ALBUQUERQUE — The University of Colorado men’s golf team is wedged in the middle of the standings of the 68th annual New Mexico William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, as the Buffaloes are in 11th place after two rounds were completed here Monday.
Texas Tech owns a slim two-stroke lead over host New Mexico, as the Red Raiders posted an 18-under par 558 team score while the Lobos are in at 16-under 560. Several are within striking distance, as San Francisco (562), San Diego State (563) Nevada-Las Vegas (567) and Long Beach State (568) are also within 10 strokes.
The Buffaloes had a team score of 1-over 577, good for 11th place, but seven strokes out of seventh in the deep 20-team field. Colorado was 11th after the first round, when its four scorers posted a 2-over 290 team total; they improved three strokes in the afternoon (1-under 287), which was the average second round score in the field.
Junior Justin Beaver led the CU attack on Monday, scoring a pair of subpar rounds with a 69-71—140 scorecard (4-under par), which has him tied for 12th. He had two similar rounds, with three birdies and two bogeys in each; the difference was in the morning, when he recorded an eagle on the 544-yard par-5 1st hole as compared to scoring a par in the afternoon. Otherwise he had 12 pars each time around the 7,546-yard, par-72 UNM Championship Course.
Sophomore Hunter Swanson is tied for 25th after fashioning a 73-70—143 (1-under par), as he settled down after a rough start which saw him bogey two of his first three holes; he was 3-over through 14, but closed his first round by going birdies-bogey-eagle-par on holes 7 through 10. Then the second time attacking the course, he recorded eight birdies in the afternoon to counter four bogeys and an unfortunate double late in the round, though he did come back with two more birdies by the end of his round. His nine birdies overall Monday were the most by a Buff and tied for 12th in the 104-man field, highlighted by making birdies on all four par-5s in the afternoon.
Junior Dylan McDermott is tied for 42nd after recording a 1-over 71-74—145 effort; in the morning, he made par on his first three and last three holes, while in-between he recorded five birdies, CU’s high for the round, with four bogeys and three other pars. The second time around the UNM track he mustered just two birds against four bogeys with 12 pars. He did his most damage Monday on the par-5s, which he collectively played at 5-under par.
Junior Frederik Eisenbeis and freshman Brandon Knight are tied for 78th with identical 77-73—150 (6-over) scorecards, though each arrived at that total in different fashions.
Eisenbeis had eight birdies, second-most by a Buff on Monday, with 16 pars opposite 10 bogeys and two doubles. He was 3-over after opening his day with a bogey-double, but eventually got back to even after 10 holes. But a double on No. 3 put him back on the unhappy side of par for the round, and he added three bogeys before starting his second trip around the course. This time, he was 2-under after birdies on two of his first four holes, eventually see-sawing between 1- and 2-over before he birdied the par-5 9th hole and a par on 10 to finish 1-over.
Knight opened his day on No. 11 by going bogey-birdie-double-birdie-par double before settling down with six straight pars en route to his opening 77. He started with back-to-back bogeys in round two, but got back to even when he eagled the 360-yard, par-4 15th hole. He followed his roughly 300-yard drive with a wedge shot that found the hole; it was the only eagle on that hole Monday. He hovered the rest of the round between being even and 1-under until he bogeyed his final hole of the day.
Texas Tech’s Tyran Snyders holds the individual lead entering the final round, as he is in with a 9-under scorecard of 67-68—135; that leads four players who are tied for second two off his lead.
“The guys competed well despite not having our best today,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “Justin, in particular, did a really good job all day of doing that. A little better in the afternoon and cut down on big numbers, but we were just held back by letting some shots go on and around the greens. We expect a good round tomorrow.”
The third and final round is set for Tuesday morning with a 7:45 a.m. shotgun start; four Buffs will be paired with four Wyoming Cowboys starting on holes 14 and 15; Biwer will start on 13 with the top players from Kansas State, USC and Wyoming in his foursome.
NOTES: Colorado and New Mexico State are the only schools to join host New Mexico in playing in all 68 Tucker events, dating back to 1955; the Buffaloes have never won it but have finished second four times, last in 2012 … Knight is playing in his first college meet as a designated scorer; he set a record playing as an individual in the Maui Jim Individual two weeks ago when he turned in a 10-under par 69-70-67—206 scorecard, both the best gross score and well as score in relation to par for a Buffalo playing in their first college event … The average score Monday for the two rounds was 73.17 (73.47 in the morning, 72.87 in the afternoon); 33 players are currently under par with eight others in at even through 36 holes … The Buffs are tied for third in eagles (3), are 10th in birdies (35) and tied for 15th in pars (98) … Colorado players already have five eagles in 49 rounds this season (16 in 253 rounds last year); the team record is 26 in 262 rounds in 2017-18 … The Buffs are playing the par-5 holes here tied for the third-best in the field at 21-under; they’re 12th on the par-4s (12-over) and tied for 15th on the par-3s (14-over) … Biwer now has five subpar scores in as many rounds to open the season, with his 45 all-time fourth-most in the CU record book … The Buffaloes will return to action in a week, hosting the 13th annual Mark Simpson-CU Invitational at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie (next Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 2-3).
2023-09-26 03:03:15
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