Posts tagged Rick Cramer
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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Buff golfers rise to the top of the heap
Apr 10th
BUFFs FINISH SECOND AT WYOMING COWBOY CLASSIC SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. —
The University of Colorado men’s golf team had quite the final tune-up for the Pac-12 Championship later this month, as the Buffaloes used near-record improvement from one round to the next to jump from seventh into a second place finish in the Wyoming Cowboy Classic here Tuesday.
Colorado turned in the low round of the wind-shortened tournament, a 6-under 274 for a two round total of 580, second only to Gonzaga, which turned a 275 in the second round for a 574 overall score. CU had opened with a 306 score in extremely windy conditions Monday, which forced the cancellation of the second round after a nearly six hour first round, in which only two of the 24 teams in the field broke 300; on Tuesday in much calmer weather, all but one shot better than 300. No. 22 St. Mary’s (Calif.) and No. 40 Tulsa tied for third at 582, with Pac-12 rival Arizona fifth at 584. First round leader Wichita State fell to sixth with a 587 count. The Buffs, ranked No. 64 by GolfStat and No. 74 by Golfweek, defeated five teams ranked ahead of them and improved their record against Division I competition this season to 96-53.
It’s the third time that Colorado has finished either first or second in a tournament five times in a season: in 1980-81, the Buffs won two and had three runner-up efforts as they have done this year, and in 2008-09, CU had one win and four seconds. The team’s 32-stroke improvement from one round to the next was the second best in school annals; in the 1985 Air Force Falcon Invitational, the Buffs shot a first round 414 and then a second round 381 for a 33-shot improvement. That was a six player-five scorer tournament; the previous best in the more common five-for-four was 29-strokes in the 2005 PING-Arizona Intercollegiate (312 to 283 between the first and second rounds). “A great job by the team today, and any time you shoot the low round of the day in a tournament you are excited,” head coach Roy Edwards said.
“To do it in a field of 24 teams and in the final round is particularly satisfying. We didn’t play very well yesterday, but the team really battled in very challenging conditions and was in position to shoot a low score.” All five CU designated scorers improved their scores Tuesday, led by junior Johnny Hayes, who rallied to fire a 1-under 69 after an 85 on Monday – the 16-stroke improvement tied for the fourth largest in CU history, trailing the top best of 18 (John Nyuli in the 1990 Miami-Doral Invitational, when he shot a second round 90 and a final round 72), and two 17 shot make ups (Rick Cramer at the 1989 New Mexico Tucker Invitational and Edward McGlasson in the 2002 Prestige at PGA West). Hayes vaulted from 116th place in the standings into a tie for 80th on the 7,133-yard, par-70 Talking Stick North Course layout with his 154, or 14-over par score. Senior Jason Burstyn lopped off nine strokes between rounds, with his 76-67—143 (3-over) effort tying him for 10th, as he moved up from 27th. He was among the leaders in par-3 (sixth) and par-4 (14th) scoring. Freshman Philip Juel-Berg did the same, as he fashioned a 79-70—149 scorecard here to tie for 40th, jumping 30 spots; his 25 pars were a team high and tied for the 14th most in the field. CU’s top finisher was senior Derek Fribbs, who tied for seventh. He had posted CU’s best first round score with a 4-over 74, and he managed to shave six strokes off that effort with a 2-under 68 for a 36-hole total of 142. He tied for the third most birdies in the field here with seven, played the two par-5 holes here at 3-under, tied for the best overall, and the 12 par-4 holes here at 4.08 per, sixth best. “Jason and Derek played really solid and Johnny did an awesome job of coming back from a poor first round,” Edwards said. “The team should be proud, but we need to continue to work and improve every day leading up to the Pac-12 Championship. We are fortunate to have a great group of guys who I know are very excited to keep getting better.” Sophomore David Oraee rounded out the CU scorers, finishing with a 77-76—153 (13-over) score, which tied him for 72nd. Redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo played as an individual here, and he tied for 95th (77-79—156). UC-Santa Barbara junior Glen Scher captured medalist honors with a 70-68—138, the only player under par in the tournament; there was a four-way tie for second with those players at an even par 140. The average score for 250 rounds here was almost six over par at 75.88, though it dropped from 78.64 to 73.06 between the two rounds. The Pac-12 Championships are in three weeks, set for April 29-May 1 at Los Angeles Country Club. Colorado appears to be peaking at the right time: the Buffs are 11-29 this year against Pac-12 opposition, but the bulk of that damage came in three tournaments, including the first two out of the chute this spring where the Buffs were 0-24; CU is 6-1 against league brethren in the last month.
by David Plati Associate AD/Sports Information University of Colorado Buffaloes 357 UCB / Fieldhouse Annex #50 Boulder, CO 80309-0357 303/492-5626 (office)
