Buffs Drop First Round At Match Play Championships
By David Plati
Assistant AD/Media Relations
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - The University of Colorado men's golf team dropped its first round match here Friday in the inaugural Hooters Collegiate Match Play Championships, falling to No. 2 seed Augusta, 4-1.
The Buffaloes were ahead in four matches and all square in the fifth in a first round consolation match with Washington, but play was suspended late Friday due to darkness.
The pet project of CU head coach Mark Simpson during his recently completed two-year stint as president of the Golf Coaches Association of America, the top 16 teams from last May's NCAA Championship Finals were invited to participate. All 16 accepted the invitations to compete in the prestigious event at the 7,145-yard, par 71 Dye Course at Barefoot Resort.
Seven of the top eight seeds won, as only No. 16 seed North Carolina State pulled an upset, defeating reigning NCAA champion Minnesota.
Colorado was dealt a blow when senior captain Stephen Carroll fell ill early Friday morning. "He was sicker than a dog in the morning," Simpson said. "We thought it could have been food poising, but that was ruled out and it's probably a viral infection." Carroll felt much better and gave it a go in the afternoon, toughing it in leading Washington's John Roberston (2-up) after 13 holes.
But in match play, Carroll's coming down sick threw a monkey wrench into Simpson's coaching strategy. "With Steve being sick, it screwed up our whole strategy," he said. "I wanted to pair him, being a senior, with a freshman so they could feed off each other. But that went out the window, and two freshmen had to play together, and once a couple of things went wrong, it just snowballed from there. But if Steve had been able to play, it would have at the very least been a much closer match."
Junior Jeff Hanson won CU's only match in the morning, topping Augusta's Emmett Turner 3 and 1. Freshman Edward McGlasson had a solid day, despite losing his opening match to Oliver Wilson 4 and 3. "Edward played a three-time All-American and held his own for a while, and in the afternoon, came back from three down early to get one up on another exceptional player before darkness called things," Simpson said of his young freshman battling UW's Brock Mackenzie.
"This is really a neat format, the guys are enjoying themselves and this kind of experience for the freshmen is invaluable," Simpson added. "Plus, there is a team pride thing, because it's our team against your team, as opposed to the team against the whole field. And being a Pete Dye course, one of his best ones in my opinion, it's a good match play course. You can get penalized severely if you leave the course, so you have to manage your game even more carefully because you can't always count on making par out of the gunk."
If Colorado holds on to defeat Washington, it will advance into the consolation winner's bracket against the winner of Georgia Tech and Tulsa, which the Golden Hurricanes held a similar advantage as the Buffaloes with about a third of the holes left to play. The tournament is double-elimination, so any loss at this point will send the buffs back to Boulder with their fall season complete.
(2) Augusta 4, (15) Colorado 1
Match #1--Oliver Wilson (AG) def. Edward McGlasson, 4 and 3;
Match #2--Jeff Hanson (CU) def. Emmett Turner, 3 and 1;
Match #3--Jay Haas (AC) def. Michael Feuerstein, 8 and 7;
Match #4--Scott Jamieson (AC) def. Ryan Anderson, 9 and 7;
Match #5--Kalle Edberg (AC) def. Derek O'Neill, 5 and 4.
Other First Round Results:
(1) Clemson def. (16) Purdue, 3-2; (3) Texas def. (14) Tulsa, 4-1; (8) Oklahoma State def. (9) Toledo, 3?-1?; (6) TCU def. (11) Georgia Tech, 3?-1?; (5) Arizona def. (12) Pepperdine, 3-2; (7) Florida def. (10) Washington, 4-1; (16) North Carolina State def. (4) Minnesota, 2?-2? (won tiebreaker, 9-7).
Consolation Round
(15) Colorado vs. (10) Washington
Match #1--Edward McGlasson (CU) leads Brock Mackenzie, 1-up through 12
Match #2--Jeff Hanson (CU) vs. Dan Potter, all square through 12
Match #3--Stephen Carroll (CU) leads John Robertson, 2-up through 13
Match #4--Ryan Anderson (CU) leads Corey Prugh, 3-up through 13
Match #5--Derek O'Neill (CU) leads Conner Robbins, 1-up through 13