Colorado University Athletics
Tuesday, October 8
Erie, Colo.
All Day
Colorado
vs
Third Round
O'Loughlin tied the school record for 54-holes with a 12-under 204.
Photo by: Dan Madden
Golfers Win Seventh Straight Simpson-CU Invitational
October 08, 2019 | Men's Golf
O'Loughlin shares medalist honors, Buffs tattoo record book
ERIE — The University of Colorado men's golf team came out firing on all cylinders Tuesday and made a few entries in the school's record book as the Buffaloes captured its own 10th Annual Mark Simpson-Colorado Invitational.
It marked the seventh straight year the Buffaloes have won or shared the title in the event, this being the fifth outright victory and second in a row. All five of CU's designated scorers finished in the top 20, and it was the first time in 11 years that as many as five Buffs finished under par in a tournament, as well as the first time ever that all five scorers did so.
The Buffaloes pulled away from the field in posting a tournament single round record of 15-under par 273, which also gave CU the meet record for the winning score at 35-under 829. That stands as the second-best score in relation to par in school history, just behind a 39-under par performance in 2008 at Denver's Ron Moore Invitational.
Grand Canyon took runner-up honors with an 839 score, followed by Wyoming (844), CSU-Fullerton (845) and Texas-Arlington (846) to round out the top five.
Senior Daniel O'Loughlin shared medalist honors with two others, as he closed with a 4-under 68 for a 12-under 204 total on the 7,703-yard, par-72 Colorado National Golf Club course layout. He birdied his last two holes to pull even with Grand Canyon's Michael Salazar and CSU-Fullerton's Jack Dyer; Salazar birdied the first playoff hole while the other two scored par to lay claim to the trophy for medalists as all three count it as a victory in college golf.
"My game was really, really good all three rounds, my long game especially good," O'Loughlin said. "For the most part, I gave myself a lot of chances, though today, I felt like I didn't give myself that many the first 12 or 13 holes. I was really pleased with how I finished today, with the three birdies on the last four holes (Nos. 15, 17, 18)."
He gave himself the opportunity to share the medalist honors with his finish. "I drove the green on 17, was maybe 55, 60 feet from the pin and rolled it up to about four feet and made the birdie. Then knowing I had to birdie 18 to tie for the lead, I was pretty pumped up.
"It was great for the team to win, we had really good scoring. I'm really happy for the guys and to end the fall this way."
O'Loughlin had 16 birdies and 34 pars with just four bogeys en route to his second career win. He played both the par-4 and par-5 holes the best in the field, as he was 7-under on both combined throughout the three rounds. The 204 tied four others for the lowest score for a 54-hole tournament in school history.
Senior Ross Macdonald shot his career-best single round score of 66, thanks to seven birdie and 11 pars, enabling him to move up 11 spots in the standings into a tie for eighth with an 8-under 208 total. He also played the par-5s well at 6-under combined, tying him for third-best in the 72-man field, and closed strong with a 32 on the back nine.
Macdonald equaled O'Loughlin's birdie total of 16, tying for the fourth-most in the field.
Sophomore John Paterson tied for 17th place after fashioning a final round 70, which gave him a career-best 211 for 54 holes. He played steady Tuesday, with three birdies and a team-high 14 pars, with his 39 pars tied for the third-most overall.
Junior Cole Krantz and redshirt freshman Adam Matteson tied for 20th, finishing with 3-under 213 scores. Matteson carded a final round 69, matching his collegiate-best round, while Krantz wrapped things up with a 74.
Three Buffaloes competed here as individuals. Senior Andre Leveque and sophomore Kristoffer Max tied for 26th with 1-under 215 scores, while senior Victor Bjorlow tied for 50th with a 6-over 221 count. Max and Bjorlow closed things out with 73s, while Leveque shot a 75. Bjorlow had five birdies Tuesday and 12 for the two days as did Leveque, while Max had 37 pars.
"Everybody is excited to get this victory," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "The team played really well from start to finish. I was really impressed with everyone's composure and patience. I thought we specifically did a good job of coming down the stretch to pull away. In particular, Adam Daniel and Ross – the way those three finished was very impressive."
That trio combined to play the last seven holes at 12-under par, all birdies and not a single bogey as CU held Grand Canyon at an arm's length, as its quintet played the back nine at 11-under overall.
