Colorado University Athletics
Saturday, September 23
Albuquerque, NM
All Day
Colorado
vs
Third Round
Senior John Souza tied for 11th after closing with an even-par 72 Saturday.
Photo by: Chip Bromfield, ProMotion Ltd.
Golfers Rally To Tie For Sixth At UNM Tucker Intercollegiate
September 23, 2017 | Men's Golf
Three Buffs Place In Top 16
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of Colorado men's golf team rallied in a big way here Saturday, at one point pulling to within three strokes of the lead before settling for a tie for sixth place as the 63rd Annual New Mexico William H. Tucker Intercollegiate came to a close.
Brigham Young overtook second-round leader and No. 14-ranked Nevada-Las Vegas to capture the team title, as the Cougars finished with a 9-over 873 team score. That bested Washington (877) by four strokes with Arizona taking third at 878. UNLV dropped all the way to fourth after shooting one of the high rounds of the day, finishing six off the lead at 879; Colorado State rounded out the top five at 881.
Colorado entered the final round in ninth place and at one point was 8-under as a team before finishing with a 1-under 287, joining BYU as the only two schools to post a subpar team score Saturday on the 7,556 yard, par-72 UNM Championship Course layout. The Buffaloes wound up tied with host New Mexico and San Diego State for sixth with 20-over par 884 scores, and were the only team in the field Saturday to have four players shoot 73 or better.
"We are very pleased with the round today," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "We got off to a good start and it was very calm for about 10-12 holes and then the wind started blowing hard from the south. The guys held it together really well as we finished on some very tough holes. Sixth place is really just an 'okay' finish, and we realize if we would have played a little better yesterday we would have had a chance to win the tournament."
And when the smoke cleared, in the end only two schools had three players finish in the top 20, the Buffaloes and Colorado State.
Senior John Souza was the top performing Buffalo, as he tied for 11th with a 3-over 219 after wrapping up play with an even-par 72 Saturday. He led the entire field in par-3 scoring at 1-under, the only golfer to play all 12 "short ones" under par. His 12 birdies over three rounds tied for the third-most, as he also logged 28 pars against 13 bogeys and a double. After opening with a pair of bogeys on Nos. 8 and 9, he bounced back to play the next 10 holes at 4-under.
Senior Spencer Painton and sophomore Daniel O'Loughlin tied for 16th with 4-over 220 totals. Painton shot CU's low round of the day – a 2-under 70, which was also the sixth-best final round effort in the field, while O'Loughlin closed with an even-par 72. Painton's 38 pars tied for the third-most in the meet, while O'Loughlin's 37 tied for the seventh-most.
Painton had it 5-under through 11 holes, thanks to opening with an eagle, CU's lone one of the tournament, and three birdies.
Senior Yannik Paul, who has been dealing with some back pain for about two weeks, hung tough here through the weekend, finishing in a tie for 51st after firing a 3-over 75. He was 11-over for the meet (227), and despite his struggles, he only had one hole worse than a bogey in recording six birdies and 33 pars.
Sophomore Ross Macdonald had a nice personal rally Saturday, as he rebounded with a 1-over 73 after a second round 80 to finish 12-over 228. He had four birdies and 36 pars against 12 bogeys and two doubles.
George Cunningham, who led by one shot after two rounds, went on to post a three-stroke victory over BYU's Peter Kuest. Cunningham closed with a 3-under 69 for an 8-under 208 score, while Kuest finished with the low round of the tournament with a 6-under 66 to move from seventh into the runner-up slot at 5-under 211.
"Spencer was particularly good today and Ross probably had the toughest starting hole in the field, so shooting 73 playing every tough hole into the wind was really good," Edwards said. "Daniel and John were very solid as well and Yannik did a nice job fighting through the pain he's been dealing with. However, the guys competed hard all week and I am very proud of them for that. We are looking forward to getting home and starting the Simpson."
The Buffaloes will turn right around and host its own 8th Annual Mark Simpson-CU Invitational at Colorado National Golf Club this Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 25-26).
NOTES: The average score for the field was 75.60 (for a total of 298 rounds); it was 75.61 for the final round, thus CU's bested that over three strokes as the five Buffs averaged out to 72.4 Saturday … Just six players finished under par for the tournament in the 100-man field, with two others even; 29 players finished 15-over par or higher … Colorado, along with host New Mexico, are the only schools to have appeared in all 63 Tucker meets.
TEAM STANDINGS
Brigham Young overtook second-round leader and No. 14-ranked Nevada-Las Vegas to capture the team title, as the Cougars finished with a 9-over 873 team score. That bested Washington (877) by four strokes with Arizona taking third at 878. UNLV dropped all the way to fourth after shooting one of the high rounds of the day, finishing six off the lead at 879; Colorado State rounded out the top five at 881.
