Posts tagged Sophomore David Oraee
CU men’s golfers in the middle of a 75-team pack at Stanford
Mar 29th
PALO ALTO, Calif. —
There are three top 10 teams and 11 in the top 75 competing here, with host and No. 10 Stanford the day one leader with an 8-under par 272 score. Five strokes separate the top six teams through 18 holes, with six strokes the difference between seventh and 12th; the Buffaloes are in the middle of that logjam, with a 3-over 283 score that is good for ninth place.
“A great day for golf, the weather conditions were perfect,” head coach Roy Edwards said. “That’s why the scores are so good and so bunched. Overall, we had a decent day as far as our team score was concerned. The only thing that prevented us from shooting lower, or under par, is that we had some mistakes, but even those were few and far between.
“For the most part we played smart, and mitigated the big numbers,” he added. “It’s so tightly bunched, we did what we should have done and didn’t get tripped up by the tough holes. There are a lot of good teams in this field and this is a great test for us at this stage of the season, one month out from the Pac-12 Championship.”
Senior Jason Burstyn and freshman Philip Juel-Berg paced the Buffaloes on Thursday, each recording 2-under par 68 scores on the 6,727-yard, par-70 Stanford Golf Course layout which tied them for 13th place.
Starting on the No. 1 tee, Burstyn turned a 3-under 32 on the front nine, with the aide of an eagle on the par-5 No. 7 hole. On the back, he couldn’t get some birdie putts to fall and endured two bogeys to bring him back closer to par in the end.
Juel-Berg played a fantastic back nine, firing a 31; after turning at 2-over, he birdied Nos. 10, 13, 15 and 16 and finished with a team-best six birdies, along with nine pars two bogeys and a double. He, too, endured a patch where he scored those three holes over par but had a birdie among them. He now has scored 12 birdies in his last two rounds, including 10 in his last 27 holes.
“Jason and Philip were really solid most of the day; both had to overcome a tough stretch around the middle of their rounds,” Edwards said. “Philip had a pretty good fall, though struggled a bit to start the spring but has come back to play well the last month. He’s a good player and he keeps getting better and better … and is making fewer and fewer freshman mistakes.”
Senior Derek Fribbs carded a 3-over 73, scoring four birdies and eight pars, with five bogeys and a double, tying him for 61st. He opened strong, with two birdies in the first three holes, but then endured a bad patch where he played the next eight holes at 6-over.
Redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo fashioned a 4-over 74, tying him for 66th place, as he had three birdies, nine pars, five bogeys and a double. He started off with a birdie, but played the next six holes at 5-over before closing by playing the course at even par over his final 11 holes.
Sophomore David Oraee carded a 5-over 78, tying him for 76th. He had two birdies and 10 pars against five bogeys and a double for his day, as he continued struggling this week on the west coast; he was 23-over par for the UC-Irvine Anteater, very uncharacteristic for him, especially coming off a 1-under performance at Bandon Dunes three weeks ago.
Collectively, the five Buffs scored 18 birdies Thursday, one more than in the final round of the Anteater invite, which was one more than CU had in Monday’s two rounds. Big numbers were kept to a minimum in the first round here, as CU had just four double bogeys and nothing worse.
Nine players are tied for the individual lead with 4-under 66 scores; the most compelling of that group being San Jose State’s Cody Blick, who made the turn at 1-over but rallied to score six birdies en route to a 30 on the back nine.
The second round of the tournament is set for Friday, with the final round on Saturday. Play begins each day at 9 a.m. MDT off the No. 1 and 10 tees.
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Buff golfers rally at UCI invitational for 4th place
Mar 26th
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. — The University of Colorado men’s golf team rallied for a fourth place finish here Tuesday as the UC-Irvine Anteater Invitational came to a close.
The Buffaloes started the day in eighth place after two uncharacteristically bad rounds on Monday, but rallied to shoot the best team score on Tuesday (by some six shots) and the second best round overall in the tournament.
Long Beach State (ranked No. 85) won the event with an 891 team score (27-over par), edging Cal State-Fullerton (No. 90) by three shots; the two entered the final round tied for the lead. Host and No. 77 UC-Irvine finished third (895), with Colorado overtaking four schools to finish fourth with a 42-over 906 total.
The Buffaloes were the highest ranked team competing here (No. 71 in the latest Golfweek rankings), and played like it Tuesday. Assistant coach Jon Levy coached the team here, as head coach Roy Edwards was in Kansas City attending his grandmother’s funeral. Levy had said after Monday’s play that, “This is the kind of golf course that if you have a good round, you can leapfrog a lot of teams, and that’s our goal (Tuesday) to go out and do just that.” He turned out be absolutely correct.
“We absolutely held to our game plan today, and that was the difference,” Levy said. “This was a tough course, probably one of the toughest we’ve played all year. Our game plan was to play conservatively and let the other teams make the mistakes. We knew we would have to take some bogeys, but let the other teams make the big numbers and we’d be satisfied with pars on the tougher holes. The pin locations were challenging and the greens were firm, but we did a great job of not short siding the ball today. We literally improved 100 percent on that.”
The five Buffs competing here totaled 17 birdies compared to just 16 for two rounds on Monday, and recorded just 19 bogeys, both bests in the 11-team field Tuesday.
Starting on No. 10, a deceivingly hard hole, CU scored four bogeys and a quadruple, but the players were in the right frame of mind out of the gate: no one in the 69-man field birdied the hole and only 25 were able to score par. From that point on, the four players who scored for CU collectively played even par golf the remaining 18 holes.
Freshman Philip Juel-Berg paced the Buffaloes here, as he tied for 10th after finishing up with a 1-over 73 for a 7-over 223 total for 54 holes on the 7,060-yard, par-72 El Niguel Country Club course. He had a team-best six birdies Tuesday, with six pars, five bogeys and a double. His 11 birdies for the tournament led the Buffs and also tied for the third-most in the field, as did his playing the par-5 holes at 5-under overall. His 15 holes over par were also a team low as he finished in the top 10 for a second straight tournament.
Senior Jason Burstyn turned in CU’s best score in the final round, a 1-under 71 that propelled him into a tie for 21st (up from 40th); he finished with an 11-over 227 score and he closed with an eagle, three birdies and 10 pars against four bogeys. He was 2-under at one point before scoring a pair of quick bogeys, but he came back with his eagle on the par-5 sixth hole to get back under for the round. He was the lone Buff not score worse than a bogey the entire tournament.
Senior Derek Fribbs and redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo tied for 24th individually (after both entered the day tied for 35th); they each scored 2-over par 74s to wrap things up, closing with 13-over 229 totals. Fribbs had three birdies and 11 pars in his round (against three bogeys and a double), closing on a wild ride his last four holes (birdie, double, bogey, birdie), while Trujillo had two birdies, 12 pars and four bogeys; he was 3-over after 10 but had his two birdies on the way in.
Sophomore David Oraee finished with a second consecutive 78, giving him a 23-over par 239 total, which tied him for 52nd. He opened with a quadruple bogey 8 on No. 10, when his drive kicked to the left and went out of bounds by all of three inches, and then followed that up with a double on No. 11, but then was able to gather himself and finish the remaining 16 holes even, scoring three birdies, 10 pars and three bogeys along the way.
Loyola-Marymount’s Connor Campbell claimed medalist honors, closing with a 1-under 71 that gave him a 216 total – the only player in the field to shoot par or better for the tournament. He defeated second round leader, Long Beach State’s Daniel Chin, by one stroke.
“We wanted to build some momentum today going into a really big event coming up,” Levy added. “That was the message we talked about last night. Play loose, don’t play so tight; out there and have some fun.”
The Buffaloes will now head up the coast to Palo Alto, where they will compete in the Stanford U.S. Intercollegiate this Thursday through Saturday.
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CU men’s golf team wins championship
Mar 11th
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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