Golfers Finish 18th In Wyoming Cowboy Classic

CHANDLER, Ariz. — The University of Colorado men's golf team turned in its best score out of three tries here Tuesday, but it wasn't enough to move up in the standings as the Buffaloes finished in 18th place as the Wyoming Cowboy Classic came to a close.
 
No. 72 San Diego State ran away with the event, finishing with a 39-under par team score of 825; Long Beach State, ranked 85th, was a distant second with a 26-under 838 effort.  Colorado State and Nevada tied for third at 23-under 841, with Nevada-Las Vegas rounding out the top five at 18-under 846.
 
The second round that was suspended due to darkness was completed first thing Tuesday; Colorado was tied 18th place after finishing up eight holes between its five players (CU was 19th when play was called).  The Buffs posted a 5-under 283 score in the final round, which brought the final team total back to even at 864.  CU opened with a 4-under 284 and was tied for fourth after one round, but were done in with a poor second round (9-over 297); had the Buffaloes scored a similar total for the second 18 that they did to open and finish, a top five finish would have been in reach.
 
Junior John Paterson led the Buffaloes for the first time this season, as he closed with a 2-under par 70 on the 7,334-yard, par-72 Cattail Course at Whirlwind Golf Club blueprint and finished with a 2-under 214.  After starting with a bogey and double bogey that dropped him into 59th place, he rallied to finish the round with five birdies and 11 pars and finish 26th overall.  He played the par-4s ninth-best in the field (3-under).
 
Freshman Justin Biwer knocked three strokes off his previous score for the second straight round, closing with a 3-under 69 that brought him back to even par for the event (216 total).  He had a team-high 13 birdies—tied for 16th in the 128-man field—with 30 pars for the 54-hole event, with five and 11, respectively, on Tuesday.  He opened with four pars and the birdied four of his next six holes.
 
The 69 was his 18th subpar round of the season, a school record as he eclipsed the previous mark of 17 set by Jeremy Paul in 2013-14).  Biwer has scored par or better in 20 of  his 27 collegiate rounds to date.
 
Junior Kristoffer Max finished with a 2-over 74, that placed him in a tie for 58th with a 2-over 218 total over the two days.  He had the second-most birdies by a Buff here (12), including four Tuesday with eight pars and six bogeys for his round.  He opened with a birdie on No. 4 and spent the entire round jumping back and forth between 1- and 2-over par.
 
Freshman Dylan McDermott closed with a 5-over 77 that had him finish tied for 100th overall with an 8-over 224.  He had 10 birdies and 34 pars, as all of his overage could be traced to the par-4 1st hole, which he was 8-over for the three rounds.  His first round 68 was the team's best individual score here, and his eighth in the 60s this season.
 
Freshman Jack Holland got his game rolling in the final round and opening with an 80 and 78; he bounced back nicely with a 2-under 70, enabling him to move up eight spots to finish in a tie for 116th with a 12-over 228 total.  After 15 holes of bogey or worse in his first 36, he had just two bogeys Tuesday with four birdies and 12 pars.
 
"A much better day today, for sure," head coach Roy Edwards said.  "Justin, John and Jack had good days – John played really well after a tough start.  We're still not close to where we expect or wanted to be, but definitely a good start forward in that direction."
 
Long Beach State's Isaac Rodea led from wire-to-wire, finishing with a 13-under 203 score, which bested three others by one stroke.  Rodea closed with a second straight 69 after opening with a 65.
 
This was the final tune-up for the full team ahead of this month's Pac-12 Championships in Sammamish, Wash., April 25-27; two CU individuals will compete in next week's Southern Colorado Masters in Pueblo.
 

NOTES: Colorado is now 85-77-3 against Division I competition; the first criteria to qualify for the NCAA regionals is a winning record; thus the Buffs need to finish no worse than 10th in the Pac-12s to meet that mark …  The average score for 384 rounds here was 72.78 (72.02_ for Tuesday's final round, the lowest of the three) … The Buffs played the par-3s at 15-over (24th in the field), the par-4s at 12-over (14th) and the par-5's at 7-under (tie-16th) … CU tied for the 10th-most birdies (52; Loyola and SDSU led with 67) but was near the bottom in pars (158; Irvine topped the list with 190) … Biwer maintained his team-best stroke average (70.59), remaining on pace to threaten Jeremy Paul's freshman season mark of 72.51 set in 2013-14 …Max remained in second with an even 72.00 norm … Colorado entered this week ranked 86th by GolfStat and 89th by Golfweek.
 
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