CU Men Make Third Straight Trip to NCAA Regionals

Buffs head to Indiana in hopes of making the National Championship Finals

David Plati

BOULDER — As expected, the University of Colorado men’s golf team was invited to the NCAA Championships for the third straight season Monday morning, as the Buffaloes will participate in the Central/Ball State Regional which begins next Thursday, May 14, in Noblesville, Ind.
 
Colorado, ranked No. 52 in the nation (GolfStat; No. 48 Golfweek) is the No. 9 seed in the field and will be looking to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals for the first time since 2002.
 
The Buffs are coming off a disappointing 11th place finish in the Pac-12 Championships, with the same exact team that finished fourth in 2014 in what most consider the nation’s toughest golf conference.  The Pac-12 received six top three seeds in this year’s tournament, with the Southeastern Conference next with four and then the Atlantic Coast and Big 12 with three each.
 
“We are excited about being selected, it means that the team has had a really strong year,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said.  “I’m especially happy for our players, but first there are final exams this week.  That is our top priority and then we’ll be ready to go.
 
“I believe we can take the negatives from the conference tournament and use those for motivation,” he continued.  “We have a great group of competitors, and this is the best time of the year to be a college golfer. There’s nothing like playing for your school in the NCAA Championships.”
 
The field includes two-time defending national champion Alabama, the fourth-seed in the regional, as Illinois (ranked No. 4 nationally), Oregon (No. 8) and UCLA (No. 15) are the top three seeds; the Crimson Tide are ranked No. 21. The 14-team field will compete at The Sagamore Club in Noblesville, located about 30 miles northeast of Indianapolis; it is a 7,173-yard, par-72 layout that boasts a Jack Nicklaus design.  The back nine features a large horseshoe-shaped lake that comes into play on five holes, including down the stretch on Nos. 16, 17 and 18.  Play will begin at 6 a.m. mountain time on Thursday and Friday, with Saturday’s final round having a 5:30 a.m. start.
 
Other schools in field, in seeded order from five through 14 are: SMU, UNLV, Virginia Tech, Georgia Southern, CU, New Mexico State, East Carolina, Marquette, Alabama State and Penn.  The Buffs are 3-13 against the field in tournament play this season, seeing at some point eight of the other 13 programs; that includes a 14-35-1 mark in individual rounds.  CU is 1-0 against Alabama and Virginia Tech, 1-1 versus New Mexico State, 0-1 against Illinois, 0-2 versus SMU and 0-3 against Oregon, UCLA and UNLV, but have posted a better score in at least one round against all of them.
 
“Every regional is a tough one, the tops teams are all spread out and the competition is such where you have to play your best to advance,” Edwards said.  “We’ve seen a lot of these teams this year that are in our regional, so we know what to expect.  Regardless, you have to go out and compete your best.”
 
Edwards hasn’t finalized his squad for the regional, but expects to do so by the end of the week after two practice rounds scheduled after the student’s final exams. Senior David Oraee, junior Philip Juel-Berg and sophomores Jeremy Paul, Yannik Paul and Ethan Freeman have played in all 11 tournaments for CU this season, with junior Drew Trujillo competing in six events.  
 
Jeremy Paul leads the team in stroke average with a 71.72 figure, topping his twin Yannik, who owns a 72.13 mark; Oraee is third with the trio bidding to make the 2014-15 season the first at Colorado with three players with sub-73 averages.

There are six regional sites and those competing will play 54 holes with the top five teams and top individual who is not a member of those squads earning the right to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals.  Those are scheduled for May 29-June 3 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.