Golfers Tie For Fifth In Oregon

EUGENE, Ore. — The University of Colorado men's golf team finished in a fifth place tie here Tuesday as the 33rd annual Oregon Duck Invitational came to a close.

Host and No. 20 Oregon held off in-state rival Oregon State for the win, as the Ducks finished with a 14-under par score of 850 to the Beavers' 857, as OSU closed the final margin after posting the best single round of the event, a 7-under 857 in the final round. No. 25 Colorado State claimed third with a 5-over 869 score, followed by San Jose State (883) and the Buffaloes and Texas-El Paso, each finishing with a 21-over 885 total.

Colorado, ranked No. 51, never shook off its struggles that developed in the second round until late in the third, when the four scorers finished the last five holes at 1-under par; the Buffs were in third place, one stroke off the lead after the first 18 holes. The weather was a factor in inflating the scores for most players in the 84-man field on the 6,995-yard, par-71 Eugene Country Club course, as temperatures were in the upper 30s to the low 40s throughout the event with rain falling in the second and third rounds.

Sophomore Justin Biwer was the one Buffalo who played well here, finishing in a tie for ninth with a 69-74-74—217 scorecard, or 4-over par. He had eight birdies and 35 pars for the event, with nine bogeys and a double. He played the par-3 holes the best in the field over the three rounds at 2-under.

Sophomore Tucker Clark recorded a 70-76-76—222 performance, which was 9-over par and tied him for 27th. He had five birdies and 37 pars – tied for the eighth-most in the field – with 10 bogeys and two doubles.

Freshman Hunter Swanson tied for 41st, posting a 74-74-78—226 scorecard, which was 13-over par. He had three birdies and 35 pars against 16 bogeys, and was the only Buffalo without a hole worse than bogey in the tournament.

Sophomore Jack Holland tied for 47th with a 75-75-77—227 effort. He did lead the team in birdies here with 10, which tied for the sixth-most in the field, with 26 pars, 13 bogeys, four doubles and a triple.

Sophomore Dylan McDermott had his two high rounds of the season – a 76 and an 81 – but rebounded with an even-par 71 to finish with a 15-over 228, tying him for 50th. The 81 was his first career score in the 80s after opening with 53 in a row in the 70s or better, the third-longest streak at the start of a career in CU history. He had four birdies and 10 pars against four bogeys to wrap things in the final round, after he had just three birds in the first two rounds.

"We had a good start to the tournament -- the first half of the event we were playing well," head coach Roy Edwards said. "We struggled most of the rest of the way. The guys definitely battled which is a great sign. As we keep maturing a lot of the mistakes we saw the rest of this event won't happen. We have a great opportunity to turn right around and compete in San Francisco. We need to flush this and move on and get ready for the Goodwin.

"Justin had a nice tournament and Dylan had a really good bounce back from his high rounds of the season."

Oregon State's Mateo Fuenmayor and Oregon's Nate Stember tied for medalist honors with 6-under 207 scores. Fuenmayor caught Stember by shooting the low round of the tourney – a 5-under 66 – to finish.

The same five Buffaloes will head south to San Francisco to play in Stanford's "The Goodwin" this Thursday through Saturday at TPC Harding Park.

NOTES: McDermott continues to lead the team in stroke average with a 70.54 mark, the first time he's been out of the 60's all season; Biwer is second right behind at 70.67 … The average score for the 248 rounds in the tournament was 75.27; it was 75.17 for the final round (with a high of 75.88 in the second) … Colorado played the par-3s the third-best (11-over), the par-4s at 47-over (tied for ninth) and the par-5s at 3-under (tied for sixth) … The Buffs had the sixth-most birdies (33, Oregon State had the most with 55) and the seventh-most pars (162; Oregon topped the list with 189) … Birdies were hard to come by, as only nine players in the field had 10 or more; of the nearly 4,500 holes played here, there were just 517, 193 of which came on the par-5s (which produced just six eagles) … Only four players in the 84-man field finished under par, with no others ending even; 53 players were 10-over or higher … Colorado went 8-4-1 against Division I foes here, improving to 98-29-4 on the season.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T9.	Justin Biwer	69-74-74—217
T27.	Tucker Clark	70-76-76—222
T41.	Hunter Swanson	74-74-78—226
T47.	Jack Holland	75-75-77—227
T50.	Dylan McDermott	76-81-71—228

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

T1.	Mateo Fuenmayor, Oregon State	74-67-66—207
T1.	Nate Stember, Oregon	71-69-67—207
3.	Max Schliesing, UTEP	70-69-70—209
4.	Jacob Presutti, UTEP	73-71-67—211
T5.	Owen Avrit,, Oregon	74-70-70—214
T5.	Greyson Leach, Oregon	71-71-72—214

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Oregon	287-280-283—850
2.	Oregon State	290-289-278—857
3.	Colorado State	289-287-293—869
4.	San Jose State	297-294-292—883
5.	COLORADO	288-299-298—885
5.	Texas-El Paso	300-298-287—885
7.	Kansas	294-294-298—886
8.	Santa Clara	297-293-303—893
9.	Cal Poly	293-301-300—894
10.	Boise State	287-310-298—895
11.	Grand Canyon	298-304-300—902
12.	Gonzaga	299-312-297—908
13.	Idaho	298-304-307—909
14.	Pacific	297-301-312—910

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Players Mentioned

Justin Biwer

Tucker Clark

Jack Holland

Dylan McDermott

Hunter Swanson