Imperato Signs To Play Golf For Buffs

               BOULDER - First-year University of Colorado head coach Roy Edwards has signed his first recruit, as Michael Imperato of Westlake Village, Calif., has inked a letter-of-intent to attend CU beginning next fall.

               Imperato, a senior at Westlake High School, is currently ranked as 160th player in Golfweek's Junior Rankings, the 29th player in the state of California.  He owns a season tournament scoring average as a senior of 71.44 in national events played through last weekend.

               He has compiled an impressive amateur resume, for both American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) as well as International Junior Golf Tour (IJGT) events.  He won the 2005 Junior Tour Desert Classic (Rancho Mirage, Calif.) and the 2006 IJGT Ojai (Calif.) Valley event, as well as posting a pair of top 12 finishes in AGJA play, including a 10th place effort in the 2006 Mission Hills Desert Junior, where his final round 68 was the low round for the day.

               This past weekend, he tied for 41st in the AJGA ReBath Heather Farr Classic in Mesa, Ariz., with a 219 score; his final round, 1-over par 72 tied for the 16th best score for the last 18 holes.  He is not playing high school golf his senior year, instead choosing to participate in national junior events.

               He qualified for the 2004 United States World Junior Golf Cup team, which competed in St. Andrews, Scotland, as he recorded a 65 in regional qualifying in Long Beach and then a 74-72?146 performance in the national qualifier in Orlando.  He also was a member of the 2005 United States IJGT Team that also competed at St. Andrews.

               He had steadily improved his prep stroke average at Westlake, as he owned a 74.1 mark as a freshman, 73.5 as a sophomore and a 72.5 as a junior.

"We are all very excited to announce the addition of Michael Imperato to our university and golf program," Edwards said.  "He is one of the top players in Southern California, and has experience all over the world playing golf.  He is a great young man who represents everything that is right about college golf and the University of Colorado."

There has been only one other "first recruit" in the history of CU golf, at least with a full-time coach.  In 1977, the late Mark Simpson signed Steve Jones of Yuma High School from out east on the Colorado plains.  Jones went on to become an All-American for the Buffaloes and star on the PGA Tour, including a victory in the 1996 U.S. Open.