Colorado University Athletics
Thursday, February 7
Waikoloa, Hawaii
All Day
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at
First Round
Freshman Kristoffer Max chips an approach shot Thursday on Hawai'i's Big Island.
Golfers Open Spring Season With Eighth Place Standing In Hawai'i
February 07, 2019 | Men's Golf
Buffaloes Post Best Spring Opening Round Score In Relation To Par In School History
WAIKOLOA, Hawai'i — The University of Colorado men's golf team opened the spring portion of its schedule here Thursday, with the Buffaloes in eighth place after the first round of the 28th Annual Amer Ari Invitational on Hawai'i's Big Island.
Top-ranked Oklahoma State picked up where it left off in the fall, with five of its six players here shooting scores in the 60s en route to a 21-under par 267 score. That's actually "only" good for a two-shot lead over No. 29 Texas Tech, which had four players turn in sub-70 scores that led to a 19-under 269 tab. No. 45 Oregon is in third (271), with No. 2 Georgia Tech and No. 8 USC tied for fourth (277).
No. 16 Auburn and No. 63 TCU are tied for sixth at 279, the other schools ahead of No. 73 Colorado, as the Buffaloes enjoyed a record day.
CU turned in an 8-under par 280 score, which is the school's second-best gross score to open the spring portion of its schedule; it recorded a 279 in this same event in Roy Edwards' first year as head coach in the 2006-07 season. However, that was on a par-70 course, thus it was 1-under par; this year's effort is a school best in relation to par for the first round of the spring season.
In addition, Colorado opened the spring season for the third straight year with a subpar team score, and the 10th time in its history – all since 2000; it was the seventh time under Edwards.
"The guys have been working hard, and we were actually a little sloppy early in the round, so to be 8-under, we're really thrilled with that," Edwards said. "We got some of the tougher holes out of the way early, so we expected to come back. We were still hanging around 1-over or even with five holes to play and closed very strong."
Colorado was never much over par, 3-over the max about four holes in, but spent the first half of the day down the line in the team standings, around 14th to 16th place until the strong finish.
Junior Daniel O'Loughlin, the team leader in stroke average for the fall with a 71.2 figure, continued his solid play by opening with a 4-under 68 on the 7,074-yard, par-72 Waikoloa King' Course layout. That has him tied for 12th, as he had four birdies and 14 pars for his first and the team's third bogey-free round of the year. It was also O'Loughlin's team-best 11th subpar round (out of 16) on the year.
Freshman Kristoffer Max is tied for 30th after carding a 2-under 70; he had one of 12 eagles in the entire field with three birdies and 11 pars (against three bogeys). He was 1-over early and for about half of his round before the eagles capped a span where he was 4-under over a six-hole stretch. Max played the par-5s at 3-under par, tied for third-best in the 109-man field.
Junior Ross Macdonald is tied for 77th, posting a 2-over 74 score Thursday. He had six pars and five bogeys in his first 11 holes, but was able to collect himself down the stretch to finish with three birdies and four pars to aid the team's hot finish.
Junior Andre Leveque is tied for 88th after scoring a 3-over par 75. Though his score didn't count toward the team total, he was 5-over with three holes to play and would birdie two of those to bring things back in a bit. He had three birdies and 10 pars on his day, with four bogeys and a double.
Freshman John Paterson is competing here as an individual, fashioning an even-par 72 that has him tied for 53rd. After starting on No.17 and opening with two pars, he double-bogeyed No. 1, his only hiccup of the day. He birdied Nos. 4 and 8 to get back to even and then scored pars on his final eight holes. He had two birdies and 15 pars with that double, the par count tying for the most in the field.
Oklahoma State's Zach Bauchou has a two-stroke lead on the field, as he fired a sizzling 9-under 63, a round that featured seven birdies and an eagle with a 29 on the front nine.
"Overall, we had a solid first day, good rounds from Daniel and Trevor," Edwards said. "Kristoffer did a nice job bringing it back to shoot 70, and Ross also came back to shoot two-over which was a big help. Andre was over par early but held it together, and John settled in after his early double.
"We just want to continue to position ourselves off the tee, be smart in our approaches, take advantage of the par-5s and if the trade winds pick up, play smart," he added. "There wasn't much win today, and with little wind, you can score well. If the winds pick up, it's almost a different course. But I feel good about what I saw today."
The second round is set for a 10:30 a.m. (MST) shotgun start, as the Buffaloes will begin on holes 4 through 7 and will be paired with Southern California, Auburn and TCU. The third and final round is set for Wednesday.
NOTES: The old best opening spring round score in relation to par was 7-under, set here last year (281); the Buffs were in 10th place at that point and eventually finished 11th … The average score Thursday was a smidgen above par – 72.07 – as there were 29 scores in the 60s and just five in the 80s … The Buffaloes five designated scorers had an eagle, 18 birdies and 57 pars against 13 bogeys and a double; Paterson's 15 pars tied the team-high for a single round this season … Colorado played the par-3s even (tied for second-best in the field), the par-4's at 2-over (ninth) and the par-5's at 7-under seventh) … The 232-yard, par-3 No. 3 hole was the fifth-hardest and saw just 13 players birdie it on Thursday; three of those were by Buffs (Leveque, O'Loughlin and Olkowski).Top-ranked Oklahoma State picked up where it left off in the fall, with five of its six players here shooting scores in the 60s en route to a 21-under par 267 score. That's actually "only" good for a two-shot lead over No. 29 Texas Tech, which had four players turn in sub-70 scores that led to a 19-under 269 tab. No. 45 Oregon is in third (271), with No. 2 Georgia Tech and No. 8 USC tied for fourth (277).
No. 16 Auburn and No. 63 TCU are tied for sixth at 279, the other schools ahead of No. 73 Colorado, as the Buffaloes enjoyed a record day.
CU turned in an 8-under par 280 score, which is the school's second-best gross score to open the spring portion of its schedule; it recorded a 279 in this same event in Roy Edwards' first year as head coach in the 2006-07 season. However, that was on a par-70 course, thus it was 1-under par; this year's effort is a school best in relation to par for the first round of the spring season.
In addition, Colorado opened the spring season for the third straight year with a subpar team score, and the 10th time in its history – all since 2000; it was the seventh time under Edwards.
"The guys have been working hard, and we were actually a little sloppy early in the round, so to be 8-under, we're really thrilled with that," Edwards said. "We got some of the tougher holes out of the way early, so we expected to come back. We were still hanging around 1-over or even with five holes to play and closed very strong."
Colorado was never much over par, 3-over the max about four holes in, but spent the first half of the day down the line in the team standings, around 14th to 16th place until the strong finish.
Junior Daniel O'Loughlin, the team leader in stroke average for the fall with a 71.2 figure, continued his solid play by opening with a 4-under 68 on the 7,074-yard, par-72 Waikoloa King' Course layout. That has him tied for 12th, as he had four birdies and 14 pars for his first and the team's third bogey-free round of the year. It was also O'Loughlin's team-best 11th subpar round (out of 16) on the year.
Freshman Kristoffer Max is tied for 30th after carding a 2-under 70; he had one of 12 eagles in the entire field with three birdies and 11 pars (against three bogeys). He was 1-over early and for about half of his round before the eagles capped a span where he was 4-under over a six-hole stretch. Max played the par-5s at 3-under par, tied for third-best in the 109-man field.
Junior Ross Macdonald is tied for 77th, posting a 2-over 74 score Thursday. He had six pars and five bogeys in his first 11 holes, but was able to collect himself down the stretch to finish with three birdies and four pars to aid the team's hot finish.
Junior Andre Leveque is tied for 88th after scoring a 3-over par 75. Though his score didn't count toward the team total, he was 5-over with three holes to play and would birdie two of those to bring things back in a bit. He had three birdies and 10 pars on his day, with four bogeys and a double.
Freshman John Paterson is competing here as an individual, fashioning an even-par 72 that has him tied for 53rd. After starting on No.17 and opening with two pars, he double-bogeyed No. 1, his only hiccup of the day. He birdied Nos. 4 and 8 to get back to even and then scored pars on his final eight holes. He had two birdies and 15 pars with that double, the par count tying for the most in the field.
Oklahoma State's Zach Bauchou has a two-stroke lead on the field, as he fired a sizzling 9-under 63, a round that featured seven birdies and an eagle with a 29 on the front nine.
"Overall, we had a solid first day, good rounds from Daniel and Trevor," Edwards said. "Kristoffer did a nice job bringing it back to shoot 70, and Ross also came back to shoot two-over which was a big help. Andre was over par early but held it together, and John settled in after his early double.
"We just want to continue to position ourselves off the tee, be smart in our approaches, take advantage of the par-5s and if the trade winds pick up, play smart," he added. "There wasn't much win today, and with little wind, you can score well. If the winds pick up, it's almost a different course. But I feel good about what I saw today."
The second round is set for a 10:30 a.m. (MST) shotgun start, as the Buffaloes will begin on holes 4 through 7 and will be paired with Southern California, Auburn and TCU. The third and final round is set for Wednesday.
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| T12. | Daniel O'Loughlin | 35-33—68 |
| T12. | Trevor Olkowski | 33-35—68 |
| T30. | Kristoffer Max | 35-35—70 |
| T53. | *John Paterson | 36-36—72 |
| T77. | Ross Macdonald | 36-38—74 |
| T88. | Andre Leveque | 37-38—75 |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| 1. | Zach Bachau, Oklahoma State | 29-34—63 |
| 2. | Ryan Grunlund, Oregon | 32-33—65 |
| T3. | Viktor Hovland, Oklahoma State | 34-32—66 |
| T3. | Jared Kinoshita, UH-Hilo | 34-32—66 |
| T3. | Kyle Hogan, Texas Tech | 34-32—66 |
| T3. | Sam Foust, Oregon | 32-34—66 |
TEAM STANDINGS
| 1. | Oklahoma State | 267 |
| 2. | Texas Tech | 269 |
| 3. | Oregon | 271 |
| 4. | Georgia Tech | 277 |
| 4. | Southern California | 277 |
| 6. | Auburn | 279 |
| 7. | TCU | 279 |
| 8. | COLORADO | 280 |
| 9. | Texas | 281 |
| 9. | Utah | 281 |
| 11. | San Jose State | 284 |
| 12. | Hawai'i-Hilo | 285 |
| 12. | Oregon State | 285 |
| 14. | Osaka Gakuin Univ. | 288 |
| 15. | UC Davis | 289 |
| 16. | Stanford | 290 |
| 16. | Pacific | 290 |
| 18. | Hawai'i | 297 |
Players Mentioned
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