Men's Golfers Open In Tie For 20th In Stanford's The Goodwin

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of Colorado men's golf team was hanging in until late in the afternoon before settling in a tie for 20th place after Thursday's first round in Stanford's "The Goodwin."
 
After 18 holes there is a three-way tie for first between No. 7-ranked Tennessee, No. 22 Georgia and host and No. 44 Stanford, all of whom recorded 1-under 279 team scores.  No. 43 Brigham Young (an even 280) and No. 54 Pepperdine (281) rounded out the top five.  Sixteen teams are within 11 strokes of the lead, thus Friday figures to be the usual separation day in the team standings.
 
The No. 62 Buffaloes are tied with three other teams after posting a 13-over 293 score.  Colorado was fluctuating between six- and seven-over par but lost seven strokes over the last five holes by those who wound up scoring Thursday, dropping the Buffs from 12th into 20th.
 
This is one of the most competitive tournaments of golf's regular season; of the 31 schools here, 10 are ranked in Scoreboard's latest top 50, 18 in the top 75 and 22 in the top 100; 306 teams are ranked nationally.  But after the morning round when 15 teams competed, it was 117th-ranked UC Davis the leader in the clubhouse with a 2-over 282, with No. 73 Utah second at 284.
 
Freshman Brandon Knight, playing about 35 miles west of his native Pleasanton and where he went to Foothill High School, led the Buffaloes with a 1-over 71 on the 7,193-yard, par-70 TPC Harding Park course configuration.  Tied for 28th, he had two birdies and 13 pars against three bogeys, but unfortunately two of those came on his final two holes (Nos. 8 and 9); otherwise he would have been in contention to shoot one of Thursday's few numbers in the 60s.  He played the par-4's at 1-under, tied for seventh-best in the massive field of 168 players, and tied for 15th with the 13 pars.
 
Junior Justin Biwer fashioned a 2-over 72 that has him tied for 45th.  He opened with nine straight pars, but on the front side, he went bogey-birdie-par twice in a row and remained even with three holes to play.  But he would bogey Nos. 7 and 8 and then finish with a par; the 8th hole was the second toughest of the round (+0.52), but the 9th was toughest (+0.53) as over half the field scored bogey or worse.  He did well on the par-4's, playing them even on the day, tying for 20th-best in the field.
 
Dylan McDermott is tied for 92nd after opening with a 4-over 74.  He found his way to that effort with two birdies and 10 pars opposite six bogeys.  After getting off to a poor start with four bogeys in the first five holes, he settled down with pars on the next four holes and then scored both his birdies to get back to 2-over at one point.  He also played the par-4's even like Biwer, a good sign since six of the seven toughest holes for the round were par-4's.
 
Junior Tucker Clark is tied for 137th with a 6-over 76, essentially due to a pair of double bogeys.  Otherwise, he had a birdie, 12 pars and three bogeys.  He started with six straight pars before a rough stretch on holes 16 through 2 where he was 5-over par.  He played the par-3's the best of the Buffaloes at even, tied for 13th-best in the field.
 
Sophomore Hunter Swanson had some uncharacteristic struggles for the third straight round, turning in a 6-over 76 that also has him tied for 137th.  He managed three birdies and six pars but had nine bogeys, five of the latter coming in a row between holes 17 and 3, but were sandwiched by his three birds.  How rare is it for Swanson to shoot 76 or higher?  Out of 65 career rounds, he's only done it eight times.
 
Clemson's Jonathan Nielson holds the individual lead after one round, as he fired a 4-under 66; he had four birdies and no bogeys on his day.  That is good for a one-stroke lead over Stanford's Karl Vilips and UC Davis' Leo Metzger.
 
"'It was a really nice round from Brandon," CU head coach Roy Edwards said.  "He looked really good all day. We actually played some of the toughest holes pretty well but we really struggled on the easiest holes. Tomorrow the weather will be bad and have a good opportunity to move up the leaderboard.'
 
Case in point: there were only 16 birdies on the 449-yard, par-4 2nd hole.  Biwer and McDermott had two of those; Tennessee had three and no other team more than one.
 
Colorado started on No. 10 in the afternoon Thursday but will start off No. 1 Friday at 9 a.m. MDT.  The Buffaloes will be paired with the same three schools as they were in the first round, Oregon State, Pepperdine and Washington State.  The third and final round is Saturday; the top 16 teams in the standings will play in the afternoon (2 p.m. MDT, the leaders off last), with the rest of the field to play in the morning (9 a.m.).
  
NOTES: CU played in the afternoon in near perfect weather for the most part, sunny skies and 60 degrees when the players started teeing off at 1 p.m. Pacific Time; the winds picked up a bit toward the middle of the round gusting up to 12-15 miles per hour … Rain is a possibility Tuesday, however … This is the second straight year Stanford's holding its event at TPC Harding Park; the Buffs finished 12th out of 28 teams (Oklahoma did not return to defend its title) … The last time CU played in a tournament with 31 or more teams was nearly 40 years ago; the Buffs were one of 32 competing in the 1984 NCAA Championships in Houston; the last one during the regular season as the Fresno State-Pepsi Classic with 31 schools in the fall of 1982 …  The average score for Thursday's 168 rounds was 73.22 (73.78 for 88 rounds in the morning, 72.60 for the 80 in the afternoon) … only 20 players finished under par (13 of those at just minus-1), with seven others matching it, but just five scores in the 80's (four 80's and an 82)  … How tough is TPC Harding? With many of the best amateurs in the world competing, there were no eagles in the first round and just one in the second (by Georgia's Ben Van Wyk) … The Buffs are tied for 20th in pars (53; Oregon leads with 63), while making the 16th-most birdies (10, UC Davis and Stanford top the list with 19) … Colorado played the par-4's the 12-best at-10 over, but were well down the line on the par-3's (tied for 23rd, 8-over) and the par-5s (tied for 25th, plus-1).