FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Colorado men’s golf team is back in the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2009, as the Buffaloes are ready to go in the Central/Fayetteville Regional which begins here Thursday.

 

Colorado, ranked No. 58 in the nation (GolfStat; No. 67 Golfweek) is the No. 10 seed in the field is looking to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals for the first time since 2002.

golf

 

The Buffs have been idle since May 1, when they finished 10th at the Pac-12 Championships in Los Angeles.  CU was in position for a first division (top six) finish, but had a disastrous final day that dropped it from seventh into 10th.

 

“We really haven’t practiced since the Pac-12 Championship,” said head coach Roy Edwards.  “That is by design. These guys are students first and they had their semester projects and finals until (last) Thursday.  So they were all in with those responsibilities.  Now they can clearly and fully focus on the task at hand.

 

“We’re absolutely hungry to get back out there,” he continued.  “We had a really odd weather month leading up to the Pac-12 Championships and couldn’t get in the kind of practice we needed, yet we were still in decent position for an upper division finish.  Most of the guys got a solid competition round in for U.S. Open Local Qualifying (Monday) to get the rust off.  They’re anxious to get out there and prove that the final round (at Pac-12’s) was a blip on the season.”

 

The four Buffs who have played in all 12 tournaments (38 rounds) this season, seniors Jason Burstyn andDerek Fribbs, sophomore David Oraee and freshman Philip Juel-Berg along with junior Johnny Hayes will represent Colorado in the regional.  Only Fribbs, as an individual last year, and Hayes, with his former school Towson State in 2010, have played in the postseason before.

 

For the Buffaloes to have a chance to advance to the Finals, which run May 28-June 2 in Atlanta, its No. 1 golfer this season, Burstyn, needs to rebound from an uncharacteristic poor performance at the Pac-12s, where he just wasn’t able to get anything going; he tied for 66th with a 33-over score of 313. Edwards expects him to back to his old self.

 

“He was a little off, and he’s no different than most in that he needs to keep learning to adapt to different situations,” Edwards said of his team’s stroke average leader (72.8).  “He normally does that, and in this case, I think he’s ready to move on.  History shows that the few times he has played poorly, he’s bounced back to play really well.  I don’t think it will be any different this week.”

 

As for the team to have overall success, he pointed to what the Buffaloes did when they won the Air Force Falcon Invitational last September and the Bandon Dunes Championship in March.

 

“We have to minimize our mistakes, the focus has to be on being as smart as possible,” he noted.  “We haven’t seen the course yet, but I understand it’s very difficult.  It’s an event where you don’t care if you finish first or fifth.  We need to be patient, make good decisions and overall manage our individual games.  When we’ve done that, we’ve played our best, and if we can do that here, we have a great shot at advancing to the Finals.”

 

“If we are disciplined in our decisions at all times we have a great shot.  The five teams who make the least number of controllable mistakes will advance.  This has more to do about us doing our job than anything else.”

 

Arkansas is the host school, with The Blessings Golf Club serving as the host course; BGC has a 7,251-yard, par-72 layout (37-35 configuration) that was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.  It opened in 2004, and its rating (79.1) and slope (153) makes it one of the most difficult courses in the U.S., as its topography is characterized by hilly terrain creating numerous sidehill lies, dramatic elevation changes, forced carries over ravines and valleys, and large, undulating Bent grass greens, with Clear Creek in play on several holes.  The fairways/roughs are Zoysia.

 

Colorado will tee off at 8:10 a.m. (MDT) on Thursday off the No. 10 tee, with the Buffs paired with Indiana (No. 11 seed) and UNC-Wilmington (No. 12).  The field will be re-paired according to score after the first and second rounds, with all tee times between 8:20 and 10:20 a.m. for the second round (Friday) and between 7:50 and 9:50 a.m. for the final round (Saturday).

 

The top five teams and top two individuals who are not members of those squads will advance to the NCAA Championship Finals, which are scheduled for May 28-June 2 in Atlanta, Ga.

 

 

 

David Plati

Associate AD/Sports Information

University of Colorado Buffaloes

357 UCB / Fieldhouse Annex #50

Boulder, CO 80309-0357

303/492-5626 (office)

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