Golfers In Ninth At Pac-12 Championship

        CAREFREE, Ariz. — The University of Colorado men's golf team wasn't able to make a hopeful move up the standings here Saturday and landed in ninth place through three rounds of the 64th Annual (and) final Pac-12 Championship.

        It was "moving day" really for just two teams, host Arizona State, as the third-ranked Sun Devils vaulted into first place after turning in the second-best team score of the day, a 7-over 362, giving ASU a 30-over 1,095 score heading into Sunday's final round. No. 10 Washington slipped from first into second, after a plus-20 round inflated its score to 33-over 1,098. California was the biggest mover, from fifth into a tie for second after recording Saturday's best score, a 5-over 360 to land the Bears at 1,098 as well.

        No. 24 Oregon (1,100) and defending champion, No. 29 Stanford (1,106) round out the top five. There wasn't much real movement overall, as just 10 strokes separated 10 teams in Saturday's third round thus the standings remained fairly stagnant.

        The No. 66 Buffaloes started the day in a three-way tie for eighth after the suspended second round was completed. But with a lack of movement and most scores being so similar, CU dropped just one spot into ninth after a 20-over 375 score for round three and a 70-over 1,135 overall. The Buffs are ahead of two teams ranked ahead of them, Utah (#53) and Washington State (#61).

        Junior Dylan McDermott continued to pace the Buffaloes, as he is tied for 27th after a third round 5-over 76 has him sitting at 12-over 225 on the 7,203-yard, par-71 Desert Forest Golf Club course layout. Half of his overage has come on his final hole each round – where he is 6-over. He has eight birdies and 30 pars with just two holes worse than bogey. He was one of just five players to make birdie on the 441-yard, par-4 4th hole, and was one of just six players to birdie the 466-yard, par-4 13th.

        Junior Justin Biwer was cruising along at even par through 16 holes, but ending bogey-double upped his score to a 3-over 74; that gives him a 14-over 227 score, tying him for 34th. He had two birdies and 13 pars opposite a bogey and a double. He played the par-3's even on Saturday, as did three other Buffaloes; he had been 4-over the first two rounds on the short ones.

        Sophomore Hunter Swanson had things going early, as he was 2-under after back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 and 14; but he 7-over the rest of the round on his way to a 5-over 76; that has his total at 16-over 229, which has him tied for 43rd. He had 10 pars with five bogeys and a double on his other holes. Like McDermott, he was one of just six players to birdie No. 13.

        Junior Tucker Clark turned in a 6-over 77 Saturday for a 17-over 230, tying him for 47th. He had three double bogeys that accounted for his strokes over par, otherwise had two birdies, 11 pars and two bogeys. One of his birds came on the 464-yard, par-4 5th hole, done by only eight others Saturday.

        Freshman Brandon Knight fashioned his best round of the three here, a 1-over 72, which also has him tied for 47th with a 54-hole total of 230 (20-over par). He very consistent Saturday, with two birdies and 13 pars opposite three bogeys, and closed out his round by making 11 consecutive pars. He played both the par-3's and the par-4's even on the day. He also shaved eight strokes off his second round score, doubling his previous best improvement – four – from one round to the next within an event (which he had done twice). He's tied for ninth among the 15 frosh rookies in the field, with his 34 pars tied for the 10th-most.

        Freshman Ty Holbrook, in his first event as a designated scorer is tied for 52nd after an 8-over 79 in the third round pushed him to 18-over 231; that's 11th among the 15 freshmen in the event. He had 12 pars, four bogeys and two doubles, going birdie-less after leading the field with eight after the first round. He finished with three straight pars on Nos. 7 through 9, a good ending since Nos. 7 and 8 were the two toughest holes Saturday (just four birdies and 69 bogeys-or-worse combined). He's played the par-5's here at 3-under, the best by a Buff and tied for 10th-best in the field. He's also done well on the par-3's, 1-over on the 12 through Saturday, tied for 11th in the field.

        "Basically, more of the same today," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "It was a really challenging day – it wasn't quite as windy, but it still was a breezy day and it definitely affected the play. Brandon had a nice comeback and a very good round. In general, the guys battled really well. It's a very, very hard golf course and it challenges you on every single shot. We're on the verge of shooting a good round and expect to tomorrow."

        Individually, Arizona State freshman Wenyi Ding, the conference stroke average leader, stands alone a top the standings with a 2-under 211 total; he shot a 1-under 70 Saturday. He owns a one-stroke lead over Cal's Ethan Fang, but there are nine players within six shots of the lead.

        The fourth and final round is set for Sunday; Colorado will be paired with Arizona and UCLA and will start play on the No. 10 tee at 8:30 a.m. MDT.

NOTES: There were mostly sunny skies again, with temperatures reaching the upper 60s; the wind wasn't as persistent as it was Friday, but still would gust up to 12-15 miles per hour on occasion … The Buffs needed to finish third to meet the minimum criteria to qualify for the NCAA postseason; that is likely a longshot now, but there is still a chance for an individual or two to qualify separate from the team … The average score for Friday's 214 rounds was 75.68 after the average dipped a bit Saturday to 75.31 from the second round high of 76.03 (first round: 74.79) … Just two players are under par with none matching it after 54 holes; there are 50 players at 10-over par or higher (12 at 20-plus) … There have been just 11 rounds scored in the 60's (three Saturday) … The Buffs are eighth in birdies (42; ASU leads with 57), sixth in pars (181, Arizona is on top with 199), eighth in double bogeys (20, Oregon has just six) and are in jumbo holes (double-bogey or worse, 26; Oregon has only eight, WSU has the most, 35) … Colorado is playing the par-4's the sixth-best at 64-over (Cal has played those the best at plus-41), the par-3's tied for sixth (21-over, UW is plus-4) and the par-5's 11th (9-over, Cal leads these as well at 10-under) … CU alums, twins Jeremy and Yannik Paul, are members at Desert Forest, but both are competing on their respective tours and doing quite well. Yannik is in the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan (DP World Tour), and through three rounds he in second, one stroke out of the lead (65-65-68—198, -12); Jeremy is in Arlington, Texas playing in the Veritex Bank Championship (Korn Ferry Tour); he is 9-under par (67-68-69—204) but is 14 out of the lead.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T27.	Dylan McDermott	73-76-76—225
T34.	Justin Biwer	74-79-74—227
T43.	Hunter Swanson	75-78-76—229
T47.	Tucker Clark	74-79-77—230
T47.	Brandon Knight	78-80-72—230
T52.	Ty Holbrook	74-78-79—231

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

1.	Wenyi Ding, Arizona State	70-71-70—211
2.	Ethan Fang, California	71-70-71—212
T3.	Karl Vilips, Stanford	68-75-71—214
T3.	Ryggs Johnston, Arizona State	78-67-69—214
T5.	Michael Thorbjornsen, Stanford	65-76-75—216
T5.	Sampson Zheng, California	76-75-65—216
T5.	Jose Antonio Safa, USC	71-78-67—216

TEAM STANDINGS

1.	Arizona State	368-365-362—1095
2.	Washington	349-374-375—1098
2.	California	368-370-360—1098
4.	Oregon	368-362-370—1100
5.	Stanford	359-377-369—1106
6.	Oregon State	375-380-370—1125
7.	UCLA	370-381-376—1127
8.	Arizona	378-382-371—1131
9.	COLORADO	370-390-375—1135
10.	Utah	366-394-378—1138
11.	Southern California	374-396-374—-1144
12.	Washington State	381-389-377—1147

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Players Mentioned

Justin Biwer

Tucker Clark

Ty Holbrook

Brandon Knight

Dylan McDermott