Kirby Pettitt knocked on the door last week. This time around, the Colorado State University golfer broke down the door and barged right into the winner’s circle.
The senior matched his best round ever in relation to par, shooting an 8-under-par 64 Tuesday at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie to notch the first college victory of his career.
Pettitt made two eagles in the final round of the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational to win by three strokes. The victory comes a week after he placed third individually in CSU’s own Ram Masters Invitational.
“This is great,” he said. “My goal for a little over a year has been to win a college tournament. That was the next step for me to take with my game, to see where I rank against some of the best college golfers.
“This field wasn’t super strong, but anytime you can shoot 14 under, you’re doing something right.”
In the team competition, both CSU and host CU put on a charge in Tuesday’s final round, but came up a little short of the title. The Buffs shot a 13-under-par 275 on Tuesday — the third-lowest round in program history — to finish at 19-under 845, two strokes behind champion Oregon State. With 279s each of the last two rounds, CSU placed third in the 14-team field, at 847.
A week after the Rams fell a shot out of a share of the team title at the Ram Masters Invitational, Pettitt was disappointed they came up a little short again.
“It’s a bad taste in my mouth, I can tell you that,” he said. “No (offense) to my teammates, but I shoot 8 under (on Tuesday) and think we’ve got to have a chance to win. Unfortunately they’re all right around par and we couldn’t get a couple more scores under par. But that makes us hungry. Team success is probably most important to me because at the end of the year the chances of going to the national tournament are a hell of a lot better with the other four guys and the two coaches.”
Said first-year CSU head coach Christian Newton: “Obviously Kirby did his part and the other four guys played good. If you’re going to knock off a great team like Oregon State, we have to play better than just good.”
Pettitt (pictured with assistant coach Bret Guetz) was one of several Colorado-based players to post top-10 finishes on Tuesday. CU’s Derek Fribbs (67 Tuesday for a 207 total) was third, while teammate David Oraee (69-210) was seventh and John Hayes (73-211) ninth.
The University of Denver’s Oskar Arvidsson (73 Tuesday) and Victor Doka (72) tied for 10th at 212 with Air Force’s Kyle Westmoreland (69) and Kansas’ Alex Gutesha, a Colorado resident (72).
Pettitt’s victory marked the second consecutive tournament at which a Ram has captured the individual title. Redshirt freshman Jordan Wetsch pulled off the feat at the Ram Masters Invite last week.
Pettitt, who made match play at the U.S. Amateur Public Links over the summer, shot his 64 on Tuesday despite three-putting the first hole for bogey. But over the final two rounds, that was his only bogey, while he recorded the two eagles and 10 birdies. On both of his eagles, he hit a hybrid from about 245 yards to 10 feet from the pin.
“It was fun to make those and keep the momentum going,” he said.
Pettitt won the tournament despite being 2 over par through his first five holes on Monday.
“You’ve got to continue giving yourself opportunities out here,” he said. “I thought I did a great job of that. I didn’t hit it into trouble and didn’t make a double bogey all week. And I think I had one three-putt.”
Meanwhile, in the CJGA Collegiate High School Invitational held in conjunction with the Simpson Invitational, Kent Denver senior Ethan Freeman carded a 7-under-par 207 total off the same tees the college golfers played. Had the two-time 3A state champion been playing in