No. 10 Texas A&M Tops Buffs In Dual, 3-2

            HUTCHINSON, Kan. -The University of Colorado men's golf team traveled here for a rare old school dual match competition that served two purposes, though the Buffaloes dropped a close 3-2 decision to No. 10-ranked Texas A&M, 3-2 here Easter Sunday.

           The match was held at Prairie Dunes Golf Club, site of next month's NCAA Championship Finals (May 23-28).  Though often the site when both schools were members of the Big 12, the last time it was held there when both were in the conference was in 2011; no current Buffalo had played a college meet on the course and likely no Aggie has either.

          It also served as the final tune-up for both ahead of each school's conference championship; the Buffaloes will leave Wednesday for Tucson for the Pac-12 Championships, which run Friday through Sunday.   The Aggies also leave the same day for the SEC meet which is in St. Simon, Ga., also on the identical weekend days.

          The format was a standard 18 hole match play; the Buffaloes got wins from freshman Jeremy Paul (2 and 1 over Greg Yates) and sophomore Philip Juel-Berg (1 up over Ben Crancer).  Junior David Oraee lost a close match to Andrew Lister (2 and 1), while freshman Ethan Freeman dropped a similar decision to Adria Arnaus.  The other match saw A&M's Johannes Veerman defeat sophomore Drew Trujillo, 5 and 3.

          "It was a highly competitive match that came down to the last hole," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "Ethan (Freeman) lipped out a long birdie putt that would have had the match end in a halve and the Texas A&M kid made about a three-and-a-half foot putt to gain the full point in the match."  

        "We were certainly disappointed we didn't win, but the result easily could have gone the other way," Edwards said. "Jeremy really played well after being two down early, and Philip was in a great nip-and-tuck match.  Drew actually played pretty well and much better than the result indicated (his opponent, Veerman, shot 67).  David had a lot of good moments and did a great job fighting back in his match.  Ethan was in a good position after playing solid, he just couldn't quite get over the hump."  

         "Either way, the match served its main purpose as being a great preparation for the Pac-12 for us and the SEC for Texas A&M," Edwards concluded."We are excited to head to Tucson on Wednesday."

NOTES: Edwards has set his lineup for the Pac-12 Championship, which will again be a 72-hole tournament over three days, with 36 holes Friday followed by 18 on Saturday and the final 18 on Sunday at the 7,349-yard, par 72 Gallery Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz. - The scoring format is a"six-for-five," where six players compete, with the low five scorers each round counting toward the team score; it's CU's first such one this season - Edwards will be taking three freshmen to Tucson, the identical Paul wins, Jeremy and Yannik, and Ethan Freeman, junior David Oraee and sophomores Philip Juel-Berg and Drew Trujillo - This will be just the second time in school history that three freshman will compete in a conference meet; the other time was in 2003, when three of the five did so in the Big 12 Championships; that trio of Edward McGlasson, Blake Moore and Derek O'Neill helped the Buffs tie for sixth.

Texas A&M 3, Colorado 2

Jeremy Paul (CU) def. Greg Yates, 2 and 1

Andrew Lister (A&M), def. David Oraee, 2 and 1

Philip Juel-Berg (CU) def. Ben Crancer, 1 up

Adria Arnaus (A&M) def. Ethan Freeman, 1 up

Johannes Veerman (A&M) def. Drew Trujillo, 5 and 3