Souza, Buffs Gear Up To Host Pac-12 Championships

BOULDER — It's almost as if the golfing gods designed the circumstances.

On the last day that former Colorado golfer Jeremy Paul — one of the best players in CU history — played with the Buffs, he was overshadowed by one of his teammates.

Say hello to CU junior John Souza, whose parting gift to Paul was a final-round six-under 66 in The Maxwell last weekend in Edmond, Okla. It was not only the best round of Souza's collegiate career — and the best round by anyone at the highly competitive tournament — but also a round he and the rest of the Buffs hope will carry over into next week's Pac-12 Championships at Boulder Country Club.

The tournament starts with 36 holes on Friday, April 28, followed by 18 holes on each of the next two days.

"It definitely gave me confidence and also my teammates confidence in me going forward in the Pac-12s and NCAA play," Souza said at Wednesday's Pac-12 Media Day. "I haven't had the greatest spring. It hasn't been bad, but I needed a round like that."

Paul had a team-best 71.75 stroke average this spring, but it's not as if the Buffs will be decimated by his absence in next week's tournament. Ethan Freeman, Yannik Paul, Souza and Spencer Painton have all had solid, consistent springs — enough so that CU head coach Roy Edwards believes the Buffs could be contenders for the conference title, especially given the home course advantage.

"I really feel like there's a home course advantage anytime you play a golf course that you play quite a bit," Edwards said. "We have a talented group of guys that really have a chance to win the championship, to win and be competitive in the best golf league really in the world. We're very excited about that opportunity."

If Souza can follow up his last round with several more in that range, the Buffs could definitely be in the mix.

"I think momentum is absolutely huge," Souza said. "I had a stretch toward the end of the fall where I played well in the last tournament in the Gifford in Napa and then I played really well in the offseason. I feel like this could be that kind of same situation, where I just had a really solid finish in the tournament and now I can carry that momentum and hopefully improve on that this week and then going into NCAAs as well."

USC, ranked No. 1 in the nation, will come in as the favorite, but the Trojans are just one of five Pac-12 teams currently ranked in Golfweek's national top 25. The group also includes three-time defending champion and No. 8 Stanford, led by star Maverick McNealy, No. 10 Oregon, No. 22 Arizona State and the No. 25 Buffs.

The Buffs have spent as much time as possible playing at BCC in preparation for the championships.

"Besides my home course in Phoenix, this is probaby the course I know the second-best ever," Souza said. "It's really nice. Whenever you go and play one practice round at a course, you kind of get a feel for it but you don't know every little inch of it. BCC has been awesome to us, letting us play whenever we want this year in preparation for this tournament. It will be a huge advantage for us."

While Souza's closing round in The Maxwell was his best as a Buff, it wasn't particularly a big surprise to Edwards, who recruited the Arizona native out of South Mountain Community College after he played his freshman season there.

"John's always been one of those guys throughout his career who is a learner," Edwards said. "He consistently takes steps forward. He went from a good junior player to someone who became an All-American at the junior college level to a guy who was in and out of the lineup last year to a guy that was a solid player and had some key rounds for us to someone who has really played at a high level. He took that up another notch shooting the low round of the tournament against that field at the Maxwell."

Souza and his teammates know they will have to step up their game in Jeremy Paul's absence. But it's not something they believe is impossible if they all play to their ability. Freeman, Yannik Paul, Souza and Painton have all shot rounds in the 60s this spring, as has Ryan Schmitz, one of the possibilities for the sixth man in the lineup.

"John knows he has a role to step up and he's a leader on the team," Edwards said. "Just seeing him play that well, seeing every shot he hit that day, was something for him. I feel like this kind of golf is coming on but it hadn't been put together for 18 holes. It's a great sign for him."

BUFFS LINEUP: The tournament will see teams allowed to enter six players, with the top five scores counting. Edwards said his first five will be Freeman, Yannik Paul, Souza, Painton and Victor Bjorlow, with the sixth likely to be either Schmitz or Wilson Belk.

Freeman, a senior, is second on the team this spring with a 71.94 stroke average. Yannik Paul is right behind at 72.10, followed by Souza (73.32), Painton (73.96) and freshman Bjorlow (74.92).

ALTITUDE FACTOR: One big advantage for the Buffs will be that the other top teams competing in the tournament will have to adjust for altitude. Usually, the Buffs have to adjust their game because they play many of their tournaments near sea level.

Next week, those tables will be turned.

"There is a factor for sure," said Stanford coach Conrad Ray. "I'm sure there will be some adjustment there for us. It definitely plays into strategy and figuring out what those percentages are. I've never been to Boulder Country Club, but from all accounts, driving accuracy and finding the fairway is key. Being able to run those calculations and know what clubs to hit off tees and how to play out of the fairway will be at a premium."

The Buffs hope to take advantage of the altitude edge.

"We've got all of our carry distances, all of our numbers," Edwards said. "There's a lot of doglegs here at Boulder Country Club. They've got to figure out where they're going to hit those shots. There are places that we know you can be more aggressive here than others and they have to figure all that out. That's part of the home course advantage."

TOP INDIVIDUALS: The tournament will feature five of the nation's top 10 collegiate players in the Golfweek rankings, including No. 1 Wyndham Clark of Oregon, Stanford's McNealy (No. 3), USC's Sean Crocker (No. 4), Oregon's Norman Xiong (No. 8) and Cal's Collin Morikawa (No. 9).

The key, though, will be team depth.

"I think that's one of the most unheralded statistics in college golf, what the stroke averages are of your 4-5-6 guys," Stanford's Ray said. "If you have some good depth and you've worked hard throughout the year to develop those players, it does pay off this time of year for sure."

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu