\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 BOULDER \u2013 The last of three annual summer updates on happenings with the University of Colorado men’s golf team:
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\n\u00a0ACADEMIC HONORS<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Golf Coaches Association of American (GCAA) announced its annual Division I Platform Golf Team Academic Award for the 2024-25 season on August 5, with the Buffaloes recognized for the fourth straight year (and eight time in the last 10 years) with a 3.18 team grade point average.\u00a0 Those schools make the list with a cumulative 3.0 GPA or higher by all team members combined.
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\nBUFFS OPEN RANKED 26TH, 32ND
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\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Golfweek released its preseason poll on Aug. 27, ranking a top 30, which makes sense since there are 308 Division I schools with the sport and 30 qualify for the NCAA Championship Finals.\u00a0 Colorado opens the year ranked 26th by the coaches after finishing 23rd in the NCAA last May (and 34th in the final GCAA\/Coaches ballot prior to the postseason).\u00a0 Golfweek’s top 30 (includes six Big 12 Conference schools):
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\n1. Oklahoma State;\u00a0 2. Virginia;\u00a0 3. Texas;\u00a0 4. Auburn;\u00a0 5. Florida;\u00a0 6. Mississippi;\u00a0 7. LSU;\u00a0 8. Arizona State;\u00a0 9. Oklahoma; 10. Illinois;\u00a0 11. Florida State;\u00a0 12. BYU;\u00a0 13. Vanderbilt;\u00a0 14. Tennessee;\u00a0 15. SMU;\u00a0 16. Alabama;\u00a0 17. Georgia Tech;\u00a0 18. North Carolina;\u00a0 19. Texas Tech;\u00a0 20. South Carolina;\u00a0 21. Georgia;\u00a0 22. Pepperdine;\u00a0 23. Duke;\u00a0 24. Arizona;\u00a0 25. Utah;\u00a0 26. Colorado;\u00a0 27. Louisville;\u00a0 28. Mississippi State;\u00a0 29. New Mexico;\u00a0 30. Long Beach State.
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\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The GCAA\/Coaches followed on Aug. 29, with the Buffaloes coming in at No. 32 (the GCAA does not release what coaches vote in the poll; first place votes in parenthesis):
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\n1. Oklahoma State (15);\u00a0 2. Auburn (1);\u00a0 3. Texas;\u00a0 4. Florida (1);\u00a0 5. Mississippi (1);\u00a0 6. Arizona State;\u00a0 7. Virginia;\u00a0 8. Oklahoma;\u00a0 9. Florida State;\u00a0 10. LSU;\u00a0 11. Illinois;\u00a0 12. Vanderbilt;\u00a0 13 (tie). BYU, Georgia Tech;\u00a0 15 (tie). North Carolina, Texas Tech;\u00a0 17. Tennessee;\u00a0 18. Alabama;\u00a0 19. Pepperdine;\u00a0 20. Texas A&M;\u00a0 21. South Carolina;\u00a0 22. Arizona;\u00a0 23. Georgia;\u00a0 24. UCLA;\u00a0 25. San Diego State;\u00a0 26. Utah;\u00a0 27. SMU;\u00a0 28. Wake Forest;\u00a0 29. UNLV;\u00a0 30. California; 31. USC;\u00a0 32. Colorado;\u00a0 33. Santa Clara;\u00a0 34. Arkansas;\u00a0 35. Stanford;\u00a0 36 (tie). Clemson, Duke;\u00a0 38 (tie). South Florida, TCU;\u00a0 40 (tie). New Mexico, Northwestern;\u00a0 42 (tie). Mississippi State, Notre Dame;\u00a0 44 (tie). Louisville), Missouri.
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\nCURRENT TEAM UPDATES\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n\tZeqian “Michael” Fang\u00a0played\u00a0in China in mostly professional events this summer, recording his best effort in his last event there the first week of August:a tie for fifth place finish in the Beijing Tianxing Leg 3 event when he recorded an 11-under 70-69-66\u2014205
\n\tJunior Ty Holbrook<\/a> tied for second in the Colorado Amateur on August 2, two strokes back after entering the final round tied for the lead.\u00a0 He posted a 69-64-72-74\u2014279 (-9) effort, finishing two back of the lead at the Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster.
\n\tThe U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club in San Francisco was unkind to the Buffaloes; the cut was at 3-over; Justin Biwer<\/a> turned in the best effort, tying for 95th (74-72\u2014146, +6). Hunter Swanson<\/a> (151, +11) and Parker Paxton<\/a> (157, +17) finished well down the line.\u00a0 Holbrook had alternate status a spot didn’t open for him.
\n\tIncoming frosh Tyler Long<\/a> tied for fifth in the PGA High School National Invitational at Pinehurst, N.C. (72-67-69\u2014208, -8) and tied for 21st in the Junior Americas Cup in Portland, Ore. (77-68-73\u2014218, +2), both in late July.\u00a0 He was a member of Team Colorado that finished third in the latter.
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\n\tBrandon Knight<\/a> in the NCGA Amateur Qualifier at Pebble Beach’s Poppy Hills Course, he tied for 17th with a 71-73\u2014144 (+1) effort; in match play, he won two matches before falling in the quarterfinals.
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\n\tHunter Swanson<\/a> again caddied for CU junior Carolyn Fuller in the U.S. Women’s Amateur (Aug. 4-5); after a rough opening round 6-over par 78 on the tough Bandon Dunes (Ore.) Golf Resort Course, she bounced back with a 3-under 69 \u2013 her 3-over 145 missing advancing to match play by two strokes.\u00a0 She tied for 80th in the 156-woman field.
