Colorado University Athletics
Saturday, February 4
Waikoloa, Hawaii
All Day
Colorado
vs
Third Round
Jeremy Paul shot a sizzling 6-under 66 to lead the Buffaloes Saturday.
Photo by: Chip Bromfield, ProMotion Ltd.
CU Golfers Tie For Fourth In Hawai'i
February 04, 2017 | Men's Golf
Paul, Freeman Lead CU To Best Spring Opener Finish in 15 Years
WAIKLOA, Hawai'i — The University of Colorado men's golf team recorded its best effort to open the spring portion of a season in 15 years here Saturday, as the Buffaloes finished in a fourth-place tie in the 26th Annual Hawai'i-Hilo Amer Ari Invitational.
Colorado, ranked 24th by Golfweek and 28th by GolfStat, finished with a 23-under par score of 841, its best-ever gross score in the spring's first meet, and it also marked the first time the Buffs produced three straight rounds under par to open the second half of year. The Buffaloes flirted with third place on occasion throughout the meet's last 18 holes.
No. 18 Texas Tech, the first round leader, took the lead back on the final day and won with a 44-under par 820 score, besting No. 7 Southern California (828) by eight shots; the Trojans had wrestled the lead away from the Red Raiders through 36 holes, though only led by a single stroke. No. 20 Oregon finished third with a 26-under par 838 score, with No. 33 Arizona State tying the Buffs for the fourth spot.
With 11 teams ranked in the top 40, the Amer Ari is annually one of the toughest regular season events, often on par with the field in an NCAA regional. The Buffaloes bested several top programs here, going 6-3-1 against those in the top 50, including No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 6 Stanford, No. 10 Texas, No. 12 Auburn and No. 25 Georgia Tech.
It was Colorado's first top five finish to open the spring season since the 2001-02 campaign, when the Buffs placed third in a 15-team field in the Matlock Collegiate Classic in Lakeland, Fla. It also had been eight years since CU last had a top 10 effort to open the spring (sixth in this same event).
Senior Jeremy Paul tied for fifth to pace the Buffaloes here, as he recorded his best round of the year, a 6-under 66, to zoom up 14 spots in the standings with a final score of 11-under 205 (70-69-66). He had six birdies and 12 pars with no blemishes in attacking the 7,074-yard, par-72 Waikoloa King's Course layout, ending a week where he had an eagle, 14 birdies and 34 pars with just five bogeys. He led the field in par-5 scoring, playing the collective 12 at 11-under par. He again added to all three of his school records for rounds in the 60s (37), subpar rounds (61) and rounds of par or better (68).
His 11-under 205 matched his top career performance, the same score he posted a year ago in Wyoming's Cowboy Classic in Scottsdale. It was his sixth career top five finish, and he tied Steve Jones (1978-81) for the most top 10 finishes in a CU career with 19, and is now fifth in top 20 finishes with 24.
Senior Ethan Freeman entered the day in contention for medalist honors, but hung around even for the first two-thirds of the round and couldn't make up any ground on the leaders. He then hit a rough patch with three straight bogeys before bouncing back with two birdies to close his round, firing a 1-over 73; that gave him a 10-under score of 206, his career-low for 54 holes, and tying him for seventh place in the process. His 17 birdies for the tournament led the Buffs and were fourth in the 120-man field.
Junior Yannik Paul tied for 45th with a 1-under 215 score after finishing with a 73 Saturday, as he was sidetracked by some late troubles on Nos. 16 and 17. Cruising along at 2-under par through 14 holes (he started on the second), he suffered back-to-back double bogeys. He did come back to birdie No. 18 and par No. 1.
Junior John Souza finished strong with a 3-under 69, which gave him a 1-over 217 score for the week that tied him for 56th overall. He had four birdies, including three on his last three holes (Nos. 18, 1 and 2) along with 13 pars against one bogey, clutch play from CU's number four man. After Yannik Paul's two late doubles, Souza's "hat trick" of birdies enabled the Buffs to remain in the top five.
Freshman Morton Toft Hansen couldn't get untracked for the second straight day, as he closed with a 6-over 78 that pushed him to a 14-over 230, which tied him for 114th place, a bit disappointing after he opened strong with a 1-under 71. He had two birdies and nine pars against six bogeys and a double to wrap things up.
"It was a really good finish overall," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "We were a bit rocky in spots in the final round and we had some really good finishes by Ethan, Jeremy, and John that helped us a ton. We got some very significant wins, some of the best in school history, and to do it this time of year on Bermuda (grass) is very encouraging. I am looking forward to us heading to California in a week and having a good effort and tournament there.
