Colorado University Athletics
Sophomore Trevor Olkowski is one of six players competing in Eugene this week for the Buffaloes.
Golfers Settled in Oregon, Ready For Pac-12 Championships
April 21, 2019 | Men's Golf
Colorado Needs A Good Finish To Qualify For NCAA's
Play Begins Monday With 36 Holes
EUGENE, Ore. — The 60th Annual Pac-12 Conference men's golf championships, the eighth edition with 12 schools, begins here Monday, with the Colorado Buffaloes looking for a good finish to get off the bubble for selection into next month's NCAA Championships.
Arizona State enters as the Pac-12's top team, No. 2 across the board in the Golfweek/Sagarin, GolfStat and GCAA Coaches rankings. Southern California (No. 6), California (No. 10) and Stanford (No. 16) are also in the top 25, with UCLA (No. 29) and host Oregon (No. 39) just outside it. The Buffaloes enter at No. 78 in GolfStat and at No. 85 by Golfweek.
The teams will begin play Monday with 36 holes, followed by 18 each on Tuesday and Wednesday at Eugene Country Club in the heart of the city; it will sport a 7,044-yard, par-71 configuration for the tournament. The course plays to a par-71 as there are just three par-5 holes the players will have to contend with.
"It's a lot like Boulder Country Club, except the trees are four times as tall," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "he guys will enjoy playing it; if you're on your game, you'll score well, but if not, you will have some struggles. But it's very fair and there's no real tricks to it."
The first criteria to qualify for the NCAA Championships is that a school must own a winning record against Division I competition; the Buffaloes enter at 85-80-1, meaning they need to finish eighth (or in a tie for eighth) to remain above .500. If a team meets that qualification, then it has to be ranked in the top 81 in the GolfStat rankings … though with 28 conference champions automatically qualifying for the postseason, that number is reduced annually anywhere from 15 to 20 spots.
"We're frankly not worried about record (against Division I opponents), as we really have to play way better than an eighth place finish to qualify (for NCAA regionals)," Edwards said. "If we play well, that could take care of itself.
"I feel like when we play well, we play really well, but overall we were a little more inconsistent than we wanted. I believe the entire team has really grown and evolved. We replaced four seniors (from the 2018 team), three of whom played in every tournament for the past two years and it put everybody in a new role. For the most part, the guys have really grown in those roles. There were a lot of occasions where there was a lot of good moments from every player. I'm really encouraged about this week and the future."
The Buffaloes will be represented by juniors Ross Macdonald and Daniel O'Loughlin, sophomores Cole Krantz and Trevor Olkowski and freshman Kristoffer Max and John Paterson. O'Loughlin leads the team in stroke average at 71.85, while Olkowski (73.42), Krantz (73.78), Macdonald (73.79) and Paterson (73.94) are separated by just half a stroke. Max is averaging 74.67, but is fourth among the group in spring numbers. This is just the fourth time in the last 40 years that CU doesn't have a senior competing in a conference championship, and only three of the six have league title meet experience.
Macdonald leads that trio, as he tied for second last year in helping the Buffaloes finish second, just four strokes behind champion USC, playing on one of its home courses. Macdonald turned in a 69-69-67-67—272 scorecard, matched by senior Yannik Paul, the two best scores in relation to par (12-under) by any Buffalo in a league championship event.
The Pac-12 has long instituted a 6-for 5 scoring format for its title meet, obviously a reward for those schools with greater depth and a challenge for those without it. Quite often, it's either the first or only the second such format teams see during the season; this will be the first time this season that the Buffs are competing in a 6-for-5.
"I like it," Edwards said of the makeup of this year's participants. "By this time of the year, we're no longer young, everybody's played in the lineup. Cole has the least experience as far as scoring for the team, but he still had played in eight tournaments. The weather has been good in Colorado, we had a good week of practice and I'm optimistic that we can have a good tournament. "I think we've got good depth for the 6-for-5 format – we've displayed that all year and they've all contributed to the team score at some point."
The Pac-12 has produced the three of the nation's top five players in stroke average (and 12 in the top 50), led by Cal's Collin Morikawa (68.44) ranked third, USC's Justin Suh in fourth (68.81) and Arizona State's Chun-An Yu in fifth (68.58). All three are flirting with bettering the NCAA record of 68.93 by Wake Forest's Bill Haas, which he set in 2003-04.
Colorado's enjoyed an up and down season to date, with two wins (both in the fall), but with just one other top five finis and four outside of the top 10.
"I definitely think the last month we have grown up and once again, have evolved," Edwards said. "This spring, we had a decent start in Hawai'i, we had a chance to beat some really good teams but just didn't get it done. Apart from the N.I.T. in Tucson, we had some really good moments. The ASU Thunderbird came out as an 'A' rated event, so it was an incredible field we were competing in – one of the top 30 amateur tournaments in the world. So that could show up in a big way at the Pac-12's."
Live scoring will be available at www.golfstat.com.
BUFF GOLFERS SET FOR PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
EUGENE, Ore. — The 60th Annual Pac-12 Conference men's golf championships, the eighth edition with 12 schools, begins here Monday, with the Colorado Buffaloes looking for a good finish to get off the bubble for selection into next month's NCAA Championships.
Arizona State enters as the Pac-12's top team, No. 2 across the board in the Golfweek/Sagarin, GolfStat and GCAA Coaches rankings. Southern California (No. 6), California (No. 10) and Stanford (No. 16) are also in the top 25, with UCLA (No. 29) and host Oregon (No. 39) just outside it. The Buffaloes enter at No. 78 in GolfStat and at No. 85 by Golfweek.
The teams will begin play Monday with 36 holes, followed by 18 each on Tuesday and Wednesday at Eugene Country Club in the heart of the city; it will sport a 7,044-yard, par-71 configuration for the tournament. The course plays to a par-71 as there are just three par-5 holes the players will have to contend with.
"It's a lot like Boulder Country Club, except the trees are four times as tall," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "he guys will enjoy playing it; if you're on your game, you'll score well, but if not, you will have some struggles. But it's very fair and there's no real tricks to it."
The first criteria to qualify for the NCAA Championships is that a school must own a winning record against Division I competition; the Buffaloes enter at 85-80-1, meaning they need to finish eighth (or in a tie for eighth) to remain above .500. If a team meets that qualification, then it has to be ranked in the top 81 in the GolfStat rankings … though with 28 conference champions automatically qualifying for the postseason, that number is reduced annually anywhere from 15 to 20 spots.
"We're frankly not worried about record (against Division I opponents), as we really have to play way better than an eighth place finish to qualify (for NCAA regionals)," Edwards said. "If we play well, that could take care of itself.
"I feel like when we play well, we play really well, but overall we were a little more inconsistent than we wanted. I believe the entire team has really grown and evolved. We replaced four seniors (from the 2018 team), three of whom played in every tournament for the past two years and it put everybody in a new role. For the most part, the guys have really grown in those roles. There were a lot of occasions where there was a lot of good moments from every player. I'm really encouraged about this week and the future."
The Buffaloes will be represented by juniors Ross Macdonald and Daniel O'Loughlin, sophomores Cole Krantz and Trevor Olkowski and freshman Kristoffer Max and John Paterson. O'Loughlin leads the team in stroke average at 71.85, while Olkowski (73.42), Krantz (73.78), Macdonald (73.79) and Paterson (73.94) are separated by just half a stroke. Max is averaging 74.67, but is fourth among the group in spring numbers. This is just the fourth time in the last 40 years that CU doesn't have a senior competing in a conference championship, and only three of the six have league title meet experience.
Macdonald leads that trio, as he tied for second last year in helping the Buffaloes finish second, just four strokes behind champion USC, playing on one of its home courses. Macdonald turned in a 69-69-67-67—272 scorecard, matched by senior Yannik Paul, the two best scores in relation to par (12-under) by any Buffalo in a league championship event.
The Pac-12 has long instituted a 6-for 5 scoring format for its title meet, obviously a reward for those schools with greater depth and a challenge for those without it. Quite often, it's either the first or only the second such format teams see during the season; this will be the first time this season that the Buffs are competing in a 6-for-5.
"I like it," Edwards said of the makeup of this year's participants. "By this time of the year, we're no longer young, everybody's played in the lineup. Cole has the least experience as far as scoring for the team, but he still had played in eight tournaments. The weather has been good in Colorado, we had a good week of practice and I'm optimistic that we can have a good tournament. "I think we've got good depth for the 6-for-5 format – we've displayed that all year and they've all contributed to the team score at some point."
The Pac-12 has produced the three of the nation's top five players in stroke average (and 12 in the top 50), led by Cal's Collin Morikawa (68.44) ranked third, USC's Justin Suh in fourth (68.81) and Arizona State's Chun-An Yu in fifth (68.58). All three are flirting with bettering the NCAA record of 68.93 by Wake Forest's Bill Haas, which he set in 2003-04.
Colorado's enjoyed an up and down season to date, with two wins (both in the fall), but with just one other top five finis and four outside of the top 10.
"I definitely think the last month we have grown up and once again, have evolved," Edwards said. "This spring, we had a decent start in Hawai'i, we had a chance to beat some really good teams but just didn't get it done. Apart from the N.I.T. in Tucson, we had some really good moments. The ASU Thunderbird came out as an 'A' rated event, so it was an incredible field we were competing in – one of the top 30 amateur tournaments in the world. So that could show up in a big way at the Pac-12's."
Live scoring will be available at www.golfstat.com.
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