McDermott Third, Golfers Ninth At Fighting Irish Classic

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The University of Colorado men's golf team turned in an even-par team score in the final round of Notre Dame's Fighting Irish Classic here Tuesday and in the process moved up two notches into a ninth place finish.
 
Washington led from start to finish and won with a 15-under team score of 825, as the Huskies held off a charge from host Notre Dame, three back at 828 after scoring the day's best round of 6-under.  Utah (830), Kent State (834) and Michigan State (838) rounded out the top five and the only other teams under par in the 14-team field.
 
The Buffaloes got off to a poor start, the four designated scorers a combined 6-over on the first seven holes; but all would birdie the par-5 17th hole to rein things in en route to a 280 score (even-par).  That gave CU a 17-over 857 total and enabled the Buffs to pass Iowa and Washington State in the standings.
 
Freshman Dylan McDermott recorded his second top 10 finish in four collegiate events, as he closed with a 4-under 66 that gave him a 7-under 203 score and a third-place finish.  The 203 is the second-best score in CU history for a 54-hole tourney on a par-70 course, bested only by Beau Schoolcraft's 9-under 201 in the 2011 Wyoming Cowboy Classic in Scottsdale.
 
McDermott was a model of consistency on Notre Dame's 7,023-yard, par-70 Warren Golf Course layout.  He played the par-3s at 2-under (tied for third-best in the field), the par-4s at 2-under (sixth-best) and the par-5s at 3-under (eighth-best). His 13 birdies were the fourth most overall; he had 36 pars and just five holes higher than par (four bogeys and a double).  He opened his career at Air Force with an eighth-place finish last month. 
 
Freshman Justin Biwer carded a final round 2-under 68, which enabled him to move 15 spots to tie for 33rd-place finish with a 5-over 215.  He had five birdies and 11 pars to wrap things here, coming up just short of a fourth straight subpar tournament to open his collegiate career; three still set the school record.
 
 Junior John Paterson tied for 70th with an 18-over 228 score, having some final round troubles with no birdies, four bogeys and three doubles for a closing 80.
 
Redshirt frosh Jack Hughes tied for 72nd, as he finished up with a 4-over 74 for a 19-over 229.  He had two birdies and 10 pars against six bogeys Tuesday.
 
Sophomore Adam Matteson tied for 77th after he closed with a 2-over 72 for a 21-over 231.  The bulk of his overage came due to a first round 88; he rebounded strong to play his next two rounds at 3-over, with five birdies and 24 pars.  He tied for 32nd when adding only the second and third rounds together.
 
"Really nice rounds from Dylan and Justin to close things out here, and just an outstanding tournament and effort by Dustin overall," head coach Roy Edwards said.  "The team in general had a great round after a very poor start.  We definitely made progress this week and came back to get some quality wins. 
 
"In order to improve, we have to be more consistent in our one-through-five lineup," he continued.  "Our poor rounds need to be better, and we can't keep having one player totally out of the round (as in eliminating himself as a possible scorer) six-to-nine holes into the round. That has happened almost every round so far this fall, and that is something that we have to fix."
 
Washington's R.J. Manke, one of four players tied for the lead heading into the final round, shot a 6-under 64 to claim medalist honors with a 12-under 198 score.  That bested Utah's Javier Barcos by one shot; he was also among the four and fired a 65 Tuesday.  McDermott was in third all alone.
 
Colorado has the next three weeks off until its final tournament of the fall season, the Kaanapali Classic in Maui on Oct. 29-31.
 

DU PAINTBRUSH INVITATIONAL: Three Buffs participated as individuals in Parker in Denver's Paintbrush Invitational, which was also completed on Tuesday.  The 7,513-yard, par-72 Colorado Golf Club course played tough all three rounds, with the average score being 77.15 overall and 78.43 for the final round.  Junior Kristoffer Max turned in the best CU performance here, as he finished with a 3-over 75 – which actually tied for the 15th best score of the day – for a 9-over 225 which tied him for 17th.  Freshmen Jack Holland and Frederik Eisenbeis tied for 48th and 51st respectively: Holland shot an 81 for a 16-over 232, while Eisenbeis carded a 76 to finish at 17-over 233.
 
NOTES: This was CU's first regular season tournament in the Eastern Time Zone for the first time in 12 years (same event in 2009) … Matteson's 17-stroke in-tournament improvement from his first round 88 to second round 71 tied for the second-best in school history; John Nyuli set the mark of 18 back in 1990 at the Miami-Doral Invitational, when he had a 90 in the second round and closed with a 72 … Colorado played the par-3s (13-over) the 10th-best, the par-4s (+46) the 13th-best and the par-5s (3-under) the 12th-best … CU had the seventh-most birdies (40) and the 13th-most pars (154) … The average score all three rounds was 72.3.   
  

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