"This sets up our spring really well," he added. "We have a great group of young men representing Colorado and they keep working to improve and get better. The guys gave great effort and competitiveness this week and have been working hard. They have been outstanding."
There was a three-way tie for medalist honors between USC's Rico Hoey, Arizona State's Jared duToit and Texas Tech's Fredrik Nilehn, all of whom finished at 16-under par 200. Hoey held a three shot lead heading into Saturday and carded a 70, but duToit (66) and Nilehn (67) caught him with their strong finishes.
Colorado will resume action a week from this Thursday in the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate, which the Cowboys host in Palm Desert, Calif. The Buffs have played in the event in four of the last five years, with three straight runner-up finishes.
NOTES: Colorado improved its record against Division I competition to 73-14-2, the first criteria for qualification for the NCAA Championships being a winning record against peer institutions (CU went 13-3-1 this week) … CU played with the three leaders Saturday, posting the second best round in the grouping (7-under; Texas Tech was minus-10, Stanford was 5-under and USC 1-under) … The Buffs led the field with four eagles (by four different players; CU had 15 in the fall) … This was CU's seventh tournament of the 2016-17 season, with the team posting two wins, a third, two fourths and a fifth; the seven straight top five finishes to open a year are a school best (old was four on two occasions, in 1979-80 and 1980-81) … The team scoring average race really tightened up here: Yannik Paul still leads with a 71.11 mark, followed by Freeman at 71.26 and Jeremy Paul at 71.56 (1.31 strokes separated the trio coming in).
Colorado, ranked 24th by Golfweek and 28th by GolfStat, finished with a 23-under par score of 841, its best-ever gross score in the spring's first meet, and it also marked the first time the Buffs produced three straight rounds under par to open the second half of year. The Buffaloes flirted with third place on occasion throughout the meet's last 18 holes.
No. 18 Texas Tech, the first round leader, took the lead back on the final day and won with a 44-under par 820 score, besting No. 7 Southern California (828) by eight shots; the Trojans had wrestled the lead away from the Red Raiders through 36 holes, though only led by a single stroke. No. 20 Oregon finished third with a 26-under par 838 score, with No. 33 Arizona State tying the Buffs for the fourth spot.
With 11 teams ranked in the top 40, the Amer Ari is annually one of the toughest regular season events, often on par with the field in an NCAA regional. The Buffaloes bested several top programs here, going 6-3-1 against those in the top 50, including No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 6 Stanford, No. 10 Texas, No. 12 Auburn and No. 25 Georgia Tech.
It was Colorado's first top five finish to open the spring season since the 2001-02 campaign, when the Buffs placed third in a 15-team field in the Matlock Collegiate Classic in Lakeland, Fla. It also had been eight years since CU last had a top 10 effort to open the spring (sixth in this same event).
Senior Jeremy Paul tied for fifth to pace the Buffaloes here, as he recorded his best round of the year, a 6-under 66, to zoom up 14 spots in the standings with a final score of 11-under 205 (70-69-66). He had six birdies and 12 pars with no blemishes in attacking the 7,074-yard, par-72 Waikoloa King's Course layout, ending a week where he had an eagle, 14 birdies and 34 pars with just five bogeys. He led the field in par-5 scoring, playing the collective 12 at 11-under par. He again added to all three of his school records for rounds in the 60s (37), subpar rounds (61) and rounds of par or better (68).
His 11-under 205 matched his top career performance, the same score he posted a year ago in Wyoming's Cowboy Classic in Scottsdale. It was his sixth career top five finish, and he tied Steve Jones (1978-81) for the most top 10 finishes in a CU career with 19, and is now fifth in top 20 finishes with 24.
Senior Ethan Freeman entered the day in contention for medalist honors, but hung around even for the first two-thirds of the round and couldn't make up any ground on the leaders. He then hit a rough patch with three straight bogeys before bouncing back with two birdies to close his round, firing a 1-over 73; that gave him a 10-under score of 206, his career-low for 54 holes, and tying him for seventh place in the process. His 17 birdies for the tournament led the Buffs and were fourth in the 120-man field.
Junior Yannik Paul tied for 45th with a 1-under 215 score after finishing with a 73 Saturday, as he was sidetracked by some late troubles on Nos. 16 and 17. Cruising along at 2-under par through 14 holes (he started on the second), he suffered back-to-back double bogeys. He did come back to birdie No. 18 and par No. 1.
