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| Golfers In Eighth At UCI Anteater Invitational Release: 03/25/2013 Courtesy: David Plati, Associate AD/Sports Information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. — The University of Colorado men’s golf team, hoping to keep the momentum going from its win in Oregon two weeks ago, struggled to an eighth place standing here Monday in the first rounds of the UC-Irvine Anteater Invitational. Long Beach State (ranked No. 85) and Cal State-Fullerton (No. 90) are tied for the lead with 17-over par 593 scores, so it’s not like any team is tearing it up; host and No. 77 UC-Irvine is in third, well within striking distance with a 597 score. Colorado is in eighth with a 38-over team score of 614. The Buffaloes, the highest ranked team competing here (No. 71 in the latest Golfweek rankings), won the Bandon Dunes Championship on March 10 in impressive fashion over several top 25 teams, but could not get much going in either round Monday. In fact, the five Buff golfers scored a season-worst 37 percent of their holes over par on the day. Assistant coach Jon Levy is coaching the team here, as head coach Roy Edwards is in Kansas City attending funeral services for his grandmother. “It was very disappointing after the tournament we just had, to turn around and play like this,” Levy said. “It’s a tale of two teams. The guys were primed to play well today, but I am scratching my head to figure out why this happened. On this course, if you “short-side” yourself, it’s almost impossible to make par (short siding is missing the shot on the side of the green where there is little to work with). There are a lot of humps and bumps on these greens, and trying to chip and pitch to the pin positions from where we were made for a long day.” Freshman Philip Juel-Berg was the only Buff to battle the 7,060-yard, par-72 El Niguel Country Club course to a draw, as he opened with an even-par 72 before carding a 78 in the afternoon for a 6-over 150 total, which has him tied for 15th place. He had four birdies and 10 pars against four bogeys in the first round, but was sidetracked by a triple bogey his second time around the course, when he managed just a single birdie with 12 pars and four bogeys. “It’s the kind of golf course where if you miss it on the wrong side of the hole, you’re almost always going to be in big trouble, and that’s basically what the guys did all day,” Levy said. “With the exception of Philip in the first round, who played an extremely solid round of golf, that was the story for everyone, including Philip in the second round.” “We didn’t eliminate the big mistakes today; when we’ve done that, we’ve played well,” he added. “We just had too many big numbers, too many mistakes, accumulated several penalty strokes and in the end, it cost us.” Senior Derek Fribbs and redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo are tied for 35th individually, both in with 11-over 155 totals. Fribbs turned in an 80-75 scorecard, with four birdies and 20 pars on the day (with 10 bogeys, a double and a triple), while Trujillo fashioned a 77-78 effort, with three birdies and 20 pars against 12 bogeys a double. Senior Jason Burstyn, who leads the team in stroke average with a 71.5 mark, had an uncharacteristic poor day, firing a 76-80—156 which has him tied for 40th; it was the first time he shot a score in the 80s in 46 rounds. While he did not have any truly disastrous holes (nothing over a bogey), he had only three birdies and 18 pars and made 15 bogeys. Sophomore David Oraee rounded out the CU performers, turning in an 83-78—161 effort, which has him tied for 57th. He had just one birdie and 18 pars overall for the day, with 16 bogeys and a double. Long Beach State’s Daniel Chin holds the individual lead, the only player who is in the red through 36 holes with a 1-under 143; UC-Irvine’s Travis Russell is a stroke behind with an even-par 144. The Buffs will readjust their attitude and see how many notches they can move up in the standings. “The positive is that this is also the kind of golf course that if you have a good round, you can leapfrog a lot of teams, and that’s our goal tomorrow is to go out and do just that,” Levy said. The final round of the tournament is set for Tuesday (midday), and then the Buffaloes will head up the coast to Palo Alto, where they will compete in the Stanford U.S. Intercollegiate (this Thursday through Saturday). BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
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from cubuffs.com