Buffs and Pios Meet in Palm Desert

CU places third and DU places T10 at Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate.

By Drew Kort

The Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate this past weekend marked the first and only time the CU and DU men’s golf squads will compete against each other during the 2017-18 regular season. They were originally scheduled to clash back in early October at The Paintbrush Intercollegiate, but foul weather canceled the tournament.

The 54-hole stroke play event took place at The Classic Club in Palm Desert, California. Competitors played the par-72 course at over 7,300 yards. The robust 23-team field featured six of the top 40 ranked teams, per Golfstat.

The Buffaloes shot a three-round total of 845 (287-278-280) and 19 under par to finish in third place. No. 19 ranked California and No. 9 ranked Texas Tech were the only teams to finish ahead of them. CU was one of only four teams to finish in red numbers.

Colorado was led by the stellar play of seniors Yannik Paul (Viernheim, Germany) Spencer Painton (Aurora) and John Souza (Phoenix, Arizona). The veteran trio finished T5 (-9), T12 (-5) and T12 (-5) respectively. Paul made a run at the individual title Sunday when he posted six birdies and a score of 30 on his outward nine, but his chances were foiled when he made back-to-back bogeys early in his back nine. He would ultimately come up 5 strokes shy. The highlight of the tournament for Painton was a bogey-free 68 in the final round that consisted of two birdies and an eagle.

The Pios held their own against the deep field with a tournament score of 878 (304-292-282) and 14 over par. They improved each day of the competition to finish in a tie for 10th place and two strokes ahead of No. 26 ranked Tennessee.

The highest finisher for the Crimson and Gold was homegrown senior Chris Korte (Littleton) who earned a T38 finish on the individual leaderboard at 2 over par. He closed out his tournament strong with a 2-under-par 70 and rose 19 places on the leaderboard.

No. 19 ranked California won the team competition in dominating fashion by a margin of 20 strokes, and finished at 47 under par. There was a four-way tie for the individual title at 14 under par.

CU will be back on the course March 12-13 at the Lamkin San Diego Classic in San Diego, California. DU will tee it up again at the Southwestern Invitational in Westlake Village, California, on Feb. 26-27.

Click here for tournament stats and scores.

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