Golfers Tied For 15th In Stanford's "The Goodwin"

Thursday, March 30

Stanford, Calif.

All Day

Colorado

First Round

Freeman paced the Buffaloes Thursday with a 1-under 69.

March 30, 2017 | Men's Golf

Senior Freeman Shines With A 1-under par 69

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

                STANFORD, Calif. — The University of Colorado men's golf team had an uncharacteristic off day and finds itself in a tie for 15th place after the first round of Stanford's "The Goodwin," which was completed here Thursday.

               Host and No. 12 Stanford was the only team to turn in a under par score, as the Cardinal shot a 4-under 280 total for the opening round. That is good for a seven-shot lead over No. 36 Washington, which came in with a 3-over 283, with No. 77 SMU in third (4-over 284), top-ranked Southern California in fourth (5-over 285) and BYU (8-over 288) to round out the top five.

               No. 18 Colorado, playing with its highest ranking since being 14th in the spring of 1981, had its fair share of struggles in winds that were gusting from 17 to 25 miles per hour all throughout the day. Handling such conditions has long been a trademark of the team, but the Buffs turned in an 18-over par 298 score; CU was just 2-over after nine, but played the back side at 16-over par, with just two birdies combined.

               Things looked promising with four of the five Buffs here making birdie on No. 1 (a 521-yard short par-5), but all were back to even or higher within two holes.

               Colorado's worst previous round of the season was back in the third tournament of the year, a 14-over par 302 in the second round of New Mexico's Tucker Invitational. The 298 Thursday was worse is strokes related to par and the second highest in gross score. Back in September, the Buffs chopped 13 strokes off that 302 in the final round to move into a tie for fifth place.

                Senior Ethan Freeman did manage a 1-under 69 on the 6,727-yard, par-70 Stanford University Golf Course to tie for sixth through 18 holes; his round included a stretch where he birdied four straight holes (Nos. 7 through 10). His six birdies overall tied for the second most in the field, and his subpar score was just one of 10 recorded Thursday in the 126-man field.

               "We haven't played this bad all year, it was a difficult day and we just didn't play well," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "Ethan played a very good round, 69 today was a very good score, so his round should be commended. But other than that, everyone was a little off. We made too many big numbers, putts weren't falling. Just one of those days you sometimes endure."

               Junior Spencer Painton was one who opened with a birdie but then endured a triple bogey on the second hole, eventually shooting a 5-over 75 that has him tied for 63rd. He had three birdies, second-most by a Buff, with nine pars and three bogeys aside from the triple.

               Senior Jeremy Paul, the team's stroke average leader (71.1) and who has been under par all three spring tournaments (a combined minus-24) is tied for 81st with a 6-over 76. He never really got untracked, making two birdies and 10 pars against five bogeys and a triple, the latter on the par-3 14th.

               Juniors Yannik Paul and John Souza are tied for 99th after carding 8-over par 78s. Both got there in similar fashions, with Paul scoring a birdie and nine pars against seven bogeys and a double, while Souza had 10 pars countered by eight bogeys – and both were 3-over at the turn.

               Washington's Corey Pereira carded a 4-under 66, good for a one stroke lead over two others. While most of the field struggled on the back nine to stay near par, he had an eagle and four birdies en route to a 30 on that side.

               For Friday's second round, the Buffaloes will again be paired with No. 17 UNLV and No. 28 Pepperdine, and will tee off on No. 10 beginning at 9:36 a.m. MDT.

               "We're playing in the morning, so we have a quick turnaround," Edwards said. "We have to forget it and move on. Anyone who knows anything about golf is that you don't always play your best every day. But it is about how you come back from it."

NOTES: Safe to say the wind help inflate the scores, especially with eight top 40 teams in the field; the average score was 74.79, with only the three par-5 holes and a short par-4 (No. 9, 365 yards) playing under par. The 473-yard, par-4 12th hole played the hardest at +0.75 (the Buffs had two parts, two bogeys and a double, or 4-over/+0.80) ... CU has a school record run of nine straight top five finishes entering this tournament ... Colorado also entered with a 291-68-7 record versus all opponents in rounds, but went 6-14-3 Thursday; the Buffs overall head-to-head mark is 105-18-2, which includes an 11-10-1 mark against top 25 teams, 12th best in the nation ... With the Pac-12 Championships in Boulder less than a month away, this could be viewed as a preview of what could lie ahead, with seven league teams participating, including all four in the top 20 and five of the six in the top 40. But Thursday's winds likely threw off that presumption a bit.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T6.	Ethan Freeman	33-36—69
T63.	Spencer Painton	36-39—75
T81.	Jeremy Paul	35-41—76
T99.	Yannik Paul	38-40—78
T99.	John Souza	38-40—78

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

1.	Corey Pereira, Washington	36-30—66
T2.	Maverick McNealy, Stanford	35-32—67
T2.	Franklin Huang, Stanford	34-33—67
T4.	Harry Hall, UNLV	33-35—68
T4.	Joshua McCarthy, Pepperdine	34-34—68

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Stanford	276
2.	Washington	283
3.	SMU	284
4.	Southern California	285
5.	BYU	288
6.	UNLV	289
6.	Oregon State	289
8.	Northern Colorado	292
8.	Pepperdine	292
8.	Colorado State	292
11.	Wyoming	294
11.	Pacific	294
13.	Cal Poly	296
13.	Oregon	296
15.	COLORADO	298
15.	UCLA	298
15.	St. Mary's	298
15.	Marquette	298
19.	Chico State	299
20.	Fresno State	300
21.	San Francisco	301
22.	Nevada	302
23.	UC Davis	306
24.	San Jose State	317