Golfers Finish Sixth In Nevada

RENO — The University of Colorado men's golf team finished sixth here Tuesday as the Nevada Wolfpack Classic came to a close.
 
New Mexico rallied to jump from third into the winner's circle here for the second straight year, as the Lobos finished with a 31-under par 833 team score; San Diego State claimed the runner-up spot (837).  Third through sixth place were separated by just four strokes, with BYU finished third (842), second round leader San Diego fourth (843) and San Francisco fifth (844).
 
The Buffaloes finished sixth with an 18-under 846 total; they spent the final round hovering as high as fourth and as low as seventh before settling in the last spot in top half of the field.
 
Sophomores Justin Biwer and Tucker Clark led the Buffaloes here, as the duo tied for 11th with 6-under par 210 scorecards on the 7,302-yard, par-72 Hidden Valley Country Club course design.  Both recorded 2-under par 70s in Tuesday's final round.
 
Biwer had four birdies, 12 pars and two bogeys en route to his 70, and finished the two days with an eagle, 10 birdies and a team-high 38 pars.  He was 3-under on all the par-4 holes combined, tied for sixth-best in the meet and one back of five players at 4-under; he was also 6-under on the par-5s.  His 38 pars tied for the second-most, and with six straight subpar rounds, he tied for the third-longest streak in school history.
 
 Clark had three birdies, 14 pars and a bogey for his 70, with 14 birdies and 32 pars opposite eight bogeys for his two days of work.  The 14 birdies led the Buffaloes over the two days and tied for the seventh-most in the 72-man field; he played the dozen par-3s over the two days at 3-under, second-best in the 72-man field.  He was also under par on the par-4s (minus-1, tied for 13th) and the par-5s (minus-2).
 
Sophomore Dylan McDermott tied for 15th with a 5-under 211 score; he opened and closed with even-par 72s that he sandwiched around a 5-under 67.  He scored a double bogey 6 on his first hole (No. 10) in round three, CU's only double all day, and was still 2-over for his round before back-to-back birdies on Nos. 2 and 3 pulled him back to even before parring out on the last six holes.  Otherwise he had  three birdies, 13 pars and a bogey Tuesday with 12, 36 and five, respectively, for the event.  He also played the par-3s well, tying for third-best over the two days at 2-under.
 
Freshman Hunter Swanson closed with a 2-over 74 for 1-over 217 that tied him for 39th.  He had a birdie with 14 pars and three bogeys in his final 18; he was plus-2 after four holes, eventually moving to 3-over before he wrapped things with a birdie on his final hole (the par-4 6th).   He had eight birdies and 37 pars, the latter second-most for CU and tying for the seventh-most this week, with nine bogeys.
 
Sophomore Jack Holland had his best round here, finishing with an even-par 72 for a 7-over 223, which tied him for 59th.  He had three birdies and 12 pars opposite three bogeys Tuesday, with all three birdies coming in succession on holes 16 through 18.  He scored eight birdies with 31 pars and 15 bogeys overall.
 
New Mexico's Bastien Amat was one of three players to shoot the low round of the day – a six-under 66 – which he used to jump from third into first with a 14-under 202 total.  That bested the two players ahead of him going into the final round, UNLV's Caden Fioroni and USF's Benjamin Partridge, who both finished three back at 11-over 205.  In claiming medalist honors. Amat earned an exemption to play in the PGA Tour's 2023 Barracuda Championship in Truckee, Calif.
 
"We did a nice job salvaging the round after a choppy start," CU head coach Roy Edwards said.  "That has been a theme with this team – we really do a good job of competing despite not having our best games that day or starts to the rounds.  Tucker, Justin and Dylan all had really nice overall tournaments and they were impressive.  Jack helped us today and Hunter had a steady tournament.  We are definitely seeing a lot of separation in our top three and also into our top four players.  We have a great opportunity in our roster for a fifth man to step up, with a lot of guys capable.  We just haven't done it yet.  However, once we do, I expect the team to really be performing at a high level."
 
The Buffaloes return to action for the final time this fall, as Colorado will return to Maui to play in the Ka'anapali Classic Collegiate, where it finished second a year ago.
 
NOTES: CU's 12-under par score of 276 in the second round was a team-best for a single round this season, and the lowest since a 13-under 271 in last year's first round in Maui … Biwer and McDermott completed their second rounds first thing Tuesday; McDermott birdied the par-4 9th hole, which gave him seven birdies for the round which matched the team's season-high for 18 holes, done by Clark on Monday in the same round … The three, who have separated themselves from the rest of the team through five events, now have a combined 12 subpar tournaments out of 15 this fall (Biwer and McDermott all five, Clark two).  The five straight subpar events by Biwer and McDermott have tied the school record set by Yannik Paul back in 2017-18 … Paul has the most subpar rounds in a row (8, also in '17-18), with twin Jeremy owning the second most (7, in '13-14) … CU turned in three subpar rounds, upping its total to nine for the fall along with one even out of 15 …The Buffs had just two holes worse than bogey (both doubles) out of 270 over the three rounds, which was matched by only New Mexico and SDSU and bested by no one … The average score for the 216 rounds was just a shade over par (72.19; with a 72.26 norm in the final round) … Colorado played the par-3s at 3-over (second-best in the field and even in the final round), the par-4s at 6-over (fifth) and the par-5s at 18-under (11th) … The Buffs had the sixth-most birdies (52, San Diego led with 61) and had the second-most pars 174 (one behind San Diego State) … Colorado is now 62-19 against Division I competition this fall after going 6-5 here; that includes a 4-0 mark against Pac-12 rivals (and within that mark, an 11-0-1 record in head-to-head rounds).