Posts tagged Mark Simpson
CU men’s golf team is 3rd place at the Falcon Invitational
Sep 9th
After shooting one of the better final rounds scores, the CU men’s golf team was able to tie for third place in the 45th annual Gene Miranda Air Force Falcon Invitational, which was completed here Monday.
Host Air Force opened the meet with the lowest scoring round in the 15-team field and never looked back, cruising to a 15-under 849 team score. Texas-El Paso grabbed runner-up honors as the only other team under par (861, minus-3), with Colorado and Wyoming sharing third with 3-over 867 scores. Nevada rounded out the top five with an 869 total.
The Buffaloes had entered the tournament as its two-time defending champion, including running away with the 2012 event by 12 strokes. Colorado had it at one time 7-under par on Monday, but lost a few strokes over the last six holes and settled for the third-place tie.
“We played good, not great, and many of the teams in the tournament are a lot better than they’ve been,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “This might be the best Air Force team I’ve ever seen, and congratulations to them. I thought the course played a little more difficult than it did last year when we won at 12-under, and they bettered that by three shots. Kyle Westmoreland (AFA’s number one) could play for any team in the country.”
Westmoreland led from wire-to-wire in posting three rounds in the 60s en route to a 12-under 204, which was good for a five-stroke victory on the 7,408-yard, par-72 Eisenhower Blue Golf Course.
Freshman Ethan Freeman led all seven Buffaloes who played here, though he competed as an individual meaning his score did not count toward the CU team total (he was not one of the top five qualifiers). However, thanks to a 3-under par 69 in the final round which saw him score seven birdies, the Kent Denver graduate’s 1-under 215 total tied for the third-lowest score by a CU player in his first major tournament in school history. That effort trailed onlyJonathan Kaye, who recorded a 213 (+3) in the 1990 Wyoming Invitational, and Sebastian Heisele’s 2-under 214 in the 2008 Denver-Ron Moore Invitational.
“This was a really good start for Ethan. He’s a very consistent player and we’re happy he had this kind of good start for his career. The other two freshmen also did nice jobs, no real freshman jitters that I saw.”
(That conjured up a story from the 1980s when Charlie Luther’s first career tee shot hit a tree and wound up a few yards behind the tee box. Then-CU head coach, the late Mark Simpson, comforted Charlie by telling him, “That’s okay, Charlie. Even Tony Dorsett lost yardage on his first collegiate carry.”)
Freeman tied for 10th place in the 88-man field, finishing his first collegiate event with 12 birdies (sixth-most in the field) and 31 pars against 11 bogeys on a challenging course that has the capability of eating young golfers up; he also tied for fifth in par-4 scoring, playing those 30 holes at 2-under. The last freshman to lead the Buffaloes in a season opening tournament was Derek Tolan, who tied for eighth in the 2005 New Mexico Tucker Invitational (2-under 214); Tolan was a redshirt frosh: the last true freshman to pace CU was Rick Cramer, who had a 1-over 217 for third place overall finish in the 1979 AFA Falcon invite.
Sophomore Drew Trujillo and freshman Yannik Paul both tied for 16th, as each finished up with 1-under 71s for a 1-over 217. Trujillo had a steady round that included an eagle (on the par-5 No. 9), a birdie and 14 pars, while Paul scored six birdies in his final round, giving him 14 for the tourney, second-most in the field.
Senior Johnny Hayes and freshman Jeremy Paul tied for 25th with 3-over par 219 totals. Hayes also played here as an individual and closed with a 4-over 76; his 38 pars led the Buffs here and tied for the seventh-most in the meet. Paul, one minute older than his twin sibling, finished with a 1-over 73; he had CU’s other eagle in the meet, which came in the first round.
Junior David Oraee got back on track Monday after two over-par rounds, as he fashioned a 2-under 70 to wrap things up with a 221 score (tying him for 37th). He had 11 bogeys the first two rounds but shaved that down to two in the final round, though they did come on his last two holes of the day, otherwise he would have had a round in the 60s.
Sophomore Philip Juel-Berg closed with a 1-over 73, giving him a 223 total which tied him for 45th. Though he tied for 19th in the field with 10 birdies over the three rounds, and his 10-shot improvement from his first to second round (80-70) was the best in the field from one round to the next.
“We’re not overly happy with the result, and despite being just 3-over par as a team, there’s much room for improvement,” Edwards said. “But it’s still a solid start. The positives today were that nobody in the starting five made worse than bogey on a hole, and we did a lot better job of managing our games.”
The Buffaloes will resume play in two weeks in the fourth annual Mark Simpson-CU Invitational, set for September 23-24 at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie.
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CU men’s golf team wins championship
Mar 11th
Burstyn Third, Four Buffs In Top 20
The University of Colorado men’s golf team turned in one of its finest performances of the year in winning the Bandon Dunes Championship here Sunday.
The Buffaloes had four players finish in the top 17 in recording a 2-under par 862 team score, the only one in the 17-team field that was under par as CU posted two of its best single round scores this season the last two days to earn the win. Colorado spent the entire tournament in either first or second, and was never out of the lead the final 30 holes.
The Buffs, ranked No. 79 this week, defeated eight teams ranked ahead of them in going from worst to first in consecutive tournaments for the first time in program history; two weeks ago, CU was 15th out of as many teams in The Prestige at PGA West. That accomplishment topped the 1998-98 team, which opened the spring with a 17th place finish out of 18 teams in the PING-Arizona Intercollegiate but bounced back to win the Southwest Classic its next time out.
