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Golfers In Fifth at UNM Tucker Intercollegiate

Sep 25, 2021
Jack Hughes shot CU's low round -- 68 -- Friday.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of Colorado men's golf team, once again playing with four freshmen in its line-up, is tied for fifth after two rounds of New Mexico's 66th Annual William H. Tucker Intercollegiate, both of which were completed here Friday.
 
BYU pulled away from the field with a spectacular second round (18-under 270), as the Cougars take an 11-stroke lead into Saturday's final round.  With a team score of 21-under 555, host New Mexico is in second (10-under 566), with San Diego State and New Mexico State tied for third at 2-undr 574. 
 
The Buffaloes, Loyola-Marymount and UNLV are tied for fifth at 8-over 584, with six schools within nine shots of the trio.  Colorado was alone in fifth place after the morning round, as the Buffaloes turned in an even-par 288 score, which trailed the host Lobos by six shots.  CU had the seventh-best team score (296) the second time around UNM's track.
 
It is once again the youngest CU lineup to ever play in a major tournament, as the same make-up played in Air Force's Miranda Invitational earlier this month, though one of the four freshmen is a redshirt instead of a first-year.
 
Justin Biwer, one of those true rookies, paced the Buffaloes Friday as he turned in a 70-69—139 (5-under) scorecard on New Mexico's 7,555-yard, par-72 Championship Golf Course configuration.  In sixth place by himself, he used a run of 24 straight holes of par or better starting with his last seven in the morning through his next-to-last in the afternoon; he scored six birdies and 18 pars in that stretch.  He now has recorded four straight subpar rounds after logging seven birdies and 27 pars with just two bogeys Friday.  He played the par-3s the best in the field (1-under) and the par-5s the fifth-best (5-under).
 
Redshirt frosh Jack Hughes opened with what would be CU's low round of the day – a 4-undr 68 which had him tied for third, but he came back with a 4-ovr 76 in the afternoon to finish the day at even-par 144, which has him tied for 16th.  He had an eagle in his first round on his 15th hole (No. 1) – already his fourth of the young season – but from that point on it was almost a curse as he bogeyed his next hole and just had on birdie in round two.  H had 26 pars Friday, tied for the fourth-most in the 100-man field (Biwer's 27 were third).
 
Junior John Paterson is tied for 61st after fashioning a 75-76—151 scorecard (7-over), as a double bogey in each round helped to inflate his score.  He was three-over par after four holes in the first round and after three holes in the second, otherwise was just a collective 1-over on the other 29.   
 
The remaining two true freshmen, Dylan McDermott (78-75) and Frederik Eisenbeis (75-78), are tied for 74th with 9-over 153 totals.  McDermott joined Biwer as the only Buffs not to score worse than bogey on a hole, but he did have a team-high 13 bogeys.  Eisenbeis matched Paterson for the second-most birdies (five), but also logged in 12 bogeys on the day.
 
"It was a really good day from Justin today in both rounds," CU head coach Roy Edwards said.  "Jack was good as well with a spectacular first round. We saw good things from everyone and have a lot of encouragement for tomorrow. We've got to keep working to let our higher rounds be just a bit lower.  If we do that we will be right in the mix."
 
New Mexico State's Aidan Thomas put up a 67-66—133 performance (11-under par), as he will take a three-stroke lead over New Mexico's Sam Choi into the final round; eight players are within eight strokes of the lead, including CU's Biwer.
 
The third and final round will be on Saturday and will feature a shotgun start at 7:45 a.m. MDT; the Buffaloes will tee off on holes 6 through 8.  CU will then turn right around and host the 11th Annual Mark Simpson-CU Invitational on Monday and Tuesday at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie.  Four teams (plus CU) competing in Albuquerque will also play in CU's event.
 

NOTES: The average score Friday was 74.46 (74.28 in the morning, 74.65 in the afternoon); CU was a bit below two of the three (74.0 overall; 73.2 in round one, 74.8 in round two) … Colorado played the par-5 holes the best (18-under), the par-3s seventh-best (10-over) and the par-4s 10th best (plus-28) … CU had the fifth-most pars (111) and the 11th-most birdies (25) on Friday … Hughes, who won the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational on Sept. 12, opened with 15 straight pars Friday to run his consecutive streak to 16 before making his first bogey.
 

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
    6. Justin Biwer  70-69—139
T16. Jack Hughes  68-76—144
T61. John Paterson  75-76—151
T74. Frederik Eisenbeis  75-78—153
T74. Dylan McDermott  78-75—153

  

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
  1. Aidan Thomas, New Mexico State  67-66—133
  2. Sam Choi, New Mexico  68-68—136
T3. Keanu Akina, BYU  74-64—138
T3. Charlie Reiter, San Diego  69-69—138
T3. David Timmins, BYU  70-68—138

  
 TEAM STANDINGS

1. Brigham Young  285-270—555
2. New Mexico  282-284—566
3. San Diego  290-284—574
3. New Mexico State  283-291—574
5. COLORADO  288-296—584
5. Loyola-Marymount  294-290—584
5. UNLV  282-302—584
8. Louisville  289-297—586
9. Denver  291-297—588
11. Nebraska  292-298—590
10. Florida Atlantic  300-292—592
12. Texas-El Paso  291-301—592
13. Santa Clara  290-303—593
14. North Texas  300-299—599
15. Louisiana Tech  305-296—601
16. Wyoming  300-303—603
17. Dixie State  301-304—605
18. Virginia Commonwealth  310-303—613