Congrats to the team for the win at the tourney that ended yesterday!
Way to go Buffs!!!
Article -
https://cubuffs.com/news/2024/9/21/mens-golf-golfers-victorious-in-unms-tucker-intercollegiate
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Golfers Victorious In UNM'S Tucker Intercollegiate
Three Buffs Finish In Top 10, Four in Top 20
By:
David Plati, SID-Emeritus/Athletic Historian
ALBUQUERQUE — While the saying is usually, "the third time is the charm," for the University of Colorado men's golf team, it was "the 69th time was the charm" as the Buffaloes used a late flurry of birdies to catch and pass host New Mexico to win the Lobos' 69th Annual William H. Tucker Intercollegiate by one shot here Saturday.
Colorado is one of just three schools to play in all 69 Tuckers, and previously had finished second on four occasions before finally breaking through Saturday for a win. It was CU's first tournament win in stroke play since its own CU-Mark Simpson Invitational in 2019, though the Buffs did win Wyoming's Desert Match Play title last February.
The Buffaloes started the day in third place and 11 strokes out of the lead; they pulled to within three strokes of the Lobos through 11 holes, only to fall back again by five through 14. But the shotgun start was on CU's side, as all five designated scorers had two par-5's – Nos. 18 and 1 – ahead of them before wrapping their rounds, whereas four of UNM's players started on 1 and managed just one bird and had to count a bogey on 18. CU scored three birdies on No. 18 and four on No. 1, thus the seven-stroke swing late propelled the Buffaloes to the victory.
Colorado won with a 12-under par team score of 852, bolstered by recording a 2-under 286 in the final round, which was hampered by gusting winds at times, as CU was the only team to post a subpar team total. That bested UNM by 12 strokes on the day, thus the Lobos wrapped with an 853 total. Long Beach State nabbed third (861), with Grand Canyon and UNLV tying for fourth (866); the Rebels jumped six spots after turning in an even-par 288 for the final 18 holes, the only close to matching CU's performance. Twelve teams were 10 or more strokes on the unhappy side of par Saturday, with five of those 20 or more.
"What an incredible day by the guys," CU head coach
Roy Edwards said. "They competed so hard and so well. The conditions were more 'Tucker-like' than yesterday and the team responded wonderfully to the difficulty. There is no doubt experience helped today.
"This win is for every CU golf team member we have ever had – it is dedicated to all of our incredible golf alumni. It took 69 years to come here and win. In that time, Colorado has brought a lot of really good teams here and had never been able to get the job done, so it is very special to finally do it. The team could not be more excited, both in our long history of competing here but also in the way we were able to do it. It's special to see a group that truly enjoys team success more than their own individual ones and this is that type of group."
In fact, in the end the par-5 holes were the difference Saturday. CU played the four a combined 13-under par, whereas New Mexico did so at just 5-under; the Lobos were 26-under on the par-5's in the first two rounds. Both finished at 31-under for the tournament. As the winds increased that made the greens firmer, combined with the usual tougher pin locations for a final round, all but three holes played under par. The Buffs also made up ground on the Lobos by playing the eight toughest of those at 12-over compared to UNM's plus-15; on the three easiest, CU was 10-under to the Lobos' minus-6.
Individually, the Buffaloes placed two finishers in the top five in major tournaments for the 37th time in its history, and three players in the top 10 for the 31st time.
Senior
Dylan McDermott led the way for the Buffaloes with a third place finish, closing with a 2-under 70 for a 5-under 211 score on UNM's 7,546-yard, par-72 Championship Course. .....
"It was awesome, the whole team played really good," McDermott said. "It was fun to see everyone grind the whole day with the conditions and the way the course was playing. For our team to post an under-par round was definitely some of the best golf we've played in a while. It was exciting to see the whole team come together and everybody played a part in the win. The scores we've been dropping have been low ones, and that what you need to do to win.
"We met as a team last night and we looked at the what was expected with the wind, and Roy mentioned how, when that course gets windy, if we can keep it around even par, we can jump up spots," he added. "If we could do that, it would be possible to make up an 11-shot deficit, even on the home team, and he was 100 percent right.
"All week, I was mainly going for the fat side of greens, trying to give myself good looks on every hole and not really worrying about long the putts were," McDermott said of his own game. "I hit the driver good all week, hit a lot of fairways and didn't make any mistakes on the greens, just had one three-putt over the two days."
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Next up for the Buffs will be the 14th annual Mark Simpson-CU Invitational, which will be hosted by Colorado National Golf Club in Erie and is named for the school's previous head coach who led the program from 1977 until his death in 2005. Nineteen schools are entered in the Simpson, which will have two rounds on Monday, Sept. 30 and one on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
CONDOLENCES: This past Wednesday, the golf program, athletic department and the University of Colorado as a whole lost a longtime great donor and supporter when
Buz Koelbel passed away. His father, Walt, lettered four years in football at CU in the mid-40s and established permanent roots in the state. At Kansas, when he was the assistant coach, Edwards coached his son, Walt, on the Jayhawks' golf team.
"Our heart goes out to the Koelbel family for the loss of their beloved Buz," Edwards said. "Personally, Buz was a great friend of mine and donor to our program. Beyond that he and his wife, Sherri, are as great of set of parents as you could have in coaching as I was lucky to coach their son Walt at Kansas. Buz Koelbel is as generous and loyal Buff as there ever was. He will be greatly missed."
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