Golfers, Tolan Share Lead At Big 12 Championships

CU First & Second Round Scorecards

                HUTCHINSON, Kan.  - The last time the University of Colorado men's golf team was in the lead after two rounds of a conference championship, Lyndon Johnson was president and America had not yet landed on the moon.  That 41-year streak came to an end Monday as the Buffaloes are tied for the lead at the midway point of the 13th Annual Big 12 Conference championships. 

Colorado, ranked No. 47 by Golfweek, used an amazing run over the final 14 holes of Monday's second round to catch No. 1-ranked Oklahoma State at the top of standings.  Both schools ended the day with 21-over par 581 team scores, but the Buffs scored the best single team round of the tournament, a 3-over 283, the second time around the 6,701-yard, par-70 Prairie Dunes Country Club course.  CU was 12-over par as a  team after four holes, but came back to play the final 14 at 9-under par to zoom into a share of the lead.

No. 12 Texas A&M is in third (585), with No. 46 Baylor (590) and No. 15 Texas Tech (599) rounding out the top five.`

You have to go back to 1968 to find the last time Colorado led a conference meet after 36 holes.  That came in Boulder at Lake Valley Golf Club when the Buffs led Oklahoma State by three strokes.  CU held on to win by four, the last time a Buffalo team was crowned a league champion in golf.  That tournament was 54 holes; last year, the Big 12 expanded its championship to 72.

Due to heavy rains overnight, the start of the tournament was delayed for an hour, with the morning round played in wet conditions and the temperatures in the 40s.  As it warmed into the low 50s later in the day, the players had to contend with winds that gusted from 16 to 22 miles per hour.

No team came close to flirting with par in the first round, which saw OSU record the best score, a 13-over 293.  Five teams did break 300, including Colorado, which stood tied for fourth with Kansas at 298 through 18 holes.  Two players shot under par, but the 58 others in the field all were over, including 15 that scored 80 or higher with the average score the first time around the Prairie Dunes track a 77.2.

The Buffs were expecting and received great play from their senior tandem of Derek Tolan and Patrick Grady, who arguably are making a statement that they might be the best 1-2 senior punch in the conference if not the nation.  Tolan is tied for the lead here with Baylor's Bill Allcorn, the only players under par in the field with 1-under 139 totals; both put rounds of 68 and 71 in the books, except in reverse order.  Allcorn led the field after the first round, while Tolan's effort was one of three subpar rounds in the second round.

Texas A&M's Bronson Burgoon is alone in third, his afternoon 68 bringing him back to an even-par 140.  And then, lurking in fourth with a solid pair of 71s is Grady, his 2-over 142 matched by OSU freshman Morgan Hoffmann.

"It was one of those deals where you don't know how you're doing because the conditions of the course are so difficult," head coach Roy Edwards said  "The guys did a great job of plugging along and fighting, especially in the afternoon.  We didn't start all that well in the second round, we were 12-over par after four holes as a group and brought that back to just three over for the round.  When thinking about that, it was a phenomenal achievement, and that's the guys toughing it out, staying in the moment and doing something in the end that was pretty special." 

"We didn't want to over-think anything coming in, we came here to have fun, play and compete," Edwards added.  "We play in junk (bad weather) at home and at other places all year, so when we woke up and the wind was blowing 25 miles per hour in the exact opposite direction than the practice round, we actually embraced it.  We had discussed it in during practice here what the shots and targets would be if the opposite were to occur."

Tolan had eight birdies, 21 pars and seven bogeys as he played as consistent as anyone in the field.  He was 2-over after six holes in his second round, got it back down to even with two straight birdies, and then worked it to under par with two birdies on his final five holes.  He also moved into third place all-time at CU with his 145th and 146th rounds played.

"There's no doubt about it, I have a huge chip on my shoulder from my past play in the Big 12's, and I want to do something really big," Tolan said.  "This was a goal of mine from the start of the year was to play well in this tournament.  It was all the old clich's out there today, one hole at a time, stay in the present, don't let one bad hole become two or three.  Those were instrumental in playing well here today.  But that is the focus, play smart, do whatever I can do to play well and not worry about anyone else, the weather conditions, the course conditions.  That's what my focus has to be the next two days."

Tolan has never finished higher than 33rd in the league meet, and that came last year after he suffered a severe cut on a finger which left him at a bit of a disadvantage.  He was pretty proud of how his team rallied to finish the day.

 "It shows a lot for the guys and myself to plug along," he said. "It's no secret, it shows what you can accomplish when you don't worry about what happened in the past or on the last hole.  We talked about it, and we know if we play the way we are capable of and limit our mistakes, that we have the talent to hang with most teams out there.  The key now is not to get ahead of ourselves and not let our guard down, so we have to keep doing what we're doing.  Otherwise several teams in this field will zoom by us."  

Grady for his day saw him record an eagle, three birdies, 26 pars, five bogeys and one double bogey, the latter opening his second round on the par-3 No. 10.  He bogeyed No. 11 and thus was 3-over after just two holes, but quickly settled down to par his next 13 holes before scoring an eagle on the par-5 No. 7, the only eagle recorded on the hole in 120 rounds Monday.

 "They are great leaders, they lead by example with their toughness, and neither of them got too high or too low today, and it paid off," Edwards noted of his senior stars.

Freshman Kevin Kring answered the challenge in his first Big 12 effort, as after an opening 78, he came back with a 71, tying the second best score ever posted by a CU freshman in a conference championship.  His 149 total has him tied for 14th, enabling the Buffs to join Oklahoma State and Texas A&M with three players in the top 14.  He was 7-over after 10 holes, but settled down and played his next 26 holes at just 2-over.  He, too, opened slow in the afternoon, 4-over after just three, but had four birdies and a single bogey after that start to close the day.

Steve Jones owns the best freshman score by a Buffalo in a league title meet, a 70 in the 1978 Big 8 Championships; there were two other 71's, Rick Cramer in the '79 Big 8 meet and Kane Webber in the 2000 Big 12 event.

Junior Luke Symons tied the second best mark for stroke improvement from one round to the next in a conference championship, turning in an 85-73--158 scorecard that has him 49th in the standings.  That 12-stroke improvement is second only to the 14 strokes Jonathan Kaye recorded in the '91 Big 8 tournament, when he shot a final round 73 after a second round 87.

Most of Symons' troubles in the morning round came in a three hole stretch, where he scored quadruple, double and quintuple bogeys back-to-back-to-back, accounting for 11 of his 15 strokes over par.  After following those three with two more bogeys, to his credit after that run, he finished off the round with five straight pars.

"I talked to Luke after his fourth hole in the second round and told him to just try and get something going," Edwards said.  "He hadn't been playing all that bad, just a couple of rough patches, but we needed him to finish solid for us.  He was 18-over par on the day at that point, and he responded by playing out the rest of round even.  Most guys might have mentally checked out at that point, but he comes back and plays even and that was as important for us as anything."

                Freshman Johnny Widmer closed the day for the Buffaloes with a 78-81--159 performance, which has him tied for 50th.   He hung in there for the most part in his first experience at Prairie Dunes, scoring three birdies and 14 pars on the day, countering 16 bogeys and three doubles.  He started well with five straight pars, and had better success on the front nine on the day, playing those holes at 6-over, compared to 13-over on the back side.

 "We're going to try and just keep doing what we're doing, and that is doing what we have control over," Edwards said heading into Tuesday.  "That worked well for us today so we have to keep that focus."

The third round is set for Tuesday morning, with the final round slated for Wednesday.  Colorado will be paired with Oklahoma State and Texas A&M for the third round, going off the No. 1 tee between 7:50 and 8:30 a.m. MDT.  Live scoring is available at www.golfstat.com.

The last time CU was in serious contention heading into the final round to win a league title came in 1981, when the Buffs trailed OSU by one shot heading into the final round; the Cowboys went on to defeat the Buffs by seven shots.  That team featured Jones, a future U.S. Open winner, and that year's Big Eight champion, Terry Kahl.

 BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS                                                                                   

   T1.  Derek Tolan................................. 71-68--139

   T4.  Patrick Grady............................... 71-71--142

T14.  Kevin Kring.................................. 78-71--149

  49.  Luke Symons............................... 85-73--158

T50.  Johnny Widmer............................ 78-81--159

 TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS

     1.  Derek Tolan, Colorado.................. 71-68--139

     1.  Bill Allcorn, Baylor.......................... 68-71--139

     3.  Bronson Burgoon, Texas A & M......... 72-68--140

     4.  Patrick Grady, Colorado................ 71-71--142

     4.  Morgan Hoffman, Oklahoma State...... 71-71--142

 

 TEAM SCORES

  1.  Oklahoma State........................... 293-288--581

  1.  COLORADO............................... 298-283--581

  3.  Texas A&M................................. 301-284--585

  4.  Baylor........................................ 297-293--590

  5.  Texas Tech................................. 295-304--599

  6.  Kansas....................................... 298-306--604

  7.  Kansas State.............................. 304-301--605

  8.  Texas......................................... 303-305--608

  9.  Oklahoma................................... 310-301--611

10.  Nebraska.................................... 319-293--612

11.  Iowa State.................................. 306-308--614

12.  Missouri..................................... 310-307--617