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\nALUMNI NOTES\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tTucker Clark<\/a> (’25) finished in a tie for 20th in the Colorado Open on July 27 \u2013 his first tournament as a professional \u2013 then caught a flight to Phoenix and played in the Arizona Open that started the next day.\u00a0 With no practice round for him on the Papago Golf Club course, he shot the third-lowest score in the final round (a 6-under 64) and vaulted into a tie for third place with a 67-68-64\u2014199 (-11) effort \u2026 He missed the cut in an Asher Tour event at Dove Canyon, Calif. on Aug. 18, turning in a 70-76\u2014146 (+6) score (missed by six shots.
\n\tFreddy Eisenbeis<\/a> (’25) competed in the DP World Tour’s Omega European Masters (Aug. 28-31) at Crans-sur-Sierre GC, Crans Montana, Switzerland.\u00a0 He tied for 121st in the 156-man field, but was the third low amateur out of six overall, turning in a 4-over 73-71\u2014144 score (the 36-hole cut was 3-under).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He had earned an exemption into the event when he won the Oliver Barras Memorial in Switzerland on June 26.
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\n\tDerek Fribbs (’13) attempted to defend his 2024 title in the Utah Open (Aug. 15-17), at Riverside Country Club in Provo; he played well and finished with an 8-under 68-70-70\u2014208 effort, which tied him for 15th (he also won the event in 2021).\u00a0
\n\tPatrick Grady (’09) also tied for second in the Colorado Amateur on August 2, two strokes back after entering the final round tied for the lead.\u00a0 He posted a 69-69-67-74\u2014279 (-9) effort, just missing in his try to win it for the second time (he won in 2006).\u00a0 Matthew Zions (’02) tied for 14th, as he recorded a 73-72-69-75\u2014289 (-1) scorecard in the event at the Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster.
\n\tSteve Jones (’81) returned to his first action in almost a year, tying for 59th in the Boeing Classic (Aug. 8-10) in Snoqualmie, Wash.; he turned in a 4-over 69-77-74\u2014220 performance.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
\n\tKevin Kring (’12) won the Missouri Mid-Amateur on Aug. 24 by three strokes, recording a 7-under 66-71\u2014137 scorecard at Jefferson City Country Club.\u00a0 In late July, he tied for ninth in the Missouri Stroke Play Championship (68-743-74-71\u2014286, -2), also at Jefferson City CC.
\n\tIn DP Tour Qualifying (First Stage at The Players Club in Bristol, England, Aug. 26-29), Dylan McDermott<\/a> (’25) tied for 14th and advanced to the second stage of qualifying at one of four locations in Spain (Oct. 30-Nov. 2).\u00a0 He finished with a 74-76-71-65-286 (+6) scorecard; the top 17 plus ties advanced to stage two.\u00a0 His final round 32-33\u201465 was the best score in the field (by two shots), as he recorded eight birdies on the day, and in miserable conditions no less.\u00a0 The medalist was just 5-under, with only three others scoring par or better (all 1-under).\u00a0 If he makes it out of stage two, the final qualifying is set for Nov. 7-12, also in Spain.\u00a0 “I was actually playing good all tournament, but the course was just really hard and the conditions were brutal,” McDermott said.\u00a0 “I finally had some putts drop (in the final round) and made sure to keep the ball in play.\u00a0 I knew I had to go low to have a chance, so it freed me up to go at the pins and hit the kind of drives I hadn’t the days before.” (Clark also competed but struggled, turning in an 81-76\u2014157 (+17) effort, placing 69th in the 78-man field.)
\n\tJeremy Paul (’17) is in his first year on the PGA Tour, and to date has made the cut in nine of 20 tournaments (no August PGA events); he has one top 5 finish and has earned $675,000 thus far.\u00a0 He was 131st in the FedEx Cup Standings with 271 points.
\n\tYannik Paul (’18) is currently ranked 107th in the race to Dubai and has won over 200,000 Euros in 19 tournaments thus far this season.\u00a0 The\u00a0top 50 players in the DP World Tour Rankings at the end of the season\u00a0qualify for the Race to Dubai finale (the top 70 players compete in the\u00a0Abu Dhabi Championship<\/a>\u00a0the week before.)
\n\tDave Roylance (’71) tied for 15th in the Masters Division of the CGA’s Super Senior Amateur Championship at Meadow Hills Golf Club on August 12, with an 85-80\u2014165 scorecard.
\n\tMatthew Zions (’02) tied for first in the CGA’s Western Chapter Championship at Battlement Mesa Golf Club, one of just four players in the field to finish in red numbers (72-70-68\u2014210, -6); but lost on the first playoff hole.
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\nLATEST WORLD AMATEUR RANKINGS
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\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Here’s where the current Buffaloes ranked in the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) as of August 27: Hunter Swanson<\/a> (#553), Zeqian “Michael” Fang (#559); Brandon Knight<\/a> (#700), Ty Holbrook<\/a> (#751), Parker Paxton<\/a> (#1492), Tyler Long<\/a> (#1621) and Jackson Rivera<\/a> (#3492; he was ranked as high as #102 before injuries set it in, he’ll zoom back up fairly quickly). Incoming freshman Casey Kosney<\/a> is not yet ranked.
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\nLOOKING AHEAD\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Buffaloes open their 102nd year of collegiate golf in Pullman, competing for the second straight year in Washington State’s Palouse Collegiate on Sept. 9-10.\u00a0\u00a0 CU finished second last September, with a 34-under par team score of 818; Hunter Swanson<\/a> placed fourth with a 12-under 201 (65-67-69) effort.
\n\tGraduated senior Jack “Dutchy” Holland is back home in Australia and has been playing in small local events.\u00a0 He is set to compete in the DP World Tour Q-School from Sept. 16-19.
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