Junior John Souza finished strong with a 3-under 69, which gave him a 1-over 217 score for the week that tied him for 56th overall. He had four birdies, including three on his last three holes (Nos. 18, 1 and 2) along with 13 pars against one bogey, clutch play from CU's number four man. After Yannik Paul's two late doubles, Souza's "hat trick" of birdies enabled the Buffs to remain in the top five.
Freshman Morton Toft Hansen couldn't get untracked for the second straight day, as he closed with a 6-over 78 that pushed him to a 14-over 230, which tied him for 114th place, a bit disappointing after he opened strong with a 1-under 71. He had two birdies and nine pars against six bogeys and a double to wrap things up.
"It was a really good finish overall," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "We were a bit rocky in spots in the final round and we had some really good finishes by Ethan, Jeremy, and John that helped us a ton. We got some very significant wins, some of the best in school history, and to do it this time of year on Bermuda (grass) is very encouraging. I am looking forward to us heading to California in a week and having a good effort and tournament there.
"This sets up our spring really well," he added. "We have a great group of young men representing Colorado and they keep working to improve and get better. The guys gave great effort and competitiveness this week and have been working hard. They have been outstanding."
There was a three-way tie for medalist honors between USC's Rico Hoey, Arizona State's Jared duToit and Texas Tech's Fredrik Nilehn, all of whom finished at 16-under par 200. Hoey held a three shot lead heading into Saturday and carded a 70, but duToit (66) and Nilehn (67) caught him with their strong finishes.
Colorado will resume action a week from this Thursday in the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate, which the Cowboys host in Palm Desert, Calif. The Buffs have played in the event in four of the last five years, with three straight runner-up finishes.
NOTES: Colorado improved its record against Division I competition to 73-14-2, the first criteria for qualification for the NCAA Championships being a winning record against peer institutions (CU went 13-3-1 this week) … CU played with the three leaders Saturday, posting the second best round in the grouping (7-under; Texas Tech was minus-10, Stanford was 5-under and USC 1-under) … The Buffs led the field with four eagles (by four different players; CU had 15 in the fall) … This was CU's seventh tournament of the 2016-17 season, with the team posting two wins, a third, two fourths and a fifth; the seven straight top five finishes to open a year are a school best (old was four on two occasions, in 1979-80 and 1980-81) … The team scoring average race really tightened up here: Yannik Paul still leads with a 71.11 mark, followed by Freeman at 71.26 and Jeremy Paul at 71.56 (1.31 strokes separated the trio coming in).
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| T5. | Jeremy Paul | 70-69-66—205 |
| T7. | Ethan Freeman | 68-65-73—206 |
| T45. | Yannik Paul | 72-70-73—215 |
| T56. | John Souza | 73-75-69—217 |
| T114. | Morten Toft Hansen | 71-81-78—230 |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| T1. | Jared duToit, Arizona State | 64-70-66—200 |
| T1. | Rico Hoey, USC | 67-63-70—200 |
| T1. | Fredrik Nilehn, Texas Tech | 66-67-67—200 |
| 4. | Maverick McNealy, Stanford | 68-66-68—202 |
| T5. | Ethan Freeman, Colorado | 70-69-66—205 |
| T5. | Federico Zucchetti, Texas Tech | 66-69-70—205 |
| TEAM STANDINGS |
| 1. | Texas Tech | 270-272-278—820 |
| 2. | Southern California | 273-268-287—828 |
| 3. | Oregon | 285-276-277—838 |
| T4. | COLORADO | 281-279-281—841 |
| T4. | Arizona State | 286-279-276—841 |
| 6. | Stanford | 278-282-283—843 |
| T7. | UCLA | 285-281-285—851 |
| T7. | Georgia Tech | 288-278-285—851 |
| T7. | Texas | 284-282-285—851 |
| T7. | Oklahoma State | 286-278-287—851 |
| 11. | TCU | 281-284-288—853 |
| 12. | St. Mary's | 300-279-286—865 |
| 13. | Auburn | 290-292-286—868 |
| T14. | Oregon State | 292-284-296—872 |
| T14. | San Jose State | 292-289-291—872 |
| 16. | UC Davis | 295-287-293—875 |
| 17. | Hawai'i | 294-290-298—882 |
| 18. | Osaka Gakuin | 298-292-297—887 |
| 19. | Pacific | 298-295-295—888 |
| 20. | Chico State | 292-303-295—890 |
| 21. | Hawai'i-Hilo | 304-300-302—906 |
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
Thursday, March 26
Tuesday, August 12
Tuesday, February 06
Tuesday, February 06