Colorado’s DI Men Compete in NCAA Regionals

Rams, Buffs, Bears and Pio’s Korte come up short of NCAA Championship berths.

By Drew Kort

The state of Colorado contains four Division I men’s golf programs-all of which were represented in some form at NCAA Regionals this week. Each team competed at a different regional championship site around the country earlier this week.

The No. 44 Colorado State Rams came the closest of our state’s squads to extend their title run to the NCAA Championship. The group was in Kissimmee, Florida, at the Watson Course at Reunion Resort. Par for the 7,154-yard course was 72.

The group was led by veterans Jake Staiano (Cherry Hills Village) and Max Oelfke (Hannover, Germany). Staiano, after opening rounds of 71-68, was T6 and only three back of the leaders. A final round 73 dropped him to T6 on the individual leaderboard at 4 under par. Oelfke improved his score each day with rounds of 73-70-69 to match Staiano in a tie for 6th.

The team fired a 54-hole score of 16 under par to earn a seventh-place result. They were just four strokes shy of a top-5 finish, which is required to qualify for the final leg of the postseason. Click here for stats and scores from Kissimmee.

The No. 42 University of Colorado Buffaloes, riding a wave of momentum from their best conference tournament appearance since the 1993-94 season, teed it up at the par-72, 7,239-yard Spanos Regional Course in Stockton, California.

The Buffs saw three players finish inside of the top 20 in California. Senior Yannik Paul (Viernheim, Germany) shot a tournament score of 4 under par to finish T12. Not far behind him was sophomore Daniel O’Loughlin (Nottingham, England) who finished T16 at 3 under par and senior Spencer Painton (Aurora) who wound up T19 at 2 under par.

The unit was 2 under par for the event, and that was good enough to put them in the seventh position on the team leaderboard. They missed the top-5 threshold by 10 strokes. Click here for stats and scores from Stockton.

The Bears of the University of Northern Colorado also sent their entire squad to compete on the national stage. They qualified for the Bryan, Texas, regional by winning the Big Sky Conference Championship. The event was held at the Par-72, 7,121-yard Traditions Golf Club.

UNC was led by junior Joshua Matz (Agoura Hills, California) who sandwiched a 3-over-par 75 with a pair of 1-under-par 71s in his three loops. He finished T19 on the individual leaderboard at 1 over par. The Bears finished alone in 10th as a team at 30 over par. They missed qualification by 20 strokes. Click here for stats and scores from Bryan.

The only Colorado DI program left out of regionals was the University of Denver. But, senior Chris Korte (Littleton) wore the Crimson and Gold down in Norman, Oklahoma, as he competed individually in the event.

The Norman Regional was played at the par-72, 7,452-yard Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club. Korte fired 76-70-78 during his three loops at the lengthy track to finish T50. He too came up short of qualifying for the NCAA Championship. Click here for stats and scores from Norman.

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