Colorado University Athletics
Tuesday, March 5
San Diego, Calif.
All Day
Colorado
vs
Third Round
Hunter Swanson paced the Buffaloes in San Diego with a ninth-place finish.
Photo by: Ka'anapali Golf Course
Men's Golf: Buffs Tie For Second in San Diego KE Lamkin Invitational
March 05, 2024 | Men's Golf
Buffaloes Defeat Three Top 20 Teams and Eight Top 50 In All
CHULA VISTA, Calif. — The University of Colorado men's golf team fought the good fight but came up just short of victory here Tuesday, finishing in a tie for second as the San Diego KE Lamkin Invitational came to a close.
An all-day dogfight as expected materialized, with three teams alternating in the lead throughout – CU, co-host San Diego and Fresno State. In the end, the hometown Toreros pulled away late for the win, denying the Buffaloes and Fresno State, the co-leaders after two rounds over USD by one stroke, their own claim to a "Super Tuesday."
San Diego, the co-host and ranked 99th coming in, finished with a 22-under par team score of 842, while the Buffaloes and the 48th-ranked Bulldogs finished four back at 18-under 846; the three were essentially tied with three-to-five holes to play, but USD's scorers closed with six birdies and four bogeys, while CU had four birdies and three bogeys and Fresno's four of each. The 18-under par was CU's best effort this season in relation to par and the runner-up effort was CU's third top two finish this season.
No. 13 Georgia Tech shot the days' best round to finish fourth with an 848 score, while No. 19 New Mexico and No. 41 Loyola-Marymount tied for fifth with 849 totals.
A silver lining for Colorado, which came in ranked 70th in the new college rankings format, should move up considerably in the next computation. The Buffaloes defeated nine teams ranked ahead of them, including eight in the top 50 including the tournament's top seed, No. 4 Washington. The CU quintet had 13 rounds of par or better out of 15 over the two days of competition.
"We really battled all day today," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "I'm very proud of the fight. Overall, the team hit the ball great but the difference was putting and some in the short game. Incredibly encouraged with what we see every day from this squad and this was the same again today.
"Finishing second in this field is a really good result," he continued. "We beat a bunch of really good teams including the fourth-ranked team in the country who is also one of the best in the Pac-12 in Washington, and also topped last year's NCAA runner-up in Georgia Tech. Looking forward, we just have to keep working and believing in ourselves as well as continue to work hard on our short game and short irons."
Sophomore Hunter Swanson recorded CU's best finish – a tied for ninth – after he was one of four Buffaloes to close with an even-par effort on the 7,033-yard, par-72 San Diego Country Club course layout. He posted a 6-under 210 scorecard and was in the hunt for a brief time for medalist honors. He had five birdies and nine pars Tuesday, with three bogeys and a double, and had 13 birdies overall, tied for the 13th-most in the 95-man field. He also had 32 pars and played both the par-3s (even) and the par-5's (7-under) tied for seventh in the field. His 6-under effort matched his second-best of the season.
Junior Tucker Clark tied for 12th, as his even-par final round gave him a 5-under 211 performance. He played the back nine at 1-under, the best by Buff Tuesday, and overall was consistent with four birdies and 14 pars against four bogeys. He had 11 birdies and 37 pars overall, the latter tying for 10th in the field, which he led by himself in par-3 scoring for three rounds (he played the 12 in all at 2-under; only five others were under par on the challenging "shorties").
Dylan McDermott tied for 23rd as wrapped things here with a 2-under 214 score. He was cruising most of the round, as he was 3-under through 16 but had some trouble on the last two holes, finishing bogey-double on the Nos. 17 and 18 par-4s. Otherwise he had three birdies and 13 pars at that point, and led the team in pars for the week with 39, the most by a Buffalo here and the third-most in the field. It still was his 18th subpar effort in 30 career tournaments.
Junior Justin Biwer also tied for 23rd, as he bogeyed two of his first four holes and battled the rest of the day trying to get back to even; he finished with a 3-over 75 for his 2-und 214 effort here. He had three birdies and six bogeys for his final round, three different times working back to just 1-over after each of his birdies. But he ended the day with back-to-back bogeys and it marked the first time in 21 rounds this season that his score didn't count toward CU's team total. He had an eagle, 11 birdies and 31 pars overall opposite 11 bogeys. It was his 20th subpar tournament out of 31 in his career.
Freshman Brandon Knight tied for 52nd after closing with CU's first even-par 72 Tuesday; that gave him a 3-over 219 overall score for the event; he was able to move up 11 spots in the final standings. He had two birdies and 14 pars with just two bogeys, with a birdie and bogey on each nine. He wrapped things here with seven birdies and 38 pars overall, the latter tied for the sixth-most in the field. He was steady down the stretch, closing with seven straight pars.
"Hunter and Tucker had really nice efforts here," Edwards noted. "Justin and Dylan had good tournaments overall as well, but just had some tough finishes. Those guys are on the cusp of some great golf. Brandon was solid and contributed as well."
