Golfers Tie For 14th In Lamkin Grips SD Classic

SAN DIEGO — The University of Colorado men's golf team finished off a week's competition in California Tuesday with a second disappointing finish, this time tying for 14th in the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic.
 
No. 34 Louisiana State held off a charge from No. 9 Washington in winning the tournament with a 37-under par team score of 827; the Tigers posted a 1-under score (287) in the final round.  Washington shot the best round of the day and second-lowest in the meet with an 18-under 270, finishing just eight back at 835.  No. 15 Notre Dame claimed third (837), with No. 67 San Diego (839) and No. 45 Nevada (851) completing the top five.
 
Four Buffs opened strong and had the team 6-under on the day and into ninth place about halfway through the final round; after starting on holes 12 through 15, three holes into the front side struggles emerged.  Nos. 3, 4 and 5 played among the toughest the first two rounds, and Tuesday was no exception.  The CU quartet played the three at 8-over par to drop down into 15th and never really recovering in posting a second straight 7-over 295 to finish with a 12-over 876, tying Sam Houston State for 14th.
 
CU had tied for ninth in Wyoming's Desert Intercollegiate last Friday.  There was a bright spot for the Buffaloes, however.
 
Freshman and San Diego native Justin Biwer tied for 18th with a closing 2-under 70, which enabled him finish under par for the sixth time in seven events with a 3-under 213.  That set a new CU freshman record for the most tournaments under par, snapping a tie with Jeremy Paul, who had five during the 2013-14 season. He had seven birdies Tuesday, tied for the second-most in a round by a Buff this season, with his 13 for the meet tying for the 10th-most.  He played the par-4s particularly well, fifth-best in the field at 4-under on the 7,033-yard, par-72 San Diego Country Club course layout.  
 
Biwer also tied Paul's frosh mark for the most top 20 finishes in a season with six; he had been tied with three others entering the week: Kane Webber (1999-2000), Yannik Paul (2013-14) and current CU assistant coach Derek Tolan (2005-06).
 
Freshman Dylan McDermott didn't play as well as he did in the first two rounds, tying for 46th after closing with a 6-over 78 that led to a 2-over 218 overall.  He was mainly undone by triple bogey on the 236-yard, par-3 3rd hole, which played the second-toughest here over the three rounds.  He did log 12 birdies and 31 pars and also played the par-4s well (2-under), tying for the ninth-best in the 95-man field.
 
Junior Kristoffer Max wrapped things up with a 1-over 73 for the second straight round, which placed him at 4-over 220 that tied him for 58th.  After opening with a bogey on No. 13, he birdied the next three holes but didn't score any from that point on.  He had six birdies and 38 pars for the meet, the latter tied for the second-most overall. 
 
Junior John Paterson tied for 78th, closing with a 2-over 74 (same as his first round effort) and wound up with a 9-over 225.  He had five birdies Tuesday, tying his season-high for a round, with seven pars opposite five birdies and a double in finishing up.
 
Freshman Jack Holland could never get much going here, as he finished with a 13-over 85 that had him end in 93rd place at 24-over par 240.  He had six birdies and 26 pars over the two days, but 14 bogeys and eight double bogeys did him in.
 
"A nice tournament for Justin, once again," head coach Roy Edwards said.  "He played well, and Dylan had two good rounds on Monday, but other than those, we just didn't have a good week.  We continued to make too many mistakes and had to count too many high scores.  We need to keep focusing on doing the easy things better.  I'm confident when we do the low scores will come."
 
LSU's Nicholas Arcement led from wire-to-wire in finished with a 2-under 70, which gave him a 13-under score of 203.  That was good for a two-shot win over a pair of Washington Huskies, R.J. Manke and Noah Woolsey.
 
The Buffs will resume their spring slate two weeks from this Thursday, again returning to California but this time to the Bay Area to compete in Stanford's "The Goodwin" March 24-26.
 
NOTES: The average score for all 285 rounds was 72.77, with Tuesday's final round the highest of the three (73.19) … The Buffs struggled on the par-3s here, playing them 28-over for last in the field; they played the par-4s 11th-best (+21) and the par-5's tied for the 12th-best (13-under) … CU finished tied for 11th in pars with 156 (after leading with 117 through 36 holes), but did improve from 14th to 12th in birdies (45) … Biwer continues to lead the team in stroke average with a 70.38 mark for 21 rounds, well on pace to threaten Jeremy Paul's freshman season mark of 72.51 set in 2013-14.