Souza rallied from an opening round 80 to record a 3-over 75, with his 11-over 155 total placing him a tie for 53rd. The only Buff on Tuesday not to score higher than a bogey, he had two birdies and 11 pars against five bogeys.

Wilson Belk, one of 13 freshmen in the field, is tied for 71st after an 83 pushed him to an 18-over 162 total. He was cruising along, even through eight holes, but triple bogeyed No. 18 to turn at 4-over. He then opened with back-to-back bogeys on the front nine before sandwiching two pars around a disastrous quadruple bogey on No. 5; he closed with bogeys for a 44 on the side.

"Tough day today," CU head coach Roy Edwards. Not much else to really say. Ethan and John had solid rounds but we weren't able to get much going. It was a very uncharacteristic round for Jeremy. But this team doesn't quit and with our best tomorrow, we are still not out of it as there are only a few teams above us. We need to focus on the final round and not dwell on today's."

Three players are tied for the individual lead, Greyson Sigg and Zach Healy from Georgia for the second straight day, and Kentucky's Tyler McDaniel; all are at 5-under 139 through 36 holes.

Colorado will be paired with Lipscomb (again) and UNLV for the third and final round Wednesday, with tee times starting at 6:30 a.m. MDT off the No. 10 tee.

NOTES: The average score in the field for the second round – 74.93 – was down nearly a stroke from Monday (75.75), yet still there have been only eight rounds posted in the 60s … Colorado is paying the par-3's at a collective 13-over par, the par-4's at 35-over and the par-5's at 3-under (all players) ... There are five other regionals are taking place, in Albuquerque, Kohler (Wis.), Nashville, Stillwater and Tucson; five of the other seven Pac-12 schools are in the top five after two rounds: Stanford (first), Oregon (second) and California (fifth) in Tucson, Arizona State (first) and USC (fourth) in Albuquerque; Washington is in sixth in Nashville and UCLA is tied for eighth in Wisconsin … USC has the same team score in relation to par as CU (26-over), yet is four places higher ... The NCAA Championship Finals will be in Eugene from May 27-June 1.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T14.	Jeremy Paul	68-77—145
T32.	Ethan Freeman	75-74—149
T50.	Philip Juel-Berg	74-80—154
T53.	John Souza	80-75—155
T71.	Wilson Belk	79-83—162

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

T1.	Tyler McDaniel, Kentucky	72-67—139
T1.	Greyson Sigg, Georgia	68-71—139
T1.	Zach Healy, Georgia	68-71—139
4.	Matthew NeSmith, South Carolina	70-70—140
T5.	Four tied	141

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Georgia	284-282—566
2.	South Carolina	287-282—569
3.	Kentucky	288-287—575
4.	Alabama	292-284—576
5.	Auburn	294-290—584
6.	Charleston	298-295—593
6.	UNLV	290-303—593
8.	COLORADO	296-306—602
8.	Lipscomb	302-300—602
10.	Kansas	308-301—609
11.	Harvard	323-298—621
12.	Southern Illinois	314-308—622
13.	Charleston Southern	315-310—625

Colorado University Athletics

Golfers Slip Into A Tie For Eighth At NCAA Southeast Regional

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Wilson Belk

Ethan Freeman

Philip Juel-Berg

Jeremy Paul

John Souza

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