CHULA VISTA, Calif. — The University of Colorado men's golf team made a mid-round run but eventually had to settle for a ninth place finish here Tuesday as the Lamkin San Diego Classic came to a close.
 
No. 31 Tennessee, in at even-par and one stroke out of the lead entering the day, shot an 8-under 280 in the final round, matched only by San Diego State – which enabled the Volunteers to pull away for a four stroke win over No. 3 Arizona State with an 8-under 856 team total.  The Sun Devils finished with an 860 total, the same as No. 28 SDSU as the two tied for runner-up honors.  No. 5 Texas A & M claimed fourth (861) and No. 33 California rounded out the top five (862).
 
The Buffaloes, ranked No. 84 led for a decent portion of the first round, finished 14 strokes off the pace in ninth with a 6-over 870 score.  CU's five players had an incredibly hot stretch; starting on holes 8 through 11, the five started a collective 7-over; but over the next eight holes (Nos. 13 through 2), the Buffalo quintet scored five eagles and 12 birdies with five bogeys, or 17-under par that vaulted the team at one point into third place.  But some of the toughest holes followed, and with a light rain breezy winds, they came back to Earth a bit and closed the day with a 2-under 286.
 
Senior Daniel O'Loughlin broke out of a funk he had been since the start of the spring season, as he turned in a 5-under par 67 on the 7,033-yard, par-72 San Diego Country Club course layout to cap things off, finishing in a tie for 14th with a 1-under 215 score.  He logged eight birdies into the books Tuesday, twice as many as he had over the first two rounds and a season-high for a round by a Buffalo.  Starting on No. 10, he was 5-under through 11 holes before scoring two bogeys to drop back down to 3-under; but he gathered himself and closed with two birds in his final three holes.
 
"I was very pleased with today's round," O'Loughlin said.  "I holed a good amount of putts today, which was nice after not sinking many at all yesterday.  I felt I managed myself around the course really well, played smart on holes where it was needed and hit good shots into those holes that offered good chances at birdie.  My iron play today set me up with a lot of those chances."
 
CU sophomore John Paterson also recorded an overall 1-under 215 score, though he closed with an even-par 72; he had two eagles and two birdies with eight pars against six bogeys.  Three-over par after his first five holes, he proceeded to score two eagles (one on the 367-yard par-4 17th) and two birdies with one bogey to play those six holes at minus-5.  He played the 30 combined par-4 holes here at 2-under, tied for fifth-best among all the competitors.  
 
Sophomore Kristoffer Max also closed with an even-par 72 to finish at 4-over 220 which tied him for 44th.  He had five birdies and eight pars against five bogeys, with his 14 birdies overall a team-best that also tied for the fourth-most in the field. 
 
Senior Victor Bjorlow tied for 60th with a 7-over 223 score after wrapping things with a 4-over 76.  He had a team-high 12 pars but just one subpar hole – an eagle at that – with four bogeys and a double.  His 34 pars over the three rounds were the most by a Buff and the 15th-most in the 100-man field.
 
Senior Ross Macdonald tied for 72nd after a 3-over 75 that pushed him to a 10-over 226 total.  His final round could best be described as the proverbial "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride," as he had two eagles (one on a par-4), three birdies, six pars, five bogeys, one double and one triple.  He had three eagles over the two days, a tournament season-best by a Buff, and assumed the team lead for the year with five total.
 
San Francisco's Tim Widing fired a final round 69 to finish with an 8-under 208 score, claiming medalist honors with a two-shot win over Arizona State's Cameron Sisk.
 
The Buffaloes will turn right around and travel again to the American Southwest to participate in the University of Arizona's National Invitational Tournament in Tucson next Monday and Tuesday.