The last time the University of Colorado men’s golf team had won an invitational tournament, Kevin Kring was a wet-behind-the-ears freshman in his first month of college golf.
On Tuesday, when the Buffs ended a three-year victory drought at their Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, Kring was a grizzled veteran — at least by college standards — and the time between wins seemed like an eternity.
“It’s been a long time coming, that’s for sure,” Kring said. Indeed, at that last win, the University of Denver’s Ron Moore Invitational in 2008, Buffs by the names of Pat Grady and Derek Tolan finished 1-2 overall. They graduated from the CU program almost 2 1/2 years ago.
Later that season, in the spring of 2009, Grady would win another tournament. That was the last individual victory by a Buff — until Tuesday. Junior Beau Schoolcraft, who redshirted last season after transferring from UCLA, shared the Simpson Invite title at Colorado National Golf Club with San Diego’s Alex Ching, one of the top college players in the country.
So all in all, it was a season-opening tournament to remember for the Buffs, who didn’t finish better than fifth in an invitational all of last season, and failed to qualify for the NCAA regional tourney they hosted.
“We were pretty bad last year and a lot of these guys were on that team,” CU coach Roy Edwards said. “They wanted to prove something, and the fact that they came out and did that this week is extremely gratifying for a coach. It’s great to see these guys be successful because they deserve it.”
Schoolcraft (pictured at left), a former state high school champion from Kent Denver, birdied his final hole — a 233-yard par-3 — from 25 feet on Tuesday to shoot a 1-over-par 73 and finish at 11-under 205. Later, Ching sank an 8-foot birdie on No. 18 to post a 70 and clinch a share of the top spot. There was no playoff, so the players tied for the title.
That 25-footer “was the longest putt I made all week, so it was really a good way to end, especially after having a frustrating day on the greens,” said Schoolcraft, who was making his tournament debut for the Buffs.
“Beau’s college career hasn’t been exactly how he had it scripted, but here he is in his first tournament as a Buff and he wins the thing,” Edwards said. “That’s just who he is. It’s pretty impressive to see.”
Schoolcraft was only playing as an individual in the tournament, so his scores didn’t count toward CU’s team total, but the Buffs still won by five strokes over 2010 champion New Mexico. CU finished with a 24-under-par 840 total. Kring led the way among those who contributed to the Buffs’ team score, finishing fifth at 7-under-par 209. Junior Jason Burstyn also cracked the top 10, placing ninth at 213.
New Mexico put on a final-day charge in its title defense, shooting an 11-under 277 on Tuesday. But the Buffs came on strong down the stretch to prevail. Kring and Burstyn birdied two of their last three holes, while Sebastian Heisele and David Oraee birdied one of their last two.
“We didn’t back into (the title),” Edwards said. “New Mexico played an incredibly good round and we had to come back at the end to beat them.”
All told, the way CU broke out of the gate for the new season surprised even some of the Buffs themselves.
“I knew we had a good team, but I didn’t know we were going to be this good, to be quite honest,” Kring said. “This certainly sets the bar really high. … We could go really far playing like this.”
As for the other Colorado-based schools, Colorado State placed sixth (868) on Tuesday, while Air Force was 11th (886) and Northern Colorado was 15th (907). Senior Zahkai Brown (ninth with a 213 total) earned a top-10 individual showing for CSU.
Meanwhile, in the CGA Collegiate High School Championship held concurrently with the Simpson Invitational, 2011 U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier Connor Klein of Highlands Ranch High School won by four strokes with a 7-over-par 223 total.
Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational
At Par-72 Colorado National Golf Club in Erie
Team scores — 1. Colorado 282-278-280–840; 2. New Mexico 286-282-277–845; 3. Oklahoma 283-285-288–856; 4. San Diego 285-282-290–857; 5. New Mexico State 290-288-289–867; 6. Colorado State 284-294-290–868; 7. Wyoming 289-282-299–870; 8. Kansas 294-292-286–872; 9. Nevada 289-294-298–881; 10. Gonzaga 293-295-296–884; 11. Air Force 296-291-299–886; 12. Houston Baptist 297-298-296–891; 13. Texas-El Paso 294-301-300–895; 14. Utah 302-297-304–903; 15. Northern Colorado 304-292-311–907.
Top Individuals — 1. (tie) Beau Schoolcraft*, CU, 66-66-73–205; Alex Ching, San Diego, 69-66-70–205; 3. John Catlin, New Mexico, 71-67-69–207; 4. Justin Shin, New Mexico State, 67-70-71–208; 5. (tie) Kevin Kring, CU, 69-70-70–209; Abraham Ancer, Oklahoma, 66-71-72–209; 7. (tie) Zachery Fullerton, New Mexico State, 72-70-69–211; James Erkenbeck, New Mexico, 71-73-67–211; 9. (tie) Zahkai Brown, CSU, 67-74-72–213; Chris Gilbert, Kansas, 73-72-68–213; Victor Perez, New Mexico, 70-74-69–213; Jason Burstyn, CU, 70-73-70–213; Grant Forrest, San Diego, 71-69-73–213.
Other CU Scores — 14. Sebastian Heisele 72-74-68–214; 15. Derek Fribbs 71-65-79–215; 18. Johnny Widmer* 70-75-71–216; 47. David Oraee 81-70-72–223; 84. John Ahern* 76-86-81–243.
Other CSU Scores — 24. Mike Sorenson 72-75-71–218; 24. Kirby Pettitt 72-72-74–218; 50. Cameron Harrell 73-73-78–224; 53. Steve Sorenson* 77-73-75–225; 62. Mike Wuertz 79-76-73–228.
Air Force Scores — 36. Kyle Westmoreland 72-74-75–221; 41. Caleb Leestma 74-70-78–222; 47. Andrew Hoops 76-73-74–223; 60. Philip Colwell 74-74-79–227; 62. Blake Jones 79-77-72–228; 73. Wes Denny* 76-77-78–231.
UNC Scores — 47. Steven Kupcho 75-73-75–223; 53. Jake Hutton 78-71-76–225; 62. Charlie Mroz 72-75-81–228; 81. Kevin Collignon 79-80-79–238; 82. Ben Krueger 80-73-87–240.
* — Competing only as an individual.
CGA COLLEGIATE HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP
Connor Klein, Highlands Ranch, 73-74-76–223; Jimmy Makloski, Pueblo South, 73-77-77–227; Cole Nygren, Alexander Dawson, 77-74-76–227; Ben Moore, Kent Denver, 73-78-78–229; Chris Beabout, Cherry Creek, 77-76-79–232; Jake Staiano, Valor Christian, 73-81-79–233; Ryan Pettegrew, Highlands Ranch, 82-75-80–237; Hayden Nicholaides, Lutheran 79-82-87–248.
