Golfers In Ninth At The Maxwell

                ARDMORE, Okla. - The University of Colorado men's golf team, playing in its final meet of the season, is in ninth place after the first two rounds of The Maxwell were completed here Saturday.

                No. 1 Oklahoma State and host No. 25 Oklahoma are tied for the lead with 15-under par team scores of 545, with No. 6 Augusta State and No. 32 Tulsa just one stroke back.  Colorado is in ninth at 573, or 13-over par, but can take some solace in the fact that it is hanging in there with three freshmen and a sophomore in a tournament with four top seven and seven top 30 teams.

                The meet is serving as an experiment for a potentially new scoring format for college golf in the future.  Instead of the standard low four out of five player scores counting for the team total, it is being computed by adding the low four scores on each hole over the course of a round to figure the total.  The format here was already unique, in that entire teams play together in fivesomes.  It is a strategy to help those teams who qualified for the NCAA's to get maximum opportunities and on-course instruction from their coaches.

                This is Colorado's final tournament of the 2004-05 season, as the Buffaloes just missed out on being selected for NCAA Regional play.  With that in mind, the CU coaches approached The Maxwell as a way to get some of the younger players some quality tournament experience.

                Though the Buffs did not qualify as a team, junior Edward McGlasson, CU's stroke average leader at 73.1, was selected to play in the NCAA Central Regional next week in South Bend, Ind.  He shot rounds of 77 and 73 for a 150 total on the 6,453-yard, par-70 Dornick Hills Country Club course.

                Redshirt freshman Jim Grady paced the Buffs on Saturday, as he had rounds of 71 and 74 for a 5-over 145 total to stand tied for 22nd individually.  True frosh Shea Sena matched Grady's 71 in the afternoon for a 150 total to tie for 40th along with McGlasson.  Another true freshman, Patrick Grady (Jim's younger brother) is in at 73-78?151, with sophomore Ryan Anderson rounding out the action for CU with a 78-80?158.

                With head coach Mark Simpson back in Boulder recovering from treatment to remove a blood clot from his left leg, assistant coach Brad Neher accompanied the team to Oklahoma.

                "Jim really battled all day long; he didn't play great, he didn't play bad, but as a testament to his attitude and composure, he made some putts he needed to make for par and made some great shots when he had to as well," Neher said.  "So he's at 145 because of his attitude and concentration."  Grady's 71 bettered his previous career best by one shot, and it was a steady round that included 15 pars.

                "Patrick was on the verge of his best tournament, but he had a couple of bad shots and a few putts that just rimmed out.  He was under par early in the first round but finished bad, and then started right away with a double bogey in the second.  But he gathered himself in, and then it was heartbreak central with a lot of putts coming oh-so-close for a bunch of holes in a row.  He hung in there tough too, and the brothers did a good job of that."  The younger Grady's 73 in the morning was tainted by the fact he finished his last three holes at 4-over par, including a triple bogey.

                "Edward got out of the gate poorly; he was 5-over through nine and then settled down," Neher said of CU's No. 1 man.  "He just wasn't putting very good today.  There was nothing fundamentally wrong, he just wasn't seeing what he needed to visualize.  He should be able to correct that fairly easily."

                "It's hard to tell (about the new format)," Neher said.  "We've had a bunch of apples all year, and now they throw an orange at you.  It's kind of fun, but it really depends whether we have to do this or not before I formulate an opinion.  It keeps everyone in it for every hole, so in that respect, it's good.  But in the respect of finding your best team, I don't know if this will work or not."

                "I liked what I saw, if a few things went right.  We had two bad holes each round, No. 1 and No. 13, absolutely crushed us.  We were plus 6 on No. 1 and plus-7 on No. 13, so that's 13-over on two holes.  They're good holes into the wind, and we just didn't play the when we should have and that sets the tone for the whole round."

                "This is great experience for those three guys," Neher said of the Anderson and Grady brother trio, which collectively had just 26 rounds between them in tournament play this year.

                Tulsa's Mitch Cohlmia is the individual leader by one stroke, as he posted a 69-66?135 scorecard Saturday.  Big 12 champion Anthony Kim of Oklahoma holds down second (66-70?136) as six players are within five strokes of the lead.

The final round of the tournament is set for Sunday morning, with tee times commencing at 7 a.m. mountain time.  Simpson will know Monday if he will be able to accompany McGlasson to South Bend.

Buffalo Individuals

T22. Jim Grady........... 71-74--145

T40. Edward McGlasson.... 77-73--150

T40. Shea Sena........... 79-71--150

T46. Patrick Grady....... 73-78--151

T60. Ryan Anderson....... 78-80--158

Team Scores

 1. Oklahoma........... 268-267--545

 1. Oklahoma State..... 265-270--545

 3. Augusta State...... 267-269--546

 3. Tulsa.............. 262-274--546

 5. Georgia............ 266-276--552

 6. SMU................ 273-273--556

 7. Auburn............. 274-273--557

 8. Penn State......... 288-278--566

 9. COLORADO........... 289-284--573

10. Texas-Arlington.... 290-292--582

11. Oklahoma City...... 293-292--585