Golfers Tie For Fifth in Own Simpson CU-Invitational

ERIE — The University of Colorado men's golf team turned in the third-best team score of the final round and went on to finish in a fifth-place tie here Tuesday in its own 11th Annual Mark Simpson-Colorado Invitational. 
 
No. 38 Boise State cruised to the team win, snapping CU's string of seven straight victories, as the Broncos set a tournament record with final team score of 46-undr par 818.  San Francisco and Utah tied for second, 10 strokes back at 36-undr 8228. With San Diego using the low tam score of the day – a 14-under 274, to jump from eighth into fourth at 31-undr 833.
 
The Buffs, who turned in a 9-under 279 Tuesday, caught Wyoming to tie the Cowboys for fifth with a 29-under 835 score.  CU reached as a high as third in the standings early on after starting the day in sixth.  All eight Buffalos who competed here finished under par for the tournament, a first in program history for the five designated scorers to do so, not to mention three others who played individually.
 
Sophomore Adam Matteson led the Buffalo charge over the two days, though he played as an individual and as so his scores did not count toward the CU team total.  In finishing third overall with a 13-under 68-66-69—203 scorecard, he recorded a personal best for 54 holes as well as his highest collegiate finish.  He had three career rounds in the 60s (out of 45 rounds) coming in, thus he doubled that number.
 
Matteson also set a school record as his 13-under 203 bested five previous 12-under 204 scores for 54 holes in CU history.  He was briefly tied for the lead a couple of times and at one point was as many as 14-under through 10 holes.
 
"It was a really good, solid and consistent tournament or Adam," CU head coach Roy Edwards said.  "He played great in a really good field and was right in the mix to win all day long.  I'm really happy for him."
 
Matteson was a model of consistency both days on Colorado National Golf Club's 7,705-yard, par-72 design, as he finished with a team-high 17 birdies (fourth-most in the field), with 33 pars and only four bogeys.  He played the par-4s at 9-under, tying for the third-best.
 
Redshirt frosh Jack Hughes tied for 12th, as he matched Matteson with CU's low round of the day for a 9-under 207 total.  He had a bogy-free round in scoring three birdies and 15 pars Tuesday, with freshman Justin Biwer one stroke back at 70—208, which tied him for 20th.  Biwer had CU's only eagle in the final round, along with four birdies and nine pars.  Hughes played the par-3 holes the best at 2-under in the 99-man field Biwer was 1-under on the dozen short ones, tied for seventh-best.
 
Biwer, who became the first player in CU history to finish under par in his first two collegiate tournaments, extended the streak to three here.  He had CU's second-most birdies here with 16, while Hughes had 15.
 
CU's "old men" were next in line, as juniors John Paterson and Kristoffer Max tied for 30th and 38th, respectively, after each fashioned a 2-undr 70 to wrap play here.  Paterson's 7-under 209 was his new collegiate best by two strokes, while Max was in at 5-under 211.   
 
Freshmen Jack Holland and Dylan McDermott tied for 38th with 3-under 213 scores. Holland struggled bit in th final round with a 4-over 76, while McDermott shot a 2-under 70. Rounding out the CU contingent was freshmen Frederik Eisenbeis, who tied for 50th with a 1-under 215 total.
 
"We got off to a good start, had the third low round of the day and in the end, moved up the board a little bit, which was a goal going into today," Edwards said.  "All five guys were in it all day, which is always going to help the team score.  We've got a team of guys who are highly competitive and they really competed well.  That's the cornerstone of a rally good team.
 
Colorado was joined by Boise State and Utah Valley in having all five designated scorers finish under par for 54 holes; Utah Valley's also sixth player did so in addition to CU's three indies.  When asked if he has ever had a team all finish with subpar scores – not to mention eight overall, Edwards said, "No way.
 
 "To have eight guys under par, even though it was a scoreable event, it shows how competitive they are and that the skill level of the team is rally strong from top to bottom."
 
San Diego's Harrison Kingsley scored the low round of the day – a 6-under 66 – and in the process overtook Boise State's Max Charles for medalist honors.  Kingsley finished with a 15-undr par score of 201, while Charles carded a 1-under 71 for a 14-under 202 total to hold off CU's Matteson for runner-up honors.
 
The Buffaloes will continue their fall season in a week, traveling east to South Bend, Ind., to play in Notre Dame's Fighting Irish Classic next Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 4-5).  It will be CU's first regular season event east of the Mountain Time Zone since May 2017 (The Maxwell in Ardmore, Okla.), and its first in the Eastern Time Zone since Notre Dame's meet in October 2009.
 

COLORADO NOTES: Matteson's 13-under 203 topped the five previous 204s recorded by John Lindberg (1989 BYU Cougar Classic), Pat Grady (2008 DU-Ron Moore Invitational), Philip Juel-Berg (2015 Air Force Falcon Invitational) and Spencer Painton and Daniel O'Loughlin (2017 and 2019 Simpson-CU meets, respectively) … Biwer, Max and Paterson all played the par-5's at 6-under, which tied for fourth-best over the two days … For the third time in as many meets, CU played with four freshmen and one junior as the designated scorers, the youngest ever-line-ups or CU in its history … Every Buffalo who has played this season (eight of the 11 on the roster) have already recorded at least one round in the 60s; 11 total were recorded here, and the team already has 17; CU had just 19 in the shortened 2020-21 season …  Colorado played both the par-3 (1-over) and par-5 (17-under) holes the fourth-best, and the par-4s (minus-10) the seventh-best … CU had the third-most birdies (67) and the 13th-most pars (161) and tied for the most eagles (2) … CU's average score was a shade under 70, and a shade at that: 69.96.
 
TOURNAMENT NOTES: In a quirky stat, 53 players finished under par, with another five even – the same exact number for both heading into the final round … The average score on Tuesday was 73.33 for 99 rounds, inflating the average for the tournament to 72.12 … After there were 71 rounds in the 60s in Monday's two rounds, just 12 were recorded Tuesday …Boise State set a tournament record for the 54-hole team score (818, -46; old low was 829 (-35) by Colorado in 2019.  Utah and San Francisco thus tied for the second-best score in the 11 years of the event … San Diego's Harrison Kingsley set a tournament record for low 54-hole score of 201 (-15; old best was 202 by Kirby Pettitt, Colorado State in 2012 and Kyler Dunkle, Utah in 2017).

 
 
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