The University of Colorado men’s golf team moved up from fourth place in Tuesday’s final round to finish second overall at the 3rd Annual Mark Simpson-CU Invitational in Erie, Colo.
(CU Independent Graphic/ Illustration by Josh Shettler)
The Buffs finished with an overall team score of 843 for the tournament, just two strokes away from first-place finishers Oregon State University. The Beavers won the tournament with a score of 6-under 282 in the final round, finishing 21-under par overall, while the Buffs’ final-round score was 31-under par 275. That score tied CU’s third-best single round in school history.
The team’s strong effort on Tuesday propelled them past both the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Colorado State University, which held the second and third-place spots after Monday’s second round.
At the beginning of the third round, it didn’t look like the Buffs would move up the rankings as most players were scoring around par. The team was able to gain momentum after the sixth hole though, with four players scoring a total 13-under par for the last 12 holes.
The Buffs were led by senior Derek Fribbs, who finished third overall at 6-under 210, and sophomore David Oraee, who finished tied for seventh at even-par 216. Junior Johnny Hayes, who led the Buffs going into Tuesday’s final round, finished ninth overall at 5-under 211.
Senior Jason Busrtyn, who led the Buffs at both the Ballyneal Challenge and the Air Force Invitational earlier this season, had an off-day on Tuesday and tied for 52nd overall. Burstyn finished 4-over 76 in the final round, good enough for a 6-over 222 total score.
Colorado head coach Roy Edwards told the CU Sports Information Department that he was happy with the Buffs’ performance on Tuesday despite Burstyn’s mistakes.
“Today, we got a little mojo going … without our best player scoring as well as he’s capable of,” Edwards said. “Oregon State’s got a really good team, so we were pleased that we were able to push them at the end.”
The Buffs compete next on the road, taking on 14 teams at the Tucker Invitational in Albequerque hosted by the University of New Mexico. The first 36 holes of the tournament are scheduled for Friday and the final 18 for Saturday.
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Caryn Maconi at Caryn.maconi@colorado.edu.
