Golfers Finish Second In Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate

Sunday, February 19

Palm Springs, Calif.

All Day

Colorado

Third Round

Jeremy Paul is now CU's all-time leader in top 10 finishes with 20.

Photo by: Chip Bromfield, ProMotion Ltd.

Golfers Finish Second In Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate

February 19, 2017 | Men's Golf

Jeremy Paul Finishes Third, Sets CU's Top 10 Record Mark

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

PALM DESERT, Calif. — The University of Colorado men's golf team couldn't match its all-time best score it posted in the second round, but still had a solid runner-up finish here Sunday as the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate came to a close.

No. 10 Oregon led from start to finish and won with a 26-under par team score of 838, outdistancing the No. 21 Buffaloes by nine shots, as CU ended with an 847 score (17-under par). No. 5 Texas Tech overtook No. 34 Kansas for third as the Red Raiders posted the day's best team score (8-under 280) to close at 850, while the Jayhawks and No. 66 TCU tied for fourth with 2-under 862 scores.

In what was really only a two-team race for the tournament title, the Ducks led the Buffs by four strokes entering Sunday. Oregon was able to create some separation early on the leaderboard with six quick birdies to go up by nine shots five holes into play. Colorado cut it down to six at one point, but essentially hovered between eight and 10 off the pace for the final two-thirds of the round. Tech closed the gap late but never really threatened CU for runner-up honors.

It was Colorado's eighth straight top five finish this season, which set a school record (old mark was seven), and the eight top five finishes ties the most in a single season, set twice previously (in 1992-93 and 2013-14).

Senior Jeremy Paul was CU's top performer here, as he tied for third with an 8-under 208 score on the 7,322-yard, par-72 Classic Club course layout. He finished with a 1-under 71, on the strength of three birdies and 13 pars against two bogeys, which came on the heels of a career-best 64 in the second round. Two of those birdies came on the last three holes to secure a top five finish, and his 14 for the weekend tied for the fourth-most in the field. Consistent across the board, he tied for second in par-3 scoring (3-under collectively) and in par-4 scoring (1-under); he was 4-under on the par-5 holes, 16th-best.

Paul's third-place effort was his 20th top 10 finish of his career, breaking one of the oldest standing records in Colorado golf; he had been tied with Steve Jones, the 1996 U.S. Open champion. Jones had 19 such efforts in his career, which spanned 1977-81. It was also Paul's 26th top 20 finish, tying him for second with Jones and Derek Tolan (2005-09), and now one back of Kane Webber's 27 he set from 1999-2004.

Senior Ethan Freeman fashioned an even-par 72 for 3-under 213 total, which tied him for ninth; he wrapped things with three birdies, 12 pars and three bogeys. He tied fourth in both par-3 (2-under) and par-5 scoring (6-under), and had an eagle, 11 birdies and 35 pars overall.

Junior John Souza carded a 2-over 74 and finished even for the tournament (216), which placed him in a tie for 17th, his third-best for a 54-hole tournament. He had a birdie and 14 pars Sunday, and his 39 pars for the weekend tied for the third-most in the field.

Junior Yannik Paul saw his school record-tying run of four straight tournaments under par come to an end, as he shot a 3-over 75 in the final round for a 2-over 218 score, tying him for 27th. He had two birdies and 11 pars countered by five bogeys Sunday, finishing the weekend with eight, 36 and 10 of each, respectively. He matched the record set by his twin brother Jeremy two three years, which included three of the same events.

Junior Spencer Painton tied for 22nd after closing with a 1-over 73, which gave him a 1-over 217 overall and a tie for 22nd place. He matched Souza with a team-best 39 pars that went along with an eagle and six birdies.

Three other Buffs competed as individuals without their scores counting toward CU's team total. Sophomore Wilson Belk finished things with a 2-over 74, giving him an 8-over 224 that tied him for 53rd. He had three pars, 10 pars and five bogeys Sunday, and recorded 12 birdies for the tournament, the latter tying for 12th in the field.

Senior Ryan Schmitz had his struggles in the final round, firing an 11-over 83 for a 12-over 228 score (tying him for 80th). After collegiate best 69 in the second round, he couldn't get much going and had 10 pars with his other eight in black numbers. Saturday for a 1-over 145 total (tying him for 25th); he leads the 14 players from all schools entered as individuals. Freshman Victor Bjorlow shot a second straight 5-over 77, finishing at 14-over 230 (tied for 90th). He had two birdies and 10 pars to close things out.

