Golfers Open Year Tied For Second At AFA-Miranda Invitational

Friday, September 8

USAFA, CO

All Day

Colorado

First Round

Yannik Paul recorded his 40th subpar round as a Buff on Friday, and has him tied for the lead.

Golfers Open Year Tied For Second At AFA-Miranda Invitational

September 08, 2017 | Men's Golf

Senior Yannik Paul shoots 67, tied for lead

By: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information

                USAFA, Colo. — The University of Colorado men's golf team opened the fall portion of its 2017-18 season here Friday with a solid first round showing in the 49th Annual Gene Miranda-Air Force Falcon Invitational

                The Buffaloes and Wyoming are tied for second with a 4-under team score of 284, two shots back of Colorado State (282, -6). Texas-El Paso is fourth (285, -5), with No. 14 UNLV rounding out the top five (2-under 286). A dozen schools are within 12 shots of the lead.

                "Overall, it was a decent score," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "We were a little up and down, but the guys did a really nice job of coming back in the middle of the round. We were four-over at one point, but we did a good job rallying on our second nine, the guys made a flurry of birdies.

                Yannik Paul opened up his senior year with a 5-under 67, as he recorded seven birdies and nine pars against two bogeys. In closing his day with four birdies over his last six holes, he posted his 40th subpar round (22nd in the 60s) out of 107 played. He's gunning for his 14th tournament under par overall and his second career win as he is tied for the lead on Air Force's 7,511-yard, par-72 Eisenhower Blue Golf Course.

                Sophomore transfer Daniel O'Loughlin turned in a 2-under 70 for his first round as a Buffalo, which has him tied for seventh. Arriving in Boulder this summer from McNeese State where he was the Southland's Conference player of the year, he had a steady day with five birdies and 10 pars against three bogeys. Even through 12 holes, he scored three birds in a row to get into red numbers.

                Sophomore Ross Macdonald, competing in his first collegiate event in over a year after redshirting last season, resumed him Buff career with a 1-over 73. Tied for 39th, he was tripped up a bit by a triple bogey on the 610-yard, par-5 16th, but he kept his focus and birdied two of his final four holes to get back to plus-1. He otherwise had five birdies and nine pars with three bogeys.

                Colorado's other two designated scorers, seniors Spencer Painton and John Souza, are both tied for 55th with 2-over 74 totals.   Painton came in at the No. 1 position after team qualifying and did score four birdies and eight pars, but had six bogeys on his round, while Souza scored a pair of eagles on the par-5 5th and 11th holes, the fourth and fifth of his CU career as he was the only player to score two in the first round.

                Three players are competing here individually, including CU's two true freshmen recruits, both of whom fared well in their first collegiate rounds. One, Trevor Olkowski, likely performed a rarity as, starting on No. 10 as the entire team did, he started his career by birdying his first three holes, two par-4's sandwiched around a par-5 as he would card an even-par 72, tying him for 24th. He had five birdies and nine pars with three bogeys and a double to start of his collegiate play.

                CU's other "rookie," Cole Krantz also turned in a 2-over 74, as he had two birdies and 12 pars against four bogeys. He opened up with a bogey but was resilient enough to rebound with a birdie right away. He spent much of his round hovering between two- and three-over par, but also closed his day on No. 9 with his second birdie.

                Rounding out the CU contingent was sophomore Victor Bjorlow, who is tied for 66th after fashioning a 3-over 75; he had three birdies and nine pars against six bogeys.

                "Yannik played well, Daniel had a nice round and the indies (individuals not counting toward CU's team score) had some good moments and not so good ones, but what a cool way for Trevor to start his college career," Edwards added. "That's certainly a great way to start; you can make birdies on those holes, but you have to go out and do it."

Three other players are tied with CU's Paul for the individual lead at 5-under 67.

NOTES: The average score in the 111-man field was 74.14, as six players shot in the 60s, 23 bettered par while 15 others matched par … Colorado's record for the lowest first collegiate round remains 67, shot by Sebastian Heisele in Denver's Ron Moore Invitational in 2008 … The Buffs and CSU lead the field in both par-3 (1-under) and par-4 (1-over) scoring, and CU golfers scored the most birdies (22) and eagles (two) by the five designated scores (the Buffs scored 32 birdies overall).

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T1.	Yannik Paul	33-34—67
T7.	Daniel O'Loughlin	34-36—70
T24.	*Trevor Olkowski	36-36—72
T39.	Ross Macdonald	34-39—73
T55.	Spencer Painton	36-38—74
T55.	John Souza	37-37—74
T55.	*Cole Krantz	36-38—74
T66.	*Victor Bjorlow	37-38—75

(*—competing as an individual.)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

T1.	Yannik Paul, Colorado	33-34—67
T1.	Andrew Romano, UNC	31-36—67
T1.	John Murdock, Wyoming	33-34—67
T1.	Andy Hess, Utah State	31-36—67
5.	Max Oelfke, Colorado State	31-37—68

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Colorado State	282
2.	COLORADO	284
2.	Wyoming	284
4.	Texas-El Paso	285
5.	UNLV	286
6.	Northern Colorado	287
7.	New Mexico State	289
8.	Air Force	290
9.	Weber State	291
T10.	Utah	292
T10.	Utah Valley State	292
T10.	Utah State	292
13.	Abilene Christian	293
14.	Northern Iowa	294
15.	Texas State	295
16.	Drake	297
17.	SIU-Edwardsville	301
18.	Southern Utah	304
19.	George Washington	306