Colorado University Athletics
Friday, April 12
Phoenix, Ariz.
All Day
Colorado
vs
First Two Rounds
Clark was on the course longer than any other Buff Friday -- 11 hours and 1 minute.
Golfers Tied For 13th In Arizona When Play Suspended
April 12, 2024 | Men's Golf
Buffaloes Have 12 Holes Remaining To Complete Second Round
PHOENIX — The University of Colorado men's golf team was tied for 13th when second round play was suspended due to darkness in Arizona State's Thunderbird Collegiate.
Eight teams were unable to finish when play was called at 7:14 p.m. MST, but players could finish the hole they were on. All eight had players needing to finish anywhere from one to three holes.
Host and No. 4 Arizona State played like the nation's fourth-ranked team, ending the day with a 13-stroke lead over rival, No. 9 Arizona. Both schools had a 13-under round of 271 Friday, UA in the morning and ASU in the afternoon. But the Sun Devils paired it with a morning 10-under 274 for a 23-under total of 545, while the Wildcats were over-par in the afternoon (3-over 287) and are a distant second with a 10-under 558 total. No. 33 UCLA and No. 62 Houston were tied for third with 6-under 562 scores.
The No. 66 Buffaloes had a decent start and were under par for most of the first round, spending much of the morning fluctuating between fifth and eighth place. But the four players who would score for the team played the last eight holes a collective 9-over par, landing CU in 15th place after the first round with a 3-over 287. But the Buffs hung in there during the afternoon, especially since the winds picked up, and were 4-over when play was suspended and moved into a tie for 13th with Baylor at 7-over par.
One advantage for the Buffaloes is that all five players have the easiest hole on the course left to play, the 470-yard, par-5 9th, and could make an immediate move up the standings, as CU is only nine strokes out of sixth place.
Juniors Justin Biwer and Tucker Clark are tied for 25th, as both are even-par with two holes left to play in the second round. Both carded opening round 1-under par 70's on the 7,551-yard, par-71 Papago Golf Club course track.
Biwer had seven birdies Friday, including one of just eight birdies all day (172 completed rounds) on the 243-yard, par-3 challenging 17th. He was 4-under through 12 (four birdies, eight pars) before a double bogey on No. 4 ended a streak of 20 straight holes of par or better dating back to the last round at Stanford's The Goodwin the last week in March.
Clark, who hails from nearby Paradise Valley, had the longest day by any Buff in terms of time; he was the first to tee off at 8:13 a.m. and thus with two holes left to play, it took him 11 hours and one minute to play 34 continuous holes. He had six birdies and was the lone Buff without a double bogey, and is playing the par-3's tied for fifth-best in the 96-man field (even).
Junior Dylan McDermott is tied for 58th, as he has three holes left to play and is sitting at 3-over par entering Saturday. He had a team-high eight birdies and has played the par-5's at 4-under, tied for fifth-best. He opened with a 2-over 73 in the first round.
Sophomore Hunter Swanson is tied for 81st as he is 7-over par with three holes left in his second time around Papago; he opened with a 6-over 77 but played much better in the afternoon: after going birdie-less in the morning, he scored five in the afternoon.
Freshman Brandon Knight is tied for 91st as he 9-over par with two holes remaining. He fashioned a 3-over 74 in the first round, but was having some troubles the second time attacking the course, as he was 6-over (10 pars, six bogeys).
Arizona State's Preston Summerhays is the individual leader after a 67-66—133 effort, 9-under par, which is good for a three-shot advantage over teammate Wenyi Ding and Arizona's Tony Xiong.
"It was a, 'two steps forward, one step back' kind of day," CU head coach Roy Edwards said, unknowingly quoting lyrics from a Bruce Springsteen song. ""The guys battled hard. We are on the verge of playing well and expect to do so tomorrow."
The third and final round is set for Saturday, but will commence after the second round is completed first. Those players will hit the course at 6:40 a.m. MST (7:40 a.m. MDT). CU will then be paired with Baylor starting on the 10th hole when the third round starts at approximately 9:20 a.m. MDT.
This is the final tune-up for the traveling squad ahead of the 13th annual (and final) Pac-12 Championships, which are in two weeks back here in Arizona (Carefree). The five players competing here are likely on that events roster, with a sixth player to be added into the mix after next week's Southern Colorado Masters in Pueblo, where four Buffs will compete individually.