"It was a disappointing day from the standpoint that we were not able to win, but the team should be very pleased with how they competed to get back in it," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "It was another win over a top five team and a lot of other solid programs. Jeremy had another strong tournament and Ethan was very good. John was good all week as well and we saw good things from everyone. This has been a great trip and is a key one for us to set up the spring as we got a lot of good work in. We have an awesome group to be with and we are looking forward to the rest of the season."

Oregon's Norman Xiong and Wyndham Clark shared medalist honors, each finishing with 11-under par 205 scores. Xiong led the tournament from the second through the 53rd hole until Clark caught him on the last hole of the meet, where he scored an eagle on the par-5 18th.

The Buffaloes will return to action in three weeks, when they will travel to Oregon to participate in the Bandon Dunes Championship, March 12-14.

NOTES: Colorado was 20-1 against Division I competition here, improving its season record to 93-15-2; it is the first criteria for qualification for the NCAA Championships (a winning record against peer institutions) … Colorado and Oregon led the field in par-3 scoring (-5), and the Buffs were second in par-4 scoring (+13) and third in par-5 scoring (-16); the Buffs led in total pars (183) and tied for the most eagles (2), but were sixth in birdies (47) … The average score for the final round spiked back up to 75.03, after being 73.31 for the second round but still lower than the 76.53 for the first round; it was 74.96 overall for the tourney ... CU's second round, 22-under par score of 266 is the nation's best in play this year in relation to par and set a school record in the process … Colorado now has two wins, two seconds, one third, two fourths and a fifth in eight events this season … The team scoring average race continued to tighten up, as Jeremy Paul assumed the team lead for the first time this year with a 71.21 mark, followed by Freeman at 71.23 and Yannik Paul at 71.32; Jeremy Paul is looking to join Steve Jones and Knut Ekjord as the only players to lead the squad four times … The elder Paul (Jeremy) continued to add to all three of his school records for rounds in the 60s (38), subpar rounds (63) and rounds of par or better (70) … The Buffs finished have now finished second here three straight times, having done so both in 2014 and 2016, but by three strokes each time.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T3.	Jeremy Paul	73-64-71—208
T9.	Ethan Freeman	75-66-72—213
T17.	John Souza	75-67-74—216
T22.	Spencer Painton	69-75-73—217
T27.	Yannik Paul	74-69-75—218
T53.	*Wilson Belk	79-71-74—224
T80.	*Ryan Schmitz	76-69-83—228
T90.	*Victor Bjorlow	76-77-77—230

*--competed as an individual.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

T1.	Norman Xiong, Oregon	67-65-73—205
T1.	Wyndham Clark, Oregon	72-65-68—205
T3.	Jeremy Paul, Colorado	73-64-71—208
T3.	Stefano Mazzoli, TCU	69-67-72—208
T5.	Edwin Yi, Oregon	70-67-75—212
T5.	Daniel Hudson, Kansas	74-67-72—212
T5.	Hurly Long, Texas Tech	75-68-69—212
T5.	Federico Zucchetti, Texas Tech	71-70-71—212

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Oregon	282-271-285—838
2.	COLORADO	291-266-290—847
3.	Texas Tech	292-278-280—850
4.	Kansas	293-276-293—862
4.	TCU	289-288-285—862
6.	UNC-Wilmington	304-287-282—873
7.	Arkansas-Little Rock	300-281-301—882
7.	Wyoming	297-287-298—882
9.	CSU-Northridge	302-286-295—883
10.	CSU-Fullerton	293-301-295—889
10.	Nebraska	300-286-303—889
12.	Denver	304-293-294—891
12.	Fresno State	305-293-293—891
14.	Loyola-Marymount	299-298-295—892
15.	Texas-Arlington	310-288-295—893
15.	South Dakota State	305-289-299—893
17.	Stephen F. Austin	307-296-293—896
18.	Gonzaga	303-300-297—900
19.	UC Riverside	312-293-298—903
20.	Old Dominion	304-297-307—908
21.	Oral Roberts	311-296-309—916
22.	Southern Utah	322-299-300—921