"It was definitely a positive way to finish the team portion of the fall schedule," he continued. "It shows the guys that if they play with great course management and patience, along with a solid short game, we can be a great team. Hopefully this motivates us to work hard in the off-season to get ready for the spring."
This was the Buffaloes' 17th major tournament win under Edwards, as this win broke a tie with the late Mark Simpson, who saw his teams win 16 during his tenure as coach from 1977 until his death in 2005. Anyone who knew Simpson no doubt believes he would have been honored to see his record broken by his beloved Buffs winning the tournament named for him.
"To me, there's no greater person in Colorado golf history than Coach Simpson," Edwards said. "I'd like to believe the way this team won this tournament honors that legacy. The University of Colorado, its golf program, and college golf in general meant everything to Mark."
It marked the seventh straight year the Buffaloes have won or shared the title in the event, this being the fifth outright victory and second in a row. All five of CU's designated scorers finished in the top 20, and it was the first time in 11 years that as many as five Buffs finished under par in a tournament, as well as the first time ever that all five scorers did so.
The Buffaloes pulled away from the field in posting a tournament single round record of 15-under par 273, which also gave CU the meet record for the winning score at 35-under 829. That stands as the second-best score in relation to par in school history, just behind a 39-under par performance in 2008 at Denver's Ron Moore Invitational.
Grand Canyon took runner-up honors with an 839 score, followed by Wyoming (844), CSU-Fullerton (845) and Texas-Arlington (846) to round out the top five.
Senior Daniel O'Loughlin shared medalist honors with two others, as he closed with a 4-under 68 for a 12-under 204 total on the 7,703-yard, par-72 Colorado National Golf Club course layout. He birdied his last two holes to pull even with Grand Canyon's Michael Salazar and CSU-Fullerton's Jack Dyer; Salazar birdied the first playoff hole while the other two scored par to lay claim to the trophy for medalists as all three count it as a victory in college golf.
"My game was really, really good all three rounds, my long game especially good," O'Loughlin said. "For the most part, I gave myself a lot of chances, though today, I felt like I didn't give myself that many the first 12 or 13 holes. I was really pleased with how I finished today, with the three birdies on the last four holes (Nos. 15, 17, 18)."
He gave himself the opportunity to share the medalist honors with his finish. "I drove the green on 17, was maybe 55, 60 feet from the pin and rolled it up to about four feet and made the birdie. Then knowing I had to birdie 18 to tie for the lead, I was pretty pumped up.
"It was great for the team to win, we had really good scoring. I'm really happy for the guys and to end the fall this way."
O'Loughlin had 16 birdies and 34 pars with just four bogeys en route to his second career win. He played both the par-4 and par-5 holes the best in the field, as he was 7-under on both combined throughout the three rounds. The 204 tied four others for the lowest score for a 54-hole tournament in school history.
Senior Ross Macdonald shot his career-best single round score of 66, thanks to seven birdie and 11 pars, enabling him to move up 11 spots in the standings into a tie for eighth with an 8-under 208 total. He also played the par-5s well at 6-under combined, tying him for third-best in the 72-man field, and closed strong with a 32 on the back nine.
Macdonald equaled O'Loughlin's birdie total of 16, tying for the fourth-most in the field.
Sophomore John Paterson tied for 17th place after fashioning a final round 70, which gave him a career-best 211 for 54 holes. He played steady Tuesday, with three birdies and a team-high 14 pars, with his 39 pars tied for the third-most overall.
Junior Cole Krantz and redshirt freshman Adam Matteson tied for 20th, finishing with 3-under 213 scores. Matteson carded a final round 69, matching his collegiate-best round, while Krantz wrapped things up with a 74.
Three Buffaloes competed here as individuals. Senior Andre Leveque and sophomore Kristoffer Max tied for 26th with 1-under 215 scores, while senior Victor Bjorlow tied for 50th with a 6-over 221 count. Max and Bjorlow closed things out with 73s, while Leveque shot a 75. Bjorlow had five birdies Tuesday and 12 for the two days as did Leveque, while Max had 37 pars.