San Diego's Craig Ronne held on to his second round lead to earn medalist honors, as he closed with a 3-under 69 for an overall scorecard of 12-under 204. That bested Loyola-Marymount's Mason Snyder by two strokes and two others by four shots.
The Buffaloes will return to action in three weeks, hitting the west coast for two events during CU's spring break, the Oregon Duck Invitational in Eugene (March 25-26) and Stanford's The Goodwin in San Francisco (March 28-30).
NOTES: Cloudy skies ruled most of the day, with temperature again reaching the low 60s; for the second straight day, the winds picked up in the early afternoon, gusting up to 15 miles per hour at times … Further research indicated that Monday's first round where all five Buffaloes recorded scores of par or better was the 16th time it had occurred in school history … Colorado was the only team to have four players finish in the top 25 (actually the top 23) … Biwer's score not counting toward the team total was a rarity; 88 of 92 career rounds have to date, an impressive 96 percent … The average score for all three rounds, 284 in all, was 72.86; for the final round, it was 73.11 … When all was totaled up, 38 players were under par with three others matching it … The Buff led the field in pars with 177, besting San Diego (175), finished tied for second in eagles (3) but were ninth in birdies with 50 (Georgia Tech had the most with 64) … Colorado played the par-3's the best overall at 2-over, and were fourth in par-5s play (22-under); CU was seventh-best on the par-4s at 8-over … The Buffaloes posted a 13-1-1 mark here this week, pushing their season record to 58-49-2 record (.542) against Division I competition for the fall; a team must finish above .500 to qualify for the NCAA postseason … This was CU's best finish in the six times it has competed in the Lamkin; the previous best was eighth (out of 16 teams) in 2018 … Biwer continues to lead the team in stroke average with a 70.71 mark, with Swanson (71.10) and McDermott (71.29) right behind him; Clark lowered his to 72.44 and did Knight, to 73.48. They rank one-through-five on the team.
An all-day dogfight as expected materialized, with three teams alternating in the lead throughout – CU, co-host San Diego and Fresno State. In the end, the hometown Toreros pulled away late for the win, denying the Buffaloes and Fresno State, the co-leaders after two rounds over USD by one stroke, their own claim to a "Super Tuesday."
San Diego, the co-host and ranked 99th coming in, finished with a 22-under par team score of 842, while the Buffaloes and the 48th-ranked Bulldogs finished four back at 18-under 846; the three were essentially tied with three-to-five holes to play, but USD's scorers closed with six birdies and four bogeys, while CU had four birdies and three bogeys and Fresno's four of each. The 18-under par was CU's best effort this season in relation to par and the runner-up effort was CU's third top two finish this season.
No. 13 Georgia Tech shot the days' best round to finish fourth with an 848 score, while No. 19 New Mexico and No. 41 Loyola-Marymount tied for fifth with 849 totals.
A silver lining for Colorado, which came in ranked 70th in the new college rankings format, should move up considerably in the next computation. The Buffaloes defeated nine teams ranked ahead of them, including eight in the top 50 including the tournament's top seed, No. 4 Washington. The CU quintet had 13 rounds of par or better out of 15 over the two days of competition.
"We really battled all day today," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "I'm very proud of the fight. Overall, the team hit the ball great but the difference was putting and some in the short game. Incredibly encouraged with what we see every day from this squad and this was the same again today.
"Finishing second in this field is a really good result," he continued. "We beat a bunch of really good teams including the fourth-ranked team in the country who is also one of the best in the Pac-12 in Washington, and also topped last year's NCAA runner-up in Georgia Tech. Looking forward, we just have to keep working and believing in ourselves as well as continue to work hard on our short game and short irons."
Sophomore Hunter Swanson recorded CU's best finish – a tied for ninth – after he was one of four Buffaloes to close with an even-par effort on the 7,033-yard, par-72 San Diego Country Club course layout. He posted a 6-under 210 scorecard and was in the hunt for a brief time for medalist honors. He had five birdies and nine pars Tuesday, with three bogeys and a double, and had 13 birdies overall, tied for the 13th-most in the 95-man field. He also had 32 pars and played both the par-3s (even) and the par-5's (7-under) tied for seventh in the field. His 6-under effort matched his second-best of the season.
Junior Tucker Clark tied for 12th, as his even-par final round gave him a 5-under 211 performance. He played the back nine at 1-under, the best by Buff Tuesday, and overall was consistent with four birdies and 14 pars against four bogeys. He had 11 birdies and 37 pars overall, the latter tying for 10th in the field, which he led by himself in par-3 scoring for three rounds (he played the 12 in all at 2-under; only five others were under par on the challenging "shorties").
Dylan McDermott tied for 23rd as wrapped things here with a 2-under 214 score. He was cruising most of the round, as he was 3-under through 16 but had some trouble on the last two holes, finishing bogey-double on the Nos. 17 and 18 par-4s. Otherwise he had three birdies and 13 pars at that point, and led the team in pars for the week with 39, the most by a Buffalo here and the third-most in the field. It still was his 18th subpar effort in 30 career tournaments.
