#34 ranked CU started the Big 12 Championships yesterday, and after a
solid 2 round day, sat in 4th place at +21. With today's action just started (teams showing 0-2 holes played), they're now tied for 3rd with TCU.
With almost 1/2 the tourney left, anything can still happen, but after yesterday it looks like the 2 highest ranked conference teams (#5 ASU and #4 OSU) may be hard to catch, as they already sit 20 and 16 strokes ahead of 3rd place CU. (Conversely, the Buffs are only 15 strokes ahead of the TWELFTH place team.)
Cool that, per the article linked to below, "ESPN+ will provide coverage on the final day (April 24, 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. MDT) with Ryan Burr and Carl Paulson on site".
Go Buffs!
The Buffs chosen to participate in the tourney are -
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Preview article (from late Monday) -
https://cubuffs.com/news/2025/4/21/mens-golf-golfers-ready-for-return-to-big-12-championships
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Golfers Ready For Return To Big 12 Championships
Play Starts Tuesday With 36 Holes at Southern Hills In Tulsa
By:
David Plati, SID-Emeritus/Athletic Historian
book, among the most impressive accomplishments including nine top five tournament finishes – one win, six runner-up efforts, one third place and one fifth.
"Obviously, a really good season to date," said head coach
Roy Edwards. "We started playing eight-and-a-half months ago, we had high aspirations, and here we are. We thought going in that
Justin (
Biwer) and
Dylan (
McDermott) would be our two best players, and indeed that's who they are. Both have had tremendous seasons to date, but a lot of guys behind them have really stepped up, some at different times than others.
"This team has several strengths, depth obviously, but competitiveness is definitely our number one strength," he continued. "I don't like the term peaking, what we are always trying to do is to get better, better than the day before. And that's something this team have really embraced and thus has done. They have all had open minds and have been very coachable. And I believe that can continue for another six weeks, as this has been another strength of ours."
When asked if six runner-up finishes is viewed as always the bride's maid and seldom the bride, Edwards couldn't disagree more.
"We have a played a tough schedule – of course you'd like to win tournaments, especially in the postseason, but you don't have any control over how the people in front of you play," he said. "It's not like we can play some sort of defense like in football or basketball. You have control over your own games and you see how it works out in the end. I'm never going to leave a tournament where I don't think second place wasn't a good effort. In team golf, if you finish second – or third, sometimes lower – there are often a lot of quality wins. So, you may not have won, but who did you beat? We've beaten a lot of good teams. It's like being a 15-2 NFL team, and you still get home field advantage."
The Buffaloes have used seven different line-ups in 10 stroke play events this season, and will go with the same five players they designated for scoring the last time out in Tulsa: seniors Biwer, McDermott and
Tucker Clark, junior
Hunter Swanson and sophomore
Ty Holbrook (who is one of the nation's most improved players).
Does using that many different lineups attest to the depth of the Buffaloes?
"It does. It shows that the guys are working hard at home, everyone is staying it mentally and physical until the end of the year," Edwards said. "That's enabled
Derek (associated head coach)
Tolan and I to play who has the hot hand at that the moment. And that's a real luxury."
While all 10 players on the roster have contributed in several ways over the course of the year, CU's two prominent seniors – both of whom have been nominated for CU's Male Athlete of the Year, a rarity for two from one sport – have been the heart and soul of the team. They have literally been mirrored images of each other for four years. The duo rank 1-2 in may season and career categories, and at present for the season are separated by just four strokes.
"The closest I've seen at CU would be Derek and Pat Grady (in 2008-09)," Edwards recalled. "They were tied on the last hole of the regional and Derek made birdie and Pat bogey – and Derek beat him two strokes for the year. Jeremy and Yannik Paul were a little similar. But what Justin and Dylan have done for four years here is a rarity. They are two elite players, and it's rare that there are two guys this good on the same team for the same period of time, for sure."
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The coaches like the makeup of the six players representing CU in its return to the Big 12 -- three seniors, one junior, two sophomores.
"There's a lot of experience in our lineup, so that's obviously something that will help," Edwards noted. "You absolutely have to have experience when you go to places like Southern Hills. Course such as Southern take a lot of patience, and you really have to be disciplined as a golfer and be able to adjust and adapt. I feel very comfortable with the group that we are taking there, and I expect everyone to play."
