Buffs Make History in Hawai’i

Three In 60s Help Make Best Scoring Round Ever

David Plati

WAIKOLOA, Hawai’i — The University of Colorado men’s golf team wasn’t satisfied with its first round play on Thursday, so all it did in Friday’s second round was to record the best 18-hole team score in school history in relation to par to move into 11th place in the 24th Annual Hawai’i-Hilo Amer Ari Invitational.

The Buffaloes, ranked 39th in the nation, knocked 24 strokes off its first round score in posting a 17-under par 271 to move from 16th place into 10th heading into the final round.  That tied for the fifth-best improvement from one round to the next in CU annals, and at the end of the day had Colorado in the clubhouse with a 10-under total of 566.

No. 22 Washington took over the lead, firing Friday’s best score (19-under 269) for a 546 total, as first-round leader and No. 14 USC dropped into second with a 549 score.  No. 8 Auburn (554), Arizona State (555) and No. 3 Oregon (557) round out the top five in an 18-team field featuring 13 top 50 schools, including three in the top 10 and eight in the top 20.

When told his talk with the team after the first round must have really hit home, CU head coach Roy Edwards said there wasn’t much to it.

“We honestly really didn’t do anything different; I just old them not to worry about how they played and after one bad round, there was no reason to freak out,” he said.  “The real difference was that we played the par-5s extremely well (12-under on the day), and managed our games much more consistently.  We didn’t have to count anything worse than a bogey among the starting five, and only had seven of those among the scorers.”

CU’s second round 271 was the second best team round of the day as well as the entire tournament, and topped its previous best round of the season – a final round 274 (-14) in the Air Force Falcon Invitational.

The last time CU had three players score in the 60s in the same round was last February 21 in the first round of the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate – one of the two previous best team rounds in school history: a 16-under par 272.  The other occasion came in the first round of the 2005 Taylor Made/Waikoloa Intercollegiate; same Hawaiian island, but on a difference course.  Four players shot the 60s that day.

The four players who had their scores count toward CU’s team score Friday collectively made an eagle, 22 birdies, 42 pars and just seven bogeys, and combined, moved up 137 spots in the individual standings.

• Senior David Oraee jumped into the top 20 (tie for 16th) with a 5-under 67 Friday, giving him a 5-under 139 through 36 holes; he did so with five birdies and 13 pars on the 7,074-yard, par-72 on the Waikoloa King’s Course layout.  He birdied five of his first nine holes and finished with a run of nine consecutive pars.

• Sophomore Yannik Paul recorded his team-leading sixth round in the 60s this season, as his 5-under 67 moved him into a tie for 21st with a 2-under 140 total heading into the final round.  He had seven birdies Friday, the second-most in a round this year by a Buff, with nine pars and two late bogeys – which he wiped out by finishing with two of his birdies.

• Sophomore Jeremy Paul (pictured above), the 60th-ranked individual in the nation and the oldest of the Paul identical twins, made the biggest move of all the Buffs Friday.  In fashioning a 6-under 66, tying the second best score of his career, he moved up 42 spots into a tie for 39th with a 2-under 142 total.  His 10-shot improvement also matched his best from one round to the next, which he did at last March’s Bandon Dunes Championship.  He had an eagle (his CU season-best third), six birdies, nine pars and just two bogeys.  He is second in the 112-man field in par-5 scoring, playing them at 8-under: he has an eagle, six birdies and one par on the eight through two rounds.

• Junior Philip Juel-Berg carded a 1-under 71 for a 2-over 146, which has him tied for 66th.  He had four birdies, 11 pars and three bogeys on his scorecard Friday; he opened his day with two of those bogeys but got one right back with a birdie on his third hole and was all even eight through.

• Sophomore Ethan Freeman scored a 2-over 74 for a 149 total (plus-5), tying him for 81st.  He had four birdies, 11 pars, four bogeys and the only double bogey among the designated scorers, which he scored on his first hole of the day (No. 15), otherwise he played even after that.

• Freshman Ben Bradley playing in his first collegiate tournament after signing with the Buffs last November, had a 76 on Friday for a 6-over 150 total, tying him for 87th.  He had three birdies and nine pars in the second round.  He is playing here as an individual, as his scores do not count toward CU’s team total.

“For everyone except Ethan, it was their first tournament since November, so they’re settling back into their competitive grooves and were much more comfortable with their all-around games,” Edwards noted.

The Buffs as a team are third in par-5 scoring (-21) and have recorded the fourth-most birdies (41).  CU also improved on the par-4s Friday, as it was collectively at a plus-8 after being 11-over after one round, the 3-under the second-best effort of the day after Washington.

Washington’s Cheng-Tsung Pan, the nation’s top-ranked golfer, continued to lead the field with a second straight 65, with his 14-under par 130 total two better than USC’s Rico Hoey (66—132).

The third and final round is set for Saturday with a 10:30 a.m. (MST) shotgun start.  Colorado will be paired with No. 4 UCLA, No. 40 TCU and UC Davis in starting on the No. 7, 8 and 9 holes in the final round.

“We’ll take it one shot at time again tomorrow, try not to get too far ahead ourselves and not get too down if we should make a mistake or two,” Edwards said.  “That’s how we approached things today, especially with the wind kicking up a bit.  Frankly, I’m surprised at some of the scores; Washington’s round was insane.”

“We know another round like today’s and we can move way up.”

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS (*—playing as an individual)                                          

T16.  David Oraee…………………………. 72-67—139
T21.  Yannik Paul…………………………… 73-67—140
T39.  Jeremy Paul…………………………. 76-66—142
T66.  Philip Juel-Berg…………………….. 75-71—146
T81.  Ethan Freeman……………………… 75-74—149
T87.  *Ben Bradley……………………….. 74-76—150

TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS                                                                                                                    

   1.  Cheng-Tsung Pan……………………. 65-65—130
   2.  Rico Hoey, USC………………………. 66-66—132
T3.  Brandon McIver, Oregon…………… 67-68—135
T3.  Corey Pereira, Washington……….. 70-65—135
T3.  Matt Gilchrest, Auburn…………….. 71-64—135
T3.  Scott Scheffler, Texas………………. 69-66—135

TEAM SCORES

   1.  Washington………………………. 277-269—546
   2.  Southern California……………… 276-273—549
   3.  Auburn…………………………….. 280-274—554
   4.  Arizona State…………………….. 277-278—555
   5.  Oregon…………………………….. 280-277—557
   6.  Texas………………………………. 283-278—561
   6.  Oklahoma State…………………. 282-279—561
   8.  Stanford…………………………… 278-285—563
   9.  TCU…………………………………. 282-282—564
10.  UC Davis………………………….. 281-284—565
11.  COLORADO……………………… 295-271—566
12.  Texas Tech……………………….. 280-287—567
12.  UCLA……………………………….. 283-284—567
14.  Oregon State…………………….. 280-293—573
15.  San Jose State………………….. 292-291—583
16.  Hawai’i…………………………….. 294-292—586          
17.  Hawai’i-Hilo……………………….. 297-298—595
18.  Osaka Gakuin Univ……………… 298-300—598