Junior Justin Biwer also tied for 23rd, as he bogeyed two of his first four holes and battled the rest of the day trying to get back to even; he finished with a 3-over 75 for his 2-und 214 effort here. He had three birdies and six bogeys for his final round, three different times working back to just 1-over after each of his birdies. But he ended the day with back-to-back bogeys and it marked the first time in 21 rounds this season that his score didn't count toward CU's team total. He had an eagle, 11 birdies and 31 pars overall opposite 11 bogeys. It was his 20th subpar tournament out of 31 in his career.
Freshman Brandon Knight tied for 52nd after closing with CU's first even-par 72 Tuesday; that gave him a 3-over 219 overall score for the event; he was able to move up 11 spots in the final standings. He had two birdies and 14 pars with just two bogeys, with a birdie and bogey on each nine. He wrapped things here with seven birdies and 38 pars overall, the latter tied for the sixth-most in the field. He was steady down the stretch, closing with seven straight pars.
"Hunter and Tucker had really nice efforts here," Edwards noted. "Justin and Dylan had good tournaments overall as well, but just had some tough finishes. Those guys are on the cusp of some great golf. Brandon was solid and contributed as well."
San Diego's Craig Ronne held on to his second round lead to earn medalist honors, as he closed with a 3-under 69 for an overall scorecard of 12-under 204. That bested Loyola-Marymount's Mason Snyder by two strokes and two others by four shots.
The Buffaloes will return to action in three weeks, hitting the west coast for two events during CU's spring break, the Oregon Duck Invitational in Eugene (March 25-26) and Stanford's The Goodwin in San Francisco (March 28-30).
NOTES: Cloudy skies ruled most of the day, with temperature again reaching the low 60s; for the second straight day, the winds picked up in the early afternoon, gusting up to 15 miles per hour at times … Further research indicated that Monday's first round where all five Buffaloes recorded scores of par or better was the 16th time it had occurred in school history … Colorado was the only team to have four players finish in the top 25 (actually the top 23) … Biwer's score not counting toward the team total was a rarity; 88 of 92 career rounds have to date, an impressive 96 percent … The average score for all three rounds, 284 in all, was 72.86; for the final round, it was 73.11 … When all was totaled up, 38 players were under par with three others matching it … The Buff led the field in pars with 177, besting San Diego (175), finished tied for second in eagles (3) but were ninth in birdies with 50 (Georgia Tech had the most with 64) … Colorado played the par-3's the best overall at 2-over, and were fourth in par-5s play (22-under); CU was seventh-best on the par-4s at 8-over … The Buffaloes posted a 13-1-1 mark here this week, pushing their season record to 58-49-2 record (.542) against Division I competition for the fall; a team must finish above .500 to qualify for the NCAA postseason … This was CU's best finish in the six times it has competed in the Lamkin; the previous best was eighth (out of 16 teams) in 2018 … Biwer continues to lead the team in stroke average with a 70.71 mark, with Swanson (71.10) and McDermott (71.29) right behind him; Clark lowered his to 72.44 and did Knight, to 73.48. They rank one-through-five on the team.
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| T9. | Hunter Swanson | 71-67-72—210 |
| T12. | Tucker Clark | 71-68-72—211 |
| T23. | Justin Biwer | 68-71-75—214 |
| T23. | Dylan McDermott | 72-70-72—214 |
| T52. | Brandon Knight | 72-75-72—219 |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| 1. | Craig Ronne, San Diego | 70-65-69—204 |
| 2. | Mason Snyder, LMU | 65-71-70—206 |
| T3. | Riley Lewis, LMU | 68-69-71—208 |
| T3. | Matthew Sutherland, Fresno State | 68-69-71—208 |
| T5. | Hiroshi Tai, Georgia Tech | 68-71-70—209 |
| T5. | Albert Boneta, New Mexico | 67-71-71—209 |
| T5. | Blaze Akana, Hawai'i | 70-73-66—209 |
| T5. | Joseph Lloyd, Fresno State | 68-71-70—209 |
| TEAM STANDINGS |
| 1. | San Diego | 282-277-283—842 |
| T2. | COLORADO | 282-276-288—846 |
| T2. | Fresno State | 276-282-288—846 |
| 4. | Georgia Tech | 283-287-278—848 |
| T5. | Loyola-Marymount | 279-280-290—849 |
| T5. | New Mexico | 281-288-280—849 |
| 7. | San Diego State | 283-284-286—853 |
| 8. | St. Mary's | 285-289-280—854 |
| 9. | Washington | 285-290-280—855 |
| 10. | BYU | 288-289-285—862 |
| 11. | Hawai'i | 287-295-290—872 |
| 11. | Santa Clara | 284-299-289—872 |
| 13. | LSU | 286-295-292—873 |
| 13. | Cal Poly | 288-285-300—873 |
| 15. | Wyoming | 291-282-302—875 |
| 16. | Colorado State | 287-301-288—876 |
Players Mentioned
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