The teams will begin play Tuesday with 36 holes, followed by 18 each on Wednesday and Thursday at Southern Hills Country Club, the site of many PGA, LPGA and U.S. Amateur events through the years. It will play to 7,556 yards but to only a par-70, despite Tulsa being just around 725 feet above sea level. Edwards is quite familiar with the course, though it was renovated with several changes in 2018.
"I've probably been around Southern Hills 30 times, first as a kid and have played it as an adult," he said. "But it's a totally different golf course, as they completed a total makeover a few years ago. They really opened it up, there are fewer trees, added fairway chipping runoffs and overall made it more difficult than it was in the past. No doubt that par will be good score on almost every hole."
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Article after yesterday's action -
https://cubuffs.com/news/2025/4/22/mens-golf-golfers-in-fourth-at-midway-point-of-big-12-s
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Golfers In Fourth At Midway Point of Big 12's
McDermott Leading The Way In Tie For Sixth
By:
David Plati, SID-Emeritus/Athletic Historian
TULSA — The University of Colorado men's golf team made its return to some former roots here Tuesday, finishing the day in fourth place in the 28th Annual Big 12 Championships, the Buffs first appearance in the event since a 13-year hiatus in the Pac-12.
The nation's fourth- and fifth-ranked teams have separated from the pack for now, with No. 4 Arizona State owning the lead at the midway point with a 1-over par 561 team total, while No. 5 Oklahoma State is four back at 5-over 565. No. 54 TCU holds third (20-over 560), followed by No. 34 Colorado in fourth (21-over 581) and No. 40 Houston (22-over 582) to round out the top five.
The Buffaloes were in a five-way tie for fourth after the morning round with a 15-over 295 tally, as Arizona State was the only team under par with a 3-under 277. That led Oklahoma State by nine strokes. Colorado got off to a sluggish start, scoring nine bogeys before its first birdie, and fluctuated between 11th and 13th place for a while before a few birdies zoomed it up into the top five late in the first round. CU's 6-over 286 then stood as the fourth-best posting by itself for the second round.
Going in, head coach
Roy Edwards said that par would be a good score on most, if not all holes. That certainly proved to be the case, as birdies were few and far between but the Buffs for the most part avoided big numbers on the 7,556-yard, par-70 Southern Hills Country Club course (that's correct: 7,556 yards playing to a par-70 at 725 feet of altitude, a recipe for higher numbers for all).
In fact, all holes with the exception of the 632-yard, par-5 13th averaged over par Tuesday. The Buffs more or less held their own on the seven toughest (in order, Nos. 18, 8, 9, 10, 3, 7 and 15): CU played those at 18-over; Okie State played them the best at 12-over, while ASU did so at 15-over and TCU at 20-over.
Senior
Dylan McDermott paced the Buffaloes here Tuesday, as he is tied for sixth, recording a 2-over 74-68—142 scorecard. After opening with a rare birdie-free 4-over 74, his highest score of the year, he came right back with a 2-under 68, one of just 11 subpar rounds all day. He worked his way into the red quickly in the second round, scoring a 3 on the 500-yard, par-4 2nd hole, and made the turn at 2-under after a birdie on No. 9. He then held steadfast down the stretch, closing with five pars and a birdie. It was the fourth time this year he shaved six or more strokes in the second round from his first round effort. He had three birdies and a team-high 28 pars and only five bogeys overall, while playing the par-5's even and both the par-3's and par-4's at 1-over.
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"Overall a nice day, Edwards said. "The guys did a really good job of staying patient and engaged despite it being a very long day at the course and playing a world-class championship venue like Southern Hills, which is quite possibly the greatest site in modern championship golf.
"Dylan had a wonderful day and a tremendous afternoon round. Arizona State and Oklahoma State are up there right now, and it is tightly packed all around us, but if we focus on ourselves tomorrow we can move up the board and see if we can get into the mix on Thursday."
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The third round is slated for Wednesday; Colorado will be paired with the leaders – Arizona State, Oklahoma State and TCU –and will tee off in 12-minute intervals on No. 1 beginning at 7 a.m. MDT. The fourth and final round is set to get underway at 6 a.m. mountain time.
NOTES: While sunny skies prevailed all day, winds prevailed much of the day, gusting at times to 15-20 miles per hour … Overall, nine of the nation's top 50 (13 of the top 75) with 28 of the top 150 individuals are competing here (14 of the top 50) …
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Link to live leaderboard -
https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/233986/scoring/team