NOTES: This is the most competitive tournament the Buffaloes have played in to date, as of the 17 schools here, six are in the top 20, 10 in the top 43 and 16 in the top 67 in Scoreboard's latest rankings (April 10); only USC was ranked lower at No. 102 … It's also almost a mini-preview to the Pac-12 Championships later this month, as nine conference teams are participating in the event. Only Cal, Oregon and Stanford are not here … The weather was near perfect for the morning round, with temps reaching into the mid-80s with sunny skies and negligible wind; the winds picked up, however, in mid-afternoon and were gusting from 10-17 mph with it warming to 90; perhaps why 11 teams were under par and another two even, while in the second round, only four were subpar, and two of those at just 1-under … The average score for all 172 rounds that were completed Friday was 72.34, but was significantly higher in the afternoon (73.13 for the 76 completed rounds) than the morning round (71.58) … Overall, there are 24 players currently under par while eight others are even … This is the 16th time the Buffaloes are competing in ASU's spring event, the first time since it was renamed the Thunderbird Collegiate; the Buffs last competed here in 2019, with its best finish a sixth place effort in 1981 … Steve Jones was medalist that year (217, +1) and Yannik Paul was co-medalist in 2017 (202, -11) … CU has been in tournaments with 15 of the other 16 teams in the field – the first time the Buffs and Baylor are in the same meet; Colorado is 8-16-1 against the field (6-6-1 vs. Pac-12 foes) … The Buffs are for 13th in birdies (28; Arizona State leads with 41), and is 16th in pars (99, Oklahoma State heads the list with 118); but CU can significantly jump up in either category with a strong start Saturday on its 12 remaining holes in the second round … Colorado played the par-5's tied for the fifth-best at 10-under, the par-3's tied for ninth-best (11-over) and the par-4's 16th best (18-over).
Eight teams were unable to finish when play was called at 7:14 p.m. MST, but players could finish the hole they were on. All eight had players needing to finish anywhere from one to three holes.
Host and No. 4 Arizona State played like the nation's fourth-ranked team, ending the day with a 13-stroke lead over rival, No. 9 Arizona. Both schools had a 13-under round of 271 Friday, UA in the morning and ASU in the afternoon. But the Sun Devils paired it with a morning 10-under 274 for a 23-under total of 545, while the Wildcats were over-par in the afternoon (3-over 287) and are a distant second with a 10-under 558 total. No. 33 UCLA and No. 62 Houston were tied for third with 6-under 562 scores.
The No. 66 Buffaloes had a decent start and were under par for most of the first round, spending much of the morning fluctuating between fifth and eighth place. But the four players who would score for the team played the last eight holes a collective 9-over par, landing CU in 15th place after the first round with a 3-over 287. But the Buffs hung in there during the afternoon, especially since the winds picked up, and were 4-over when play was suspended and moved into a tie for 13th with Baylor at 7-over par.
One advantage for the Buffaloes is that all five players have the easiest hole on the course left to play, the 470-yard, par-5 9th, and could make an immediate move up the standings, as CU is only nine strokes out of sixth place.
Juniors Justin Biwer and Tucker Clark are tied for 25th, as both are even-par with two holes left to play in the second round. Both carded opening round 1-under par 70's on the 7,551-yard, par-71 Papago Golf Club course track.
Biwer had seven birdies Friday, including one of just eight birdies all day (172 completed rounds) on the 243-yard, par-3 challenging 17th. He was 4-under through 12 (four birdies, eight pars) before a double bogey on No. 4 ended a streak of 20 straight holes of par or better dating back to the last round at Stanford's The Goodwin the last week in March.
Clark, who hails from nearby Paradise Valley, had the longest day by any Buff in terms of time; he was the first to tee off at 8:13 a.m. and thus with two holes left to play, it took him 11 hours and one minute to play 34 continuous holes. He had six birdies and was the lone Buff without a double bogey, and is playing the par-3's tied for fifth-best in the 96-man field (even).
Junior Dylan McDermott is tied for 58th, as he has three holes left to play and is sitting at 3-over par entering Saturday. He had a team-high eight birdies and has played the par-5's at 4-under, tied for fifth-best. He opened with a 2-over 73 in the first round.
Sophomore Hunter Swanson is tied for 81st as he is 7-over par with three holes left in his second time around Papago; he opened with a 6-over 77 but played much better in the afternoon: after going birdie-less in the morning, he scored five in the afternoon.
Freshman Brandon Knight is tied for 91st as he 9-over par with two holes remaining. He fashioned a 3-over 74 in the first round, but was having some troubles the second time attacking the course, as he was 6-over (10 pars, six bogeys).
Arizona State's Preston Summerhays is the individual leader after a 67-66—133 effort, 9-under par, which is good for a three-shot advantage over teammate Wenyi Ding and Arizona's Tony Xiong.