"Everybody is excited to get this victory," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "The team played really well from start to finish. I was really impressed with everyone's composure and patience. I thought we specifically did a good job of coming down the stretch to pull away. In particular, Adam Daniel and Ross – the way those three finished was very impressive."
That trio combined to play the last seven holes at 12-under par, all birdies and not a single bogey as CU held Grand Canyon at an arm's length, as its quintet played the back nine at 11-under overall.
"It was definitely a positive way to finish the team portion of the fall schedule," he continued. "It shows the guys that if they play with great course management and patience, along with a solid short game, we can be a great team. Hopefully this motivates us to work hard in the off-season to get ready for the spring."
This was the Buffaloes' 17th major tournament win under Edwards, as this win broke a tie with the late Mark Simpson, who saw his teams win 16 during his tenure as coach from 1977 until his death in 2005. Anyone who knew Simpson no doubt believes he would have been honored to see his record broken by his beloved Buffs winning the tournament named for him.
"To me, there's no greater person in Colorado golf history than Coach Simpson," Edwards said. "I'd like to believe the way this team won this tournament honors that legacy. The University of Colorado, its golf program, and college golf in general meant everything to Mark."
CU will close its fall season with the Les Fowler-CU Invitational on Oct. 21, a one-day, 36-hole tournament with 35 individuals set to compete at present (no team competition).
NOTES: The Buffaloes shot under par in all three rounds of a tournament for the first time since the 2018 Air Force Miranda Invitational … The previous time CU had five players finish with subpar efforts was in that 2008 DU meet; four of the five were scoring for the team but the fifth was competing as an individual … CU's 10-shot win was the second-largest in the event's history (the Buffs won by 12 in 2014) … The average score for 72 rounds Tuesday was 72.10, the easiest of the three rounds (72.51 for all 216 rounds overall). That led to a record 30 players finishing under par for 54 holes … CU's final round 273 (15-under) was the eighth-best single round in school annals … The Buffs led the field in both par-4 (17-under par) and par-5 (23-under) scoring while tying for fourth on the par-3s (9-over) … CU also led in total birdies by its designated scorers (67) and was sixth in pars (167); including the individuals, Buffaloes accounted for 99 birdies total … CU's fifth man tied for 20th; the next best finish by a team's fifth player was 41st by Grand Canyon … O'Loughlin lowered his team-leading stroke average to 70.33 for 12 rounds and has now seen 81 of his 84 career rounds count toward CU's team scoring; he has played in 29 events and has now been under par in 14 of those with even-par efforts on two other occasions.
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| T1. | Daniel O'Loughlin | 69-67-68—204 |
| T8. | Ross Macdonald | 72-70-66—208 |
| T17. | John Paterson | 69-72-70—211 |
| T20. | Cole Krantz | 66-73-74—213 |
| T20. | Adam Matteson | 73-71-69—213 |
| T26. | *Kristoffer Max | 70-72-73—215 |
| T26. | *Andre Leveque | 70-70-75—215 |
| T50. | *Victor Bjorlow | 73-75-73—221 |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| T1. | Daniel O'Loughlin, Colorado | 69-67-68—204 |
| T1. | Jack Dyer, CSU-Fullerton | 66-68-70—204 |
| T1. | #Michael Salazar, Grand Canyon | 66-68-70—204 |
| 4. | Carl Underwood, Wyoming | 71-66-68—205 |
| T5. | Witchayapat Sinsrang, UNO | 66-67-73—206 |
| T5. | Paul Gonzalez, UT-Arlington | 70-67-69—206 |
TEAM STANDINGS
| 1. | COLORADO | 276-280-273—829 |
| 2. | Grand Canyon | 278-283-278—839 |
| 3. | Wyoming | 279-283-282—844 |
| 4. | CSU-Fullerton | 282-281-282—845 |
| 5. | UT-Arlington | 285-281-280—846 |
| 6. | Utah State | 281-279-288—848 |
| 6. | Nebraska-Omaha | 287-279-282—848 |
| 8. | Northern Colorado | 285-289-276—850 |
| 9. | Southern Utah | 299-287-277—863 |
| 10. | Incarnate Word | 289-300-290—879 |
| 11. | Utah Valley State | 290-299-291—880 |
| 12. | SIU-Edwardsville | 280-304-298—882 |
Players Mentioned
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