Photo by: CUBuffs.com
October 24, 2026 | Men's Golf
Sixth straight year CU to finish the fall in paradise
LAHAINA, Maui – The Colorado men's golf team arrived in Maui last Thursday to begin preparation to finish its fall portion of the '26-'27 schedule in the 12th Annual Ka'anapali Classic by Outrigger, an event in which the Buffaloes have enjoyed much success.
The tournament was originally scheduled to run Monday through Wednesday, but severe weather is forecast to reach Maui no later than midday Tuesday. As of late Saturday evening, the event is now starting Sunday with the 20 teams to play 27 holes (half the event) and finish with the final 27 on Monday, though that remained fluid.
In five previous trips, the Buffs have four top five finishes – two runner-up efforts, a fourth and a fifth place showing. In '24, senior Dylan McDermott was the first Buffalo ever to finish with a 54-hole score under 200 – a 15-under par 198 on the same course this year's team will again try its hand.
The 6,700-yard, par-71 Royal Ka'anapali Golf Course in Lahaina on the northwest coast of Maui hosts the tournament, which begins Tuesday and runs through Thursday, 18 holes with 12:30 p.m. MST shotgun starts played each day.
"This will be a really good opportunity here this week against an elite field of teams and individuals," said CU head coach Roy Edwards. "It's a course we like and are very familiar with. Even though scores are typically low if it isn't super windy – which it can be – it is still a good test of golf and you still have to play well to shoot low."
Six players will make the trip to Maui: seniors Ty Holbrook and Brandon Knight, juniors Parker Paxton and Asher Whitaker and sophomore Tyler Long; sophomore Casey Kosney is also on the trip but will play as an individual, his scores not counting toward the team tally.
Four Buffs have had some of their best single round scores on this course – 7-under par 64's – Paxton, Hunter Swanson, McDermott, Justin Biwer and Jack Holland. In the five previous Ka'anapali Classics, CU golfers have recorded 40 rounds in the 60's (47 subpar) and 11 par-71's, or 58 par or better rounds out of 81 total. Paxton has finished in ties for 14th and 18th here with identical 9-under par 204 scores (68.0 per round, four in the 60's and two even), while Holbrook and Knight have also finished 14th here before, Holbrook with a 70.2 average (two 60's, three subpar, one even in two trips), while Knight returns for the fourth year in a row (71.2, all four subpar scores in the 60's).
Whitaker's two best tournaments when enrolled at Oklahoma came in this tournament, tying for 12th with a 10-under 203 that included a second round 64, and tying for 18th last year with a 9-under 204; as he had four rounds in the 60's, five subpar and one even in six rounds. Long tied for 37th last year with a 5-under 208 (two 68's and a 72).
The competing teams for this event traditionally have made it a strong test for all as the fall seasons for most come to a conclusion. In addition to CU and host Hawai'i, the 20-team field includes Boise State, Cal State Northridge, Clemson, East Tennessee State, Georgia, Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, North Florida, Oklahoma, Purdue, Sacramento State, San Jose State, Southern Illinois, TCU, UConn, UC Irvine and Wyoming. The field is representative of 20 states, 11 different conferences and five time zones.
Five teams are in the latest Bushnell/GCAA Coaches top 25 poll, with two others just outside the top 25. The Buffaloes are No. 38 in the Clipped/Scoreboard ranking and No. 37 in the respected Differential ranking, with eight teams in the top 40 in both those (312 play college golf).
Groups will have two players from each team comprising foursomes in a shotgun start, with the first round set to begin at 1:30 p.m. MDT; sunset is at 9:55 p.m., thus with continuous play the 120-plus players in the field will have eight hours to play 27 holes.
ALUMNI UPDATE: Four Buff alums came up short Friday in the first stage of PGA Tour Q School. Yannik Paul (;18) and Adam Matteson ('23) both finished with 2-under 282 scores on the University of New Mexico's Championship Course, three strokes shy of advancing to the second stage (they tied for 27th, with 18 players moving on). Derek Fribbs ('13) and Hunter Swanson ('26) tied for 59th with 12-over 296 scores; Fribbs did have one of the lowest rounds – a 7-under 64 in the second round. Two more are next up this week (Oct. 27-30): Dylan McDermott ('25) at Bermuda Run (N.C.) Country Club and Josh Creel ('10) at Abilene (Texas) Country Club,
NOTES: Two weeks ago, CU just navigated three days of mostly inclement weather in Salt Lake City for the Big 12 Match Play Championships – so wouldn't you just know it? Mostly sunny skies are forecasted for Maui through Monday, before the storm front arrives Tuesday with an 80 percent chance of rain, thunderstorms and gusting winds … Of the 15 previous rounds by the Buffs here, 12 have been recorded with scores of 279 (-5) or lower, including two of the lowest in school history: an 18-under in the second round last year and 17-under in the final round in 2022 … CU's average team score for 54 holes here has been 827 (25-under par) … Oklahoma is the four-time defending champion in the tourney … The No. 2 collegiate player in the nation, Georgia's JD Culbreth, tied the course record as a freshman last year with a 10-under par 61 … Through tournaments of Oct. 21, the Buffs are one of 13 teams in Power-4 conference (68 in all) that have yet to lose strokes in a round versus the field (no single round scores in bottom halves of the field); it also include Kansas and TCU competing in Maui … CU is 49-12-1 against Division I teams so far this year, 137-24-4 in single rounds … The Colorado women are also closing its fall schedule in Hawai'i in the Nanea Invitational, also hosted the by the University of Hawai'i in Kailua-Kona, located on the Big Island; that tournament was still set to run Monday through Wednesday (Kailua-Kona is about 100 miles east of Lahaina; as of Saturday evening, there was no reported changes to its schedule.
The tournament was originally scheduled to run Monday through Wednesday, but severe weather is forecast to reach Maui no later than midday Tuesday. As of late Saturday evening, the event is now starting Sunday with the 20 teams to play 27 holes (half the event) and finish with the final 27 on Monday, though that remained fluid.
In five previous trips, the Buffs have four top five finishes – two runner-up efforts, a fourth and a fifth place showing. In '24, senior Dylan McDermott was the first Buffalo ever to finish with a 54-hole score under 200 – a 15-under par 198 on the same course this year's team will again try its hand.
The 6,700-yard, par-71 Royal Ka'anapali Golf Course in Lahaina on the northwest coast of Maui hosts the tournament, which begins Tuesday and runs through Thursday, 18 holes with 12:30 p.m. MST shotgun starts played each day.
"This will be a really good opportunity here this week against an elite field of teams and individuals," said CU head coach Roy Edwards. "It's a course we like and are very familiar with. Even though scores are typically low if it isn't super windy – which it can be – it is still a good test of golf and you still have to play well to shoot low."
Six players will make the trip to Maui: seniors Ty Holbrook and Brandon Knight, juniors Parker Paxton and Asher Whitaker and sophomore Tyler Long; sophomore Casey Kosney is also on the trip but will play as an individual, his scores not counting toward the team tally.
Four Buffs have had some of their best single round scores on this course – 7-under par 64's – Paxton, Hunter Swanson, McDermott, Justin Biwer and Jack Holland. In the five previous Ka'anapali Classics, CU golfers have recorded 40 rounds in the 60's (47 subpar) and 11 par-71's, or 58 par or better rounds out of 81 total. Paxton has finished in ties for 14th and 18th here with identical 9-under par 204 scores (68.0 per round, four in the 60's and two even), while Holbrook and Knight have also finished 14th here before, Holbrook with a 70.2 average (two 60's, three subpar, one even in two trips), while Knight returns for the fourth year in a row (71.2, all four subpar scores in the 60's).
Whitaker's two best tournaments when enrolled at Oklahoma came in this tournament, tying for 12th with a 10-under 203 that included a second round 64, and tying for 18th last year with a 9-under 204; as he had four rounds in the 60's, five subpar and one even in six rounds. Long tied for 37th last year with a 5-under 208 (two 68's and a 72).
The competing teams for this event traditionally have made it a strong test for all as the fall seasons for most come to a conclusion. In addition to CU and host Hawai'i, the 20-team field includes Boise State, Cal State Northridge, Clemson, East Tennessee State, Georgia, Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, North Florida, Oklahoma, Purdue, Sacramento State, San Jose State, Southern Illinois, TCU, UConn, UC Irvine and Wyoming. The field is representative of 20 states, 11 different conferences and five time zones.
Five teams are in the latest Bushnell/GCAA Coaches top 25 poll, with two others just outside the top 25. The Buffaloes are No. 38 in the Clipped/Scoreboard ranking and No. 37 in the respected Differential ranking, with eight teams in the top 40 in both those (312 play college golf).
Groups will have two players from each team comprising foursomes in a shotgun start, with the first round set to begin at 1:30 p.m. MDT; sunset is at 9:55 p.m., thus with continuous play the 120-plus players in the field will have eight hours to play 27 holes.
ALUMNI UPDATE: Four Buff alums came up short Friday in the first stage of PGA Tour Q School. Yannik Paul (;18) and Adam Matteson ('23) both finished with 2-under 282 scores on the University of New Mexico's Championship Course, three strokes shy of advancing to the second stage (they tied for 27th, with 18 players moving on). Derek Fribbs ('13) and Hunter Swanson ('26) tied for 59th with 12-over 296 scores; Fribbs did have one of the lowest rounds – a 7-under 64 in the second round. Two more are next up this week (Oct. 27-30): Dylan McDermott ('25) at Bermuda Run (N.C.) Country Club and Josh Creel ('10) at Abilene (Texas) Country Club,
NOTES: Two weeks ago, CU just navigated three days of mostly inclement weather in Salt Lake City for the Big 12 Match Play Championships – so wouldn't you just know it? Mostly sunny skies are forecasted for Maui through Monday, before the storm front arrives Tuesday with an 80 percent chance of rain, thunderstorms and gusting winds … Of the 15 previous rounds by the Buffs here, 12 have been recorded with scores of 279 (-5) or lower, including two of the lowest in school history: an 18-under in the second round last year and 17-under in the final round in 2022 … CU's average team score for 54 holes here has been 827 (25-under par) … Oklahoma is the four-time defending champion in the tourney … The No. 2 collegiate player in the nation, Georgia's JD Culbreth, tied the course record as a freshman last year with a 10-under par 61 … Through tournaments of Oct. 21, the Buffs are one of 13 teams in Power-4 conference (68 in all) that have yet to lose strokes in a round versus the field (no single round scores in bottom halves of the field); it also include Kansas and TCU competing in Maui … CU is 49-12-1 against Division I teams so far this year, 137-24-4 in single rounds … The Colorado women are also closing its fall schedule in Hawai'i in the Nanea Invitational, also hosted the by the University of Hawai'i in Kailua-Kona, located on the Big Island; that tournament was still set to run Monday through Wednesday (Kailua-Kona is about 100 miles east of Lahaina; as of Saturday evening, there was no reported changes to its schedule.
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