Colorado entered the final round in ninth place and at one point was 8-under as a team before finishing with a 1-under 287, joining BYU as the only two schools to post a subpar team score Saturday on the 7,556 yard, par-72 UNM Championship Course layout. The Buffaloes wound up tied with host New Mexico and San Diego State for sixth with 20-over par 884 scores, and were the only team in the field Saturday to have four players shoot 73 or better.
"We are very pleased with the round today," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "We got off to a good start and it was very calm for about 10-12 holes and then the wind started blowing hard from the south. The guys held it together really well as we finished on some very tough holes. Sixth place is really just an 'okay' finish, and we realize if we would have played a little better yesterday we would have had a chance to win the tournament."
And when the smoke cleared, in the end only two schools had three players finish in the top 20, the Buffaloes and Colorado State.
Senior John Souza was the top performing Buffalo, as he tied for 11th with a 3-over 219 after wrapping up play with an even-par 72 Saturday. He led the entire field in par-3 scoring at 1-under, the only golfer to play all 12 "short ones" under par. His 12 birdies over three rounds tied for the third-most, as he also logged 28 pars against 13 bogeys and a double. After opening with a pair of bogeys on Nos. 8 and 9, he bounced back to play the next 10 holes at 4-under.
Senior Spencer Painton and sophomore Daniel O'Loughlin tied for 16th with 4-over 220 totals. Painton shot CU's low round of the day – a 2-under 70, which was also the sixth-best final round effort in the field, while O'Loughlin closed with an even-par 72. Painton's 38 pars tied for the third-most in the meet, while O'Loughlin's 37 tied for the seventh-most.
Painton had it 5-under through 11 holes, thanks to opening with an eagle, CU's lone one of the tournament, and three birdies.
Senior Yannik Paul, who has been dealing with some back pain for about two weeks, hung tough here through the weekend, finishing in a tie for 51st after firing a 3-over 75. He was 11-over for the meet (227), and despite his struggles, he only had one hole worse than a bogey in recording six birdies and 33 pars.
Sophomore Ross Macdonald had a nice personal rally Saturday, as he rebounded with a 1-over 73 after a second round 80 to finish 12-over 228. He had four birdies and 36 pars against 12 bogeys and two doubles.
George Cunningham, who led by one shot after two rounds, went on to post a three-stroke victory over BYU's Peter Kuest. Cunningham closed with a 3-under 69 for an 8-under 208 score, while Kuest finished with the low round of the tournament with a 6-under 66 to move from seventh into the runner-up slot at 5-under 211.
"Spencer was particularly good today and Ross probably had the toughest starting hole in the field, so shooting 73 playing every tough hole into the wind was really good," Edwards said. "Daniel and John were very solid as well and Yannik did a nice job fighting through the pain he's been dealing with. However, the guys competed hard all week and I am very proud of them for that. We are looking forward to getting home and starting the Simpson."
The Buffaloes will turn right around and host its own 8th Annual Mark Simpson-CU Invitational at Colorado National Golf Club this Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 25-26).
NOTES: The average score for the field was 75.60 (for a total of 298 rounds); it was 75.61 for the final round, thus CU's bested that over three strokes as the five Buffs averaged out to 72.4 Saturday … Just six players finished under par for the tournament in the 100-man field, with two others even; 29 players finished 15-over par or higher … Colorado, along with host New Mexico, are the only schools to have appeared in all 63 Tucker meets.
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| T11. | John Souza | 71-76-72—219 |
| T16. | Daniel O'Loughlin | 74-74-72—220 |
| T16. | Spencer Painton | 75-75-70—220 |
| T51. | Yannik Paul | 74-78-75—227 |
| T56. | Ross Macdonald | 75-80-73—228 |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| 1. | George Cunningham, Arizona | 70-69-69—208 |
| 2. | Peter Kuest, BYU | 70-75-66—211 |
| 3. | Carl Yuan, Washington | 71-73-68—212 |
| 4. | P.J. Samiere, San Diego State | 74-71-69—214 |
| T5. | Patrick Fishburn, BYU | 70-75-70—215 |
| T5. | Travis Fredborg, Arizona | 72-76-67—215 |
TEAM STANDINGS
| 1. | Brigham Young | 284-302-287—873 |
| 2. | Washington | 294-287-296—877 |
| 3. | Arizona | 292-297-289—878 |
| 4. | UNLV | 282-293-304—879 |
| 5. | Colorado State | 295-294-292—881 |
| T6. | COLORADO | 294-303-287—884 |
| T6. | New Mexico | 297-295-292—884 |
| T6. | San Diego State | 292-300-292—884 |
| 9. | Cal State-Fullerton | 294-299-295—888 |
| 10. | Denver | 298-303-298—899 |
| 11. | Texas-Arlington | 299-299-303—901 |
| 12. | Nevada | 294-308-301—903 |
| 13. | Washington State | 305-301-300—906 |
| 14. | Texas-El Paso | 306-307-300—913 |
| 15. | San Diego | 307-302-305—914 |
| 16. | Louisiana Tech | 307-301-313—921 |
| 17. | New Mexico State | 303-305-316—924 |
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Golf
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