"It was a, 'two steps forward, one step back' kind of day," CU head coach Roy Edwards said, unknowingly quoting lyrics from a Bruce Springsteen song. ""The guys battled hard. We are on the verge of playing well and expect to do so tomorrow."
The third and final round is set for Saturday, but will commence after the second round is completed first. Those players will hit the course at 6:40 a.m. MST (7:40 a.m. MDT). CU will then be paired with Baylor starting on the 10th hole when the third round starts at approximately 9:20 a.m. MDT.
This is the final tune-up for the traveling squad ahead of the 13th annual (and final) Pac-12 Championships, which are in two weeks back here in Arizona (Carefree). The five players competing here are likely on that events roster, with a sixth player to be added into the mix after next week's Southern Colorado Masters in Pueblo, where four Buffs will compete individually.
NOTES: This is the most competitive tournament the Buffaloes have played in to date, as of the 17 schools here, six are in the top 20, 10 in the top 43 and 16 in the top 67 in Scoreboard's latest rankings (April 10); only USC was ranked lower at No. 102 … It's also almost a mini-preview to the Pac-12 Championships later this month, as nine conference teams are participating in the event. Only Cal, Oregon and Stanford are not here … The weather was near perfect for the morning round, with temps reaching into the mid-80s with sunny skies and negligible wind; the winds picked up, however, in mid-afternoon and were gusting from 10-17 mph with it warming to 90; perhaps why 11 teams were under par and another two even, while in the second round, only four were subpar, and two of those at just 1-under … The average score for all 172 rounds that were completed Friday was 72.34, but was significantly higher in the afternoon (73.13 for the 76 completed rounds) than the morning round (71.58) … Overall, there are 24 players currently under par while eight others are even … This is the 16th time the Buffaloes are competing in ASU's spring event, the first time since it was renamed the Thunderbird Collegiate; the Buffs last competed here in 2019, with its best finish a sixth place effort in 1981 … Steve Jones was medalist that year (217, +1) and Yannik Paul was co-medalist in 2017 (202, -11) … CU has been in tournaments with 15 of the other 16 teams in the field – the first time the Buffs and Baylor are in the same meet; Colorado is 8-16-1 against the field (6-6-1 vs. Pac-12 foes) … The Buffs are for 13th in birdies (28; Arizona State leads with 41), and is 16th in pars (99, Oklahoma State heads the list with 118); but CU can significantly jump up in either category with a strong start Saturday on its 12 remaining holes in the second round … Colorado played the par-5's tied for the fifth-best at 10-under, the par-3's tied for ninth-best (11-over) and the par-4's 16th best (18-over).
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| T25. | Justin Biwer | 70-(+1)—E |
| T25. | Tucker Clark | 70-(+1)—E |
| T58. | Dylan McDermott | 73-(+1)—+3 |
| T81. | Hunter Swanson | 77-(+1)—+7 |
| T91. | Brandon Knight | 74-(+6)—+9 |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| 1. | Preston Summerhays, Arizona St. | 67-66—133 |
| T2. | Wenyi Ding, Arizona State | 69-67—136 |
| T2. | Tony Xiong, Arizona | 68-68—136 |
| T4. | Pablo Erono, UCLA | 70-67—137 |
| T4. | Ryggs Johnson, Arizona State | 68-69—137 |
| TEAM STANDINGS |
| 1. | Arizona State | 274-271—545 (-23) |
| 2. | Arizona | 271-287—558 (-10) |
| 3. | UCLA | 283-279—562 (-6) |
| 3. | Houston | 279-283—562 (-6) |
| 5. | Oregon State | 279-(E)—(-5) |
| 6. | Oklahoma | 286-280—566 (-2) |
| 7. | Oklahoma State | 282-285—567 (-1) |
| 7. | Utah | 282-(+1)—(-1) |
| 7. | Texas Tech | 284-283—567 (-1) |
| 10. | Washington State | 282-(+2)—(E) |
| 11. | New Mexico | 279-290—569 (+1) |
| 12. | SMU | 281-(+5)—(+2) |
| 13. | COLORADO | 287-(+4)—(+7) |
| 13. | Baylor | 280-(+11)—(+7) |
| 15. | Southern California | 292-(+4)—(+12) |
| 16. | Washington | 284-298—582 (+14) |
| 17. | San Francisco | 290-(+12)—(+18) |
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
Join us for the 15th Annual Colorado Golf Day on August 25 at Boulder Country Club! ⛳
Tuesday, August 12
Buffalo Stampede WEEK 24
Tuesday, February 06
Buffalo Stampede Week 24 TUCKER CLARK
Tuesday, February 06
Afternoon Tee with Matt Thurmond
Monday, June 08