Colorado University Athletics
Men's Golfers Headed Back To NCAA's
May 05, 2016 | Men's Golf
It was close as can be, but the men's golf team was invited to the NCAA Championships for the fourth straight season as CU will participate in the Alabama Regional which begins May 16, in Tuscaloosa.
BOULDER — It was close as can be, but the University of Colorado men's golf team was invited to the NCAA Championships for the fourth straight season Thursday, as the Buffaloes will participate in the South/Alabama Regional which begins Monday, May 16, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Colorado, ranked No. 66 in the nation (GolfStat; No. 69 Golfweek) is the No. 11 seed in the field and was the last at-large team selected among the 81 that advanced into regional play when taking into account 15 automatic qualifiers. The Buffaloes will be looking to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals for the first time since 2002.
The Buffs are coming off a sixth-place tie in the Pac-12 Championships, with member schools receiving two No. 1 seeds in the regionals (Stanford and Southern California), along with a 2-seed (Arizona State) and a 3-seed (California). The Big 12 also has two top seeds, with the Big Ten and SEC gathering in the other two.
"We are obviously excited and relieved at the same time," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "I felt we were in but wasn't sure how close it would be in the end. This has been a big goal of the team this year to make the NCAA's, especially since we lost two of our top players from last year and had several new guys on the roster."
That, and the team would love to redeem what happened last year in the regionals, where CU led after a spectacular first round but would finish sixth, one spot out of advancing to the finals.
"We've all been on edge the last couple of months, knowing that we were back-and-forth being on the bubble," Edwards continued. "That's the most gratifying part of this, how we responded. That speaks to the character of our guys, and the credit should go to them. We worked hard for this, and what makes it satisfying is seeing them rewarded for that hard work."
Georgia, ranked fifth nationally, is the top seed in the Alabama regional, followed by No. 8 Auburn, No. 17 South Carolina, host and No. 19 Alabama, No. 29 UNLV, Kentucky, Kansas, the College of Charleston, Lipscomb, Charleston Southern, CU, Harvard and Southern Illinois. The 13-team field will compete at the Ol' Colony Golf Course in Tuscaloosa, a 7,512-yard, par-72 layout that has been rated as the best public course in the state of Alabama.
It is a Jerry Pate designed championship course with over 70 bunkers and 25 acres of lakes that come into play on several holes. The Bermuda grass fairways and greens are very well maintained. Play will begin at 7 a.m. mountain time on Monday and Tuesday, with Wednesday's final round having a 6:30 a.m. start.
The Buffs have lined up this year against teams in the Alabama regional just six times, going 2-4 (including a 9-9 mark in individual rounds). CU is 1-0 against Harvard and Southern Illinois, 0-1 versus Auburn and Kansas (losing to each by just three strokes) and 0-2 against UNLV.
Edwards hasn't finalized his squad for the regional, but expects to do so sometime next week after final exams are through on the Boulder campus and the team can get in some quality practice. Senior Philip Juel-Berg, juniors Jeremy Paul and Ethan Freeman, sophomore John Souza and freshmen Wilson Belk and Ross Macdonald have competed in CU's last two tournaments.
Paul leads the team in stroke average with a 70.46 figure, followed by Juel-Berg (72.11) and Freeman (72.66); all three have played in all 12 major tournaments this season. Souza owns a 73.81 mark in seven tourneys, as he was sidelined much of the fall with a back injury; he had some back issues arise late in last week's Pac-12 Championships but should be fine for the regional. The two freshmen figure to duke it out for the final spot, as Belk (74.17) and Macdonald (74.44) currently own the sixth and eighth best frosh averages, respectively, in school history.
Ten individuals from schools that did not advance as a team will also compete in Tuscaloosa, thus 75 total players will be in the field. Nationally, 81 teams and 45 individuals qualified for the postseason, with 10 teams from the SEC leading the way, followed by the ACC with nine and then the Pac-12 with eight schools (six earning top five seeds); the Big Ten and the Big 12 both sent seven into regional play.
There are six regional sites and those competing will play 54 holes with the top five teams and top individual who is not a member of those squads earning the right to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals. Those are scheduled for May 27-June 1 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
PAUL EARNS SECOND-TEAM ALL-PAC 12 HONORS: Junior Jeremy Paul was named second-team All-Pac-12, coming off a tie for seventh place in the league championship last Sunday in which he shot the best score for a 72-hole tournament in CU history. The owner of a 70.46 stroke average this year (fifth-best in the league), he is on pace to shatter the CU single-season record of 71.46 set by Kane Webber in 2003-04. Paul is currently ranked as the No. 40 golfer in the nation, the highest by a Buff this late in the season since 2008-09, when both Patrick Grady (now CU's assistant coach) and Derek Tolan both were ranked in the top 35.
