KOHALA COAST, Hawai'i — The University of Colorado men’s golf team had its best round in three tries here Friday in the Amer Ari Mauna Lani Invitational, but still dropped one spot to finish 15th in the final standings.
No. 2 Stanford outdueled Pacific-10 Conference counterparts No. 12 Washington and No. 29 Oregon for the victory. Trailing by two strokes entering the final round, the Cardinal used a 2-under final round score of 286 to overtake the Huskies in winning with an 866 team score. Washington and Oregon tied for second at 869, with No. 8 Texas claiming fourth (870) and top-ranked Oklahoma State fifth (871).
The Buffaloes held their own against most of the field, which included six top 10 teams and 13 in the nation’s top 29, though in the end did not defeat any of them after being in position to do so in the first major tournament of the spring. CU shot a 5-over 293 to finish with a 903 score, but should have posted a score some 20 strokes lower if eliminating the simpler mistakes according to coaches.
Sophomore Kevin Kring led the Buffaloes from wire-to-wire, closing with an even-par round Friday for a 222 total on the 6,913-yard, par 72 Mauna Lani North Course, tying him for 40th. He was pretty steady throughout the round, with 14 pars, two birdies and two bogeys, one of which unfortunately was his last hole of the tournament. He actually played the front 2-under, climbing back briefly into the tournament’s top 20, and then the back side 2-over.
Senior Justin Bardgett turned in CU’s best round of the tournament with a 3-under 69, giving him a 224 total to tie for 50th. CU’s fall stroke average leader with a 71.86 figure, fifth-best for a fall in school history, opened with rounds of 77 and 78 but came back with a bogey-free round Friday as he scored three birdies and the rest all pars.
Junior Michael Imperato was undone by a pair of double bogeys en route to a final round 75 and 228 score, tying him for 61st. He had three birdies, 11 pars and two bogeys otherwise. One of the doubles came late, on No. 9 (he started on 11), the middle of a three-hole stretch he played 8-over for the week; otherwise he was just 4-over the other 45 holes.
Sophomore Sebastian Heisele closed with a 77 and freshman Derek Fribbs with a 79, the pair both with 233 totals for the 54 holes, tying for 77th in the 120-man standings. Heisele had 12 holes of par (nine) or better (three birdies), with four bogeys and two doubles; Fribbs had 12 pars and a birdie with three bogeys, but was hurt mostly by a double and triple.
“We played better, even though we didn’t get off to the start we wanted,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “Justin and Kevin played pretty solid all day, but the other three guys were kind of rocky from the start. But overall, we were much happier with today’s round. For the third straight day, we lost a lot of shots to things we just aren’t doing well; easy shots. What’s encouraging is that we made easy but correctible mistakes and we were still competitive with many of the top teams in the country.
“The mistakes are in small part due to how much we were able to practice, but more so due to our inexperience.” Edwards continued. “Simple stuff can save us 15-18 strokes over three rounds. For example, we had 20 three putts and 10 to 12 of those were uncalled for. Another would be where we hit the ball approaching par-5s, often on the wrong side of the green. So hopefully we can clean those things up pretty quick and start beating some of these teams in the near future, starting a week from Sunday. We did represent well in this kind of field, we’ve now shaken the rust off, and we’ll come back next week with another chance.”
The Buffaloes resume action at the end of next week, traveling to Newport Beach, Calif., for the Battle at the Beach, February 14-16.
T40. Kevin Kring................................... 71-79-72—222
T50. Justin Bardgett........................... 77-78-69—224
T61. Michael Imperato........................ 77-76-75—228
T77. Sebastian Heisele....................... 79-77-77—233
T77. Derek Fribbs................................ 79-75-79—233
1. Bobby Hudson, Texas................. 70-73-66—209
2. Brooks Koepka, Florida State..... 73-72-65—205
3. Kevin Tway, Oklahoma State .... 72-68-72—212
4. Nick Taylor, Washington............ 70-71-72—213
4. Sihwan Kim, Stanford................. 72-70-71—213
1. Stanford................................... 297-283-286—866
2. Washington............................. 291-287-291—869
3. Oregon..................................... 291-290-288—869
4. Texas....................................... 297-292-281—870
5. Oklahoma State...................... 299-285-287—871
6. Georgia Tech........................... 304-291-282—877
7. Texas Tech.............................. 296-298-287—881
8. UCLA....................................... 288-301-296—885
9. Southern California................. 293-301-292—886
10. Arizona State........................... 313-298-278—889
10. Florida State............................ 306-302-281—889
12. Oregon State........................... 302-298-294—894
13. San Francisco......................... 312-294-290—896
14. TCU.......................................... 310-297-293—900
15. COLORADO............................. 304-306-293—903
16. UC-Davis................................. 306-306-292—904
17. San Jose State........................ 308-318-287—913
18. Hawai'i..................................... 311-302-310—923
19. Sonoma State......................... 331-306-299—936
20. Rhode Island............................ 324-311-304—939
21. Hawai'i-Hilo............................. 316-328-305—949
22. CSU-East Bay.......................... 316-340-313—969
