Golfers Finish Third In Wyoming Cowboy Classic

CHANDLER, Ariz. — The University of Colorado men's golf team had its finest performance of the season, both overall and in a final round, as the Buffaloes finished third in the 18th Annual Wyoming Cowboy Classic which was completed here Tuesday.
 
The Buffaloes closed things here with an 11-under par 277, their best single round score since a 12-under effort in the first round of their own CU-Mark Simpson Invitational back in September 2019.  The three rounds recorded by the Buffs here are the three best out of 18 this season and led to a 24-under 840 team total for the bronze spot in the standings.
Colorado was under par for all three rounds in the same event since (35-under overall and the team win).  The 24-under par effort was the school's best since that same tournament.
 
No. 25 San Diego State claimed the title with a tournament record 33-under par team score of 831.  No. 69 TCU used the best score of the final round – a 17-under 271 – to leapfrog over the Buffaloes into second place with an 837 tally.
No. 76 Loyola-Marymount grabbed fourth with an 844 total, while No. 36 Stanford rounded out the top five, one back of LMU at 856.
 
"We had a really good event, this is what the guys have been working toward and they are finally seeing it come together," CU head coach Roy Edwards said.  "We beat several good teams here and it was the most consistent we've been from start to finish in a tournament this spring."
 
In addition, CU defeated five of the seven teams ranked ahead of it, including two Pac-12 mates, along with a third.  Colorado, SDSU and TCU dominated the top 25 individually, each placing four finishers among it.
 
Senior Victor Bjorlow tied for fifth with a career-best performance, with an 11-under par score of 205 as he closed Tuesday with a 69 on the 7,334-yard, par-72 Whirlwind Golf Club's Cattail Course layout. Starting on No. 9, he birdied his first hole of final round but would have his only bogey two holes later; he then had three birdies over the next six holes before he parred out the remainder of the way.  He had a solid tourney, with 13 birdies (tied for the team-high), 39 pars and just two bogeys.   He played the par-5s this week at 9-under, tied for second-best in the 120-man field, with his pars tying for the seventh-most.
 
 "We are very proud and excited for Victor," Edwards said.  "He was in the mix to win the entire tournament, but came up a little bit short.  But it certainly wasn't because of his performance, this is how we've been seeing him play most of the time."
 
For Bjorlow, it was the best 54-hole score of his career, shaving six strokes off his previous low after also recording his career-best for 36 holes (136).  It was also his best finish in a 54-hole event since also tying for fifth in the 2018 Southern Colorado Masters.
 
Senior Daniel O'Loughlin fashioned a 4-under 68 the last time around Cattail for an 8-under 208; that tied him for seventh and was the 18th time in 42 events he was under par.  He matched Bjorlow's birdies count for the meet with 13 while making par 36 times to go against five birdies.  He played the 12 par-3 holes combined collectively at 3-under, tied for the best in the field.
 
Sophomore Adam Matteson had a team-high six birdies Tuesday en route to a 4-under 68, his collegiate-career best single round.  That enabled him to finish just outside of the top 20, tying for 21st with a 3-under 213.  He otherwise had 10 pars and two bogeys in his final 18, and had 12 birdies and 34 pars overall.  He played the par-4's (30 in all) at 3-under, which tied for the 10th-best among all players.
 
Junior John Paterson closed with a an even-par 72, which kept him in the red for the tourney as his 2-under 214 tied him for 24th.  He rebounded from some early bad luck, and he scored a triple bogey on his third hole of the day (the par-3 10th), but was 3-under the rest of the way, including a birdie on his final hole.  He had 11 birdies and 36 pars overall against six bogeys and the one triple.
 
Senior Cole Krantz finished with a 4-over 76 that tied him for 79th with an 8-over 224.  All that overage can be traced to four double bogeys he scored here, otherwise he had four birdies, 42 pars (which were second-most in the field) and just four bogeys.
 
Senior Ross Macdonald competed here as an individual, and was his first event of the season.  He finished with a 5-over 77 for the second straight round and was 16-over (232) total overall, which tied him for 109th.  He had five birdies and 32 pars here, but struggled otherwise.
 
"Daniel had another good week, and so did Adam," Edwards added.  "John and Cole played some really good golf in there as well.  The next few weeks will be huge for some guys as we set the team for the Pac-12 Championship."  That event is a six-score-five format, so a half dozen Buffaloes will represent the team later this month.
 
Stanford's Barclay Brown carded a final round 65 to vault from fifth to medalist honors with a 14-under score of 202.  That bested a trio of players who finished tied for runner-up honors.
 
This was the last team event ahead of the Pac-12 Championships (April 26-28 in Santa Rosa, Calif.); some CU individuals will compete next week in CSU-Pueblo's Southern Colorado Masters.
 
NOTES: Bjorlow is the first Buffs to shoot in the 60s in all three rounds since O'Loughlin did so in the '19 CU-Simpson … This was the eighth time the Buffaloes competed with a full team in this event; Colorado won it in 2016 (with Jeremy Paul tying for medalist honors with an 11-under 205) … CU has finished second three other times … Macdonald is playing in his first event of the year, and at 24 years old, is the oldest player to compete for the Buffs since Ben Portie did as a 25-year old his senior year in 2001-02 (he served his 2-year Mormon Mission after his sophomore year) … Colorado posted a 20-2 record here, improving to 67-59-2 on the year (though due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of a fall season, the NCAA isn't requiring a .500 record for postseason in 2021) … The Buffaloes finished tied for sixth in par-3 scoring (6-over), and were second in both par-4 scoring (3-under) and par-5 scoring (minus-19) … CU tied for first in pars (187) and is tied for sixth in birdies (53) … The average score for the tournament (360 total rounds) was 73.61; on Tuesday, it was the lowest of the three rounds at 73.31 … The four toughest holes here were Nos. 4, 10, 14 and 11 in order; the four CU scorers each day combined to play those 48 overall at just 2-over par …  O'Loughlin improved his team leading stroke average to 71.39 and his career mark (113 rounds) to 71.66; he's now just ahead of Jeremy Paul's school career mark of 71.72 that he set from 2013-17 (138 rounds).

 
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