It was Colorado’s second major tournament win of the season, as the Buffs won the Air Force Falcon Invitational last September, and also enabled CU to climb back over the .500 mark against Division I teams, improving to 58-52. CU’s last spring tournament victories came in 2008, with wins in both the Louisiana Classics and the Ohio State Kepler Intercollegiate.
Fresno State zoomed into second place, but still finished five shots behind the Buffaloes (867) despite playing the last six holes at 11-under par. No. 3 Washington also turned in a 9-under par final round but couldn’t catch CU in taking third with an 873 score. Rounding out the top five were No. 49 Oregon (874) and No. 14 SMU (882).
It was CU’s first win over a Top 5 team since 2004, when it won the Western Intercollegiate over No. 4 Georgia Tech, and its first against a team ranked third or higher since the 1994 NCAA Central Regional, when the Buffaloes finished second, one spot ahead of No. 1 Oklahoma State.
“The credit really goes to the guys, they did a phenomenal job,” Colorado head coach Roy Edwards said. “Even though we finished where we did in Palm Springs, we played better (than in the spring opener at Hawai’i), we just had too many big numbers. From that standpoint, I definitely saw improvement. The guys were motivated to come out and compete this week and prove that they’re a good team and we definitely did that.”
This is just the fourth time in program history that the Buffaloes have won two major tournaments in the same season, and the first time they have one at least one in both the fall and spring seasons. Three of the four times have happened under Edwards, who is in his seventh year as head coach.
“I know the guys have been working on being more consistent, being generally smarter than they had been with their play,” Edwards said. “We were never too high or too low, the guys were calm this morning and they expected to do well, despite the last couple of tournaments.”
How consistent was CU this weekend? For the 15 rounds combined (270 holes), the five Buffaloes combined for only five double bogeys, zero in the last 179 holes, and no scores worse; they had 50 birdies and 53 bogeys in playing a season-best 79 percent of the holes at par or better.
Senior Jason Burstyn paced the Buffaloes for the seventh time in nine tournaments this season, closing with a second 1-under 71 on the 6,859-yard, par-72 Old Macdonald Course, giving him a 2-under 214 which tied for third, four strokes out of the lead. He flirted with medalist honors early after birdying two of his first five holes and went on to post his third top five finish this season, his fourth in the top 10.
Burstyn completed the tournament with 10 birdies and 37 pars against just six bogeys and a double. He lowered his team-leading stroke average to 71.9, as added to his bests of 15 rounds of par or better, including 12 subpar rounds.
“I felt like I made some pretty good par putts to keep my momentum going,” Burstyn said. “I had a few three putts, but I made a lot of lag putts from 50 feet or so. These greens are tough, big and have a lot of undulation. I have a new driver and I was able to keep it low, under the wind, and that’s been helping as well.”
He had some help for really just the second time this year, as CU had a season-best four players that counted toward the team score in the top 20, and matched best with three at par or better.
“It’s always great to see your teammates play well, and that definitely takes a little pressure off,” Burstyn said. “I still want to do my best no matter what, but it still makes things a little easier. I am proud of everybody.
“We still didn’t even get to practice that much for this tournament,” he added about preparing for Bandon Dunes. “We’ve seemed to be indoors forever. It’s almost like we play better when the conditions are worse. Even two years ago, our first time out here, we played pretty well. The warmer climate teams aren’t used to this, even though the last two days here weren’t bad at all, at least to us.”
Sophomore David Oraee got off to a hot start Sunday, birdying his first three holes (Nos. 2-4) en route to carding a 2-under 70, CU’s best score in the final round. That gave him a 1-under 215 overall, tying him for sixth place, his second best finish of the year. He had four birdies, 12 pars and two bogeys, giving him 11 birdies and 34 pars on the weekend, against just eight total bogeys and a double.
Freshman Philip Juel-Berg also posted his second best finish of the year, fashioning a 1-under 71 Sunday for an even-par 216 total, tying him for ninth place. He opened with a bogey, but after scoring a par reeled off three quick birdies in succession before playing the last 13 holes at 1-over; he had a team-best 12 birdies in the tourney and was the only Buff not score worse than a bogey.
Senior Derek Fribbs carded a 2-over 74, which gave him a 2-over 218, tying him for 17th. He had one of CU’s two low rounds of the tournament (a second round 70), wrapping things up Sunday with three birdies, 10 pars and five bogeys; he had 11 birdies and 31 pars on the weekend. He had one bad patch in the final round (bogeys on Nos. 9-10-11), otherwise would have also been under par for the meet.
Redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo closed strong, as he was playing in his first tournament where his scores counted toward the CU team total. His first two here did not, but his final round 1-over 73 did, as he cruised around with two birdies, 13 pars and just three bogeys to finish with a 15-over 231 total, tying him for 73rd. He birdied his first hole for the second straight day, and would have turned in an even-par effort had he not bogeyed his last hole (No. 2).
Fresno State’s Troix Tonkham claimed medalist honors, as he closed with a 69 for a 6-under 210 total, good for a three-shot win over teammate Rufie Fessler.
“This certainly is a confidence builder,” Edwards said. “I think everyone was frustrated because we knew we were a good team but we just weren’t showing it. It also shows the resolve of the team because it proved that they could come out and beat a lot of high quality teams. All we did was to just put things together a little bit better. College golf nowadays is so competitive, if that you are a little off, you will get beat and sometimes beat badly.”
This was the seventh tournament win under Edwards, snapping a tie with the late Les Fowler for the second-most in a coaches’ reign at CU; the late Mark Simpson’s teams won 16. Both coached at the school for 29 seasons.
The Buffaloes return to action in two weeks, when they will travel to California during CU’s spring break to participate in the Cal-Irvine Anteater Invitational (March 25-26) and the Stanford U.S. Intercollegiate (March 28-30).
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