Golfers Close Fall Season With Second Place Finish In Maui

        LAHAINA, Maui — The University of Colorado men's golf team finished second here Sunday in the Ka'anapali Classic Collegiate, the final team event for the Buffaloes in their fall portion of the 2021-22 schedule.
 
        It was CU's best finish in six tournaments this fall, as it bested a fifth-place tie in CU's own Mark Simpson Invitational last month.
 
        No. 14 Kansas led from wire-to-wire, finishing with a 52-under team score of 800.  The Jayhawks started the day with a 16-stroke lead over the Buffaloes, and matched a hot start by CU before pulling away.  CU was 14-under at one point but eventually turned in a 10-under 274 to finish at 32-under 820.  No. 44 Boise State finished third with an 824 score, while CSU-Northridge and Connecticut tied for fourth with 826 totals.
 
        CU's gross team score of 820 set a school record topping the 828 it had in the Denver's Ron Moore Invitational in 2008.  The 32-under in relation to par is the third-best in CU annals, bested only by 39-under in the 2008 DU meet and a 35-under effort in its own Mark Simpson Invitational in 2019.
 
        On Friday, it marked the first time that all five players designated for team scoring turned in numbers under par; when the smoke cleared at the end of play Sunday, it was the first time that all five players competing for the Buffaloes finished under par in a tournament.
 
        Junior Kristoffer Max and freshman Justin Biwer paced the Buffaloes here, as each finished in a tie for 14th with a 9-under 204 score on the 6,700-yard, par-71 Royal Ka'anapali Golf Course.  For both, it was their best 54-hole total in a collegiate event, though both arrived at the figure in different ways.
 
        Max was fourth entering the final round and jockeyed back-and-forth among several atop the leaderboard until a triple bogey on No. 11 set him back from the pack.  With five birdies on the front nine (and one bogey), he was 4-under at the turn before the triple and two bogeys on the way in that had him close with a 1-over 72.  He had 18 birdies over the three rounds, tied for the fourth-most in the 80-man field.
 
        Biwer, on the other hand, used a career-best 65 to move up 11 notches.  It was his sixth round in the 60s this fall and his 11th under par out of 15 overall.  He had a team-high six birdies Sunday with 12 pars and nary a bogey.  He recorded 13 birdies with 37 pars, the latter tied for the sixth-most here, while also recording a team-low with just four holes worse than par (all bogeys).
 
        Freshman Frederik Eisenbeis nearly matched Biwer, as he had a 5-under 66 on the strength of five birdies and 13 pars, also avoiding a single bogey.  He finished with a 5-under 208 score – his collegiate best – which tied him for 21st after starting the day tied for 36th – his improving 15 places Sunday made him the fourth-biggest "mover" of the day, but owning the biggest jump to finish in the top 25.
 
        Redshirt frosh Jack Hughes tied for 23rd after carding a second straight even-par 71; he finished with a 4-under 209 score.  He had a "potpourri" of scores Sunday, with an eagle, two birdies, 12 pars, two bogeys and a double.  The eagle was his fifth this fall, matching the most by a Buff over an entire season the last four years, with the school-best of eight in his sights come spring.
 
        Dylan McDermott rounded out the Colorado five, as he closed with a 2-over 73 but still came in at 1-under 212 for the tournament, tying him for 30th.  He had two birdies and 12 pars Sunday with four bogeys.  He was 2-over early – through four holes – but played the rest of his round at even.
 
        "All around it was a nice team effort all three days and though we didn't catch Kansas, it was a great way to finish our fall season," head coach Roy Edwards said.  "Two really good rounds from Freddy and Justin today.  Kris was playing great but had a couple of hiccups coming in, but still had a great event despite a tough finish.
 
        "We are pleased with the direction of the team and how we have grown over the fall," he added.  "I look forward to the work the players will put in over the off-season to get better and we can't wait to get started again in February.  It is very competitive up and down our lineup and I expect a great off-season from everyone."
 
        Loyola-Maryland's Brandon Barry earned medalist honors, his final round 66 enabling his to leapfrog Denver's Carson Griggs.  Berry finished with a 16-under 197 score, while Griggs finished one back at 198 after a final round 68.
 
        Colorado has completed its fall schedule as a team; one tournament remains for junior John Paterson, who will represent his native Scotland in the Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship.  The event is slated for later this week (Nov. 4-6) at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas.  Twenty countries will be represented by teams consisting of four players – two men and two women.  A 54-hole, four-ball stroke play competition, the field features many of the top amateurs from the competing countries, including many playing college golf in the United States.  Paterson played in four tournaments (11 rounds) this fall for the Buffaloes and owns a 73.8 stroke average.
  
NOTES: CU was ranked 79th by GolfStat and 87th by Golfweek entering play here, and should move up in the final all rankings when released in mid-November … The average score was 71.70 for the final round, the highest of the three, as the average over the course of the tournament finished at 71.40 … Thirty-eight players finished under par for the event, with another four even; Kansas was the only other team beside the Buffaloes to have all five players finish in red numbers … Biwer and Eisenbeis finished the fall season with 18 straight holes of par or better; both had actually bogeyed their last hole in the second round … Colorado played the par-3s the best in the field (2-under overall), and played the par-4s second-best at 6-under (only Kansas also played those under par, at an impressive 29-under).  CU was 20-under on the par-5s, seventh-best …  Colorado finished third in both birdies (68) and pars (166) … The Buffalo five played 270 holes between them, with just 35 over par (29 bogeys, five doubles and a triple) … Colorado's stroke average for the fall (107 rounds) was 72.54; that is just 1/20th of a stroke shy of the school's all-time best fall mark of 72.49 set in 2017 (in 87 rounds) … Four played finished the fall with sub-72 averages: Biwer (70.07), McDermott (71.33), Hughes (71.67) and Max (71.75); Eisenbeis closed with a 73.00 norm … Jason Burstyn has the school record for most eagles in a season with eight in 2012-13; those have been tracked starting in 2011.
 
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