Golfers Finish Tied For 15th in Stanford's "The Goodwin"

Saturday, April 1

Stanford, Calif.

All Day

Colorado

Third Round

Painton's 68 in the final round was the best by a Buffalo this week at Stanford.

Photo by: Chip Bromfield, ProMotion Ltd.

Golfers Finish Tied For 15th in Stanford's "The Goodwin"

April 01, 2017 | Men's Golf

Painton Cards Collegiate Best Score In Final Round

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

                STANFORD, Calif. — The University of Colorado men's golf team turned its best round of three here Saturday, but ws only able to gain three spots in the final standings in finishing in a tie for 15th as Stanford's "The Goodwin" came to a close.

                Host and No. 12 Stanford led from start-to-finish, winning with a team score of 3-under 837, the team under par. The Cardinal withheld a charge from No. 1 Southern California, who settled into second at 846; No. 15 Nevada-Las Vegas (850), No. 5 Oregon (854) and No. 37 Washington (860) rounded out the top five. The same schools occupied the top five as after two rounds, with only Oregon and Washington switching positions.

                No. 18 Colorado turned in the ninth-best score Saturday, a 5-over 285, but couldn't makeup much ground on the field in finishing with a 44-over 884 total. The Buffs knocked 16 strokes off their second round score, but in the end played just their second tournament in 10 tries this season without at least one team round under par.

                The school record run of nine straight team finishes in the top five unfortunately came to an end; the old best was eight on two occasions.

                Senior Ethan Freeman turned in the best performance for the Buffs this week, as he tied for 36th with an 8-over 218 score; he wrapped things up Saturday with a 2-over 72.   He had a team-high 12 birdies overall, which tied for the fifth-most in the field (he had four in the final round), with 24 pars, 16 bogeys and two doubles on the 6,727-yard, par-70 Stanford University Golf Course. He was 3-over after six holes but settled down to play his last 12 at 1-under.

                Junior Spencer Painton finished up with CU's best individual round of the tournament, carding his best gross score as a collegian with a 2-under 68 to finish at 9-over 219 overall. He had a team-high five birdies Saturday, with 12 pars against three bogeys; he also had the team's best nine-hole score of 32, thanks to four of his birdies on the front side, including three in a row from Nos. 7 through 9. He had just one hole worse than bogey all tournament.

                Painton was tied for 74th entering Saturday's final 18, and was the biggest mover in the field, jumping 33 spots into the tie for 41st.

                Senior Jeremy Paul fashioned a 1-over 71 in the final round to finish at 13-over 223, tying him for 63rd. He also had just one hole worse than bogey, in otherwise recording six birdies, 31 pars and 16 bogeys. This marked just the sixth time in 46 events that he did record at least one round of par or better, though he came close Saturday playing the back nine at 2-under and was fairly steady with three birdies and 11 pars against four bogeys.

                Junior John Souza turned in a second straight 4-over 74, which gave him a 54-hole total of 16-over 226, tying him for 80th. He arrived at his score in the same fashion he did on Friday, with two birdies and 11 pars against four birdies and a double (with 11 identical holes).

                Junior Yannik Paul closed with a second consecutive 5-over 75, which gave him an 18-over 228 score that tied him for 93rd.   It was a most uncharacteristic performance and his most strokes over par in tournament since the end of his freshman year and his third most as a collegian. He had six birdies and 31 pars here, with 12 bogeys but five holes higher that accounted for 12 of his strokes over par.

                It was better than the first two days but still wasn't a very good round other than Spencer. He played well," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "Overall, just not a very good tournament. We haven't had a performance this bad in a few years, but it happens sometimes. Our inputs have been good as far as preparation, but we just simply didn't get the results this week.

                "However, this is a good opportunity for us to improve," he added. "We have a hard-working group and several things to work on. This will make us better."

                Brigham Young's Rhett Rasmussen held on to his second round lead and walked away with medalist honors, firing an even-par 70 Saturday to finish at 4-under 206. That was good for a one-shot win over two others, as just six players finished in red numbers (under par) with one other ending at par.

                The Buffaloes have one more test ahead of the Pac-12 Championships later this month, in The Maxwell in Ardmore, Okla., on April 14-15. Colorado will host the Pac-12 event at Boulder Country Club from April 28-30.

NOTES: Colorado was 7-14-1 against Division I competition here, its season record now at 112-32-3; a winning record against peer institutions is the first criteria for qualification for the NCAA Championships (which CU easily clinched early this spring) … As expected with the winds much less significant than the first two days, the average score in the 126-man field was 72.85, or virtually two stokes lower than each of the first two rounds (74.82 Friday and 74.79 Thursday) … There were 20 rounds shot in the 60s, compared to 19 for the first two rounds combined … Three Buffaloes continue to own sub-72 scoring averages, which would be a first in team history: Jeremy Paul owns a 71.48 mark, followed by Freeman at 71.57 and Yannik Paul at 71.86; Jeremy Paul is looking to join Steve Jones and Knut Ekjord as the only players to lead the squad four times … CU is closing in on seasons record for most rounds in the 60s (36), subpar rounds (65) and rounds of par of better (81); the current marks are 42, set last year, and 67 and 86 established during the 2013-14 season … Colorado had entered the meet playing with its highest ranking since being 14th in the spring of 1981.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T36.	Ethan Freeman	69-77-72—218
T41.	Spencer Painton	75-76-68—219
T63.	Jeremy Paul	76-76-71—223
T80.	John Souza	78-74-74—226
T93.	Yannik Paul	78-75-75—228

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

1.	Rhett Rasmussen, BYU	72-64-70—206
T2.	Franklin Huang, Stanford	67-74-66—207
T2.	Harry Hall, UNLV	68-70-69—207
4.	Ryan Gronlund, Oregon	71-67-70—208
T5.	John Oda, UNLV	72-71-66—209
T5.	Sean Crocker, USC	72-67-70—209

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Stanford	276-288-273—837
2.	Southern California	285-280-281—846
3.	UNLV	289-284-277—850
4.	Oregon	296-281-277—854
5.	Washington	283-291-286—860
6.	Pepperdine	292-299-279—870
7.	SMU	284-303-285—872
8.	Northern Colorado	292-295-287—874
8.	BYU	288-301-285—874
10.	St. Mary's	298-290-287—875
12.	Cal Poly	296-295-288—879
12.	Nevada	302-294-286—882
12.	San Francisco	301-298-283—882
14.	Wyoming	294-293-296—883
15.	COLORADO	298-301-285—884
15.	UCLA	298-302-284—884
17.	Colorado State	292-298-297—887
17.	Oregon State	289-305-293—887
19.	UC Davis	306-302-282—890
20.	Pacific	294-302-297—893
21.	Fresno State	300-301-294—895
22.	Marquette	298-293-305—896
23.	San Jose State	317-295-292—904
24.	Chico State	298-302-306—906