Colorado University Athletics
O'Loughlin Earns NCAA Regional Invitational
May 05, 2021 | Men's Golf
Buffs Miss Qualifying As A Team
BOULDER — University of Colorado senior Daniel O'Loughlin earned an individual berth into the NCAA Men's Golf Regionals, but will play solo as the Buffaloes as a team missed qualifying.
O'Loughlin will compete in the Albuquerque regional, set for May 17-19 at the University of New Mexico's Championship Golf Course. He has played the course three times as a Buff in UNM's Tucker Invitational, where he has averaged 72.67 strokes for nine rounds, with his best finish a tie for ninth in 2019 (214, -2).
He is in second go-round as a senior, which many have tagged as being a "super senior" due to the extra year of eligibility the NCAA granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He will graduate tomorrow from CU with a degree in Geography. In the Pac-12 honors that will be released later this week, he earned second-team All-Conference accolades from the league coaches.
The NCAA utilized the GolfStat rankings to select 51 at-large teams (there are 30 conference champions as automatic qualifiers) and 45 individuals to participate in six regionals across the country; the Buffs were ranked No. 79 in those rankings. Northwestern was the lowest ranked team (65th) to earn a bid.
Since the inception of the regionals in 1989, Colorado has qualified as a team on 22 occasions and will now have sent an individual six times; O'Loughlin is the first individual to be selected twice. He tied for 46th two years ago in Pullman, Wash., turning in a 68-75-79—212 score (2-over par). He is looking to become the first Buff selected individually to advance to the NCAA Finals; to do so, he needs to be the highest finisher either not attached to one of the five advancing teams as well as defeat four other invited individuals also competing.
"It's a tremendous honor for Daniel to be selected to play in a regional," said CU head coach Roy Edwards. "It will be awesome to see a great career continue. We were just outside of being selected as a team, so it's great to see Daniel represent us to go and compete in the NCAA's. It should be a great course for him, it takes a lot of knowledge to play that course well. While we're disappointed to not make it as a team, Daniel is in a great position to play well and go on a good run."
O'Loughlin is CU's leader in 17 statistical categories, including stroke average (71.23), which currently is the eighth-best mark in the Pac-12 Conference. He is the only player in school history with at least two seasons with sub-72.0 stroke averages, and he recorded three: 71.54 as a sophomore (fourth-best overall), 71.90 as a junior (tied for ninth), 71.65 in first crack as a senior (fifth) and is looking to do it a fourth time this year (the 71.23 mark is sitting in the third spot on CU's all-time best list, so in the end, he will own four of CU's top 10 season averages). It has him in contention to become the school's all-time stroke average leader, as his 71.63 mark is currently ahead of Jeremy Paul, who is in the books with a 71.72 career mark from 2013-17.
Also in school annals, he is third in rounds in the 60s (35), subpar rounds (55) and in rounds of par or better (65); he's fourth in rounds counting toward CU's team score (109 of 115, or 94.8 percent). In 42 career events, he has been under par 19 times and was even-par in two others and is collectively just 3-over par in 120 rounds. He has played 2,160 holes as Buff, and has just 43 worse than bogey (40 doubles, three triples), or 1.99 percent.
Eight Pac-12 schools qualified for the NCAA Championships: Arizona State (No. 12), Arizona (No. 20), Stanford (No. 31), Washington (No. 37), Oregon State (No. 41), Utah (No. 54), Oregon (No. 57) and Southern California (No. 59).
O'Loughlin will compete in the Albuquerque regional, set for May 17-19 at the University of New Mexico's Championship Golf Course. He has played the course three times as a Buff in UNM's Tucker Invitational, where he has averaged 72.67 strokes for nine rounds, with his best finish a tie for ninth in 2019 (214, -2).
He is in second go-round as a senior, which many have tagged as being a "super senior" due to the extra year of eligibility the NCAA granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He will graduate tomorrow from CU with a degree in Geography. In the Pac-12 honors that will be released later this week, he earned second-team All-Conference accolades from the league coaches.
The NCAA utilized the GolfStat rankings to select 51 at-large teams (there are 30 conference champions as automatic qualifiers) and 45 individuals to participate in six regionals across the country; the Buffs were ranked No. 79 in those rankings. Northwestern was the lowest ranked team (65th) to earn a bid.
Since the inception of the regionals in 1989, Colorado has qualified as a team on 22 occasions and will now have sent an individual six times; O'Loughlin is the first individual to be selected twice. He tied for 46th two years ago in Pullman, Wash., turning in a 68-75-79—212 score (2-over par). He is looking to become the first Buff selected individually to advance to the NCAA Finals; to do so, he needs to be the highest finisher either not attached to one of the five advancing teams as well as defeat four other invited individuals also competing.
"It's a tremendous honor for Daniel to be selected to play in a regional," said CU head coach Roy Edwards. "It will be awesome to see a great career continue. We were just outside of being selected as a team, so it's great to see Daniel represent us to go and compete in the NCAA's. It should be a great course for him, it takes a lot of knowledge to play that course well. While we're disappointed to not make it as a team, Daniel is in a great position to play well and go on a good run."
O'Loughlin is CU's leader in 17 statistical categories, including stroke average (71.23), which currently is the eighth-best mark in the Pac-12 Conference. He is the only player in school history with at least two seasons with sub-72.0 stroke averages, and he recorded three: 71.54 as a sophomore (fourth-best overall), 71.90 as a junior (tied for ninth), 71.65 in first crack as a senior (fifth) and is looking to do it a fourth time this year (the 71.23 mark is sitting in the third spot on CU's all-time best list, so in the end, he will own four of CU's top 10 season averages). It has him in contention to become the school's all-time stroke average leader, as his 71.63 mark is currently ahead of Jeremy Paul, who is in the books with a 71.72 career mark from 2013-17.
Also in school annals, he is third in rounds in the 60s (35), subpar rounds (55) and in rounds of par or better (65); he's fourth in rounds counting toward CU's team score (109 of 115, or 94.8 percent). In 42 career events, he has been under par 19 times and was even-par in two others and is collectively just 3-over par in 120 rounds. He has played 2,160 holes as Buff, and has just 43 worse than bogey (40 doubles, three triples), or 1.99 percent.
Eight Pac-12 schools qualified for the NCAA Championships: Arizona State (No. 12), Arizona (No. 20), Stanford (No. 31), Washington (No. 37), Oregon State (No. 41), Utah (No. 54), Oregon (No. 57) and Southern California (No. 59).
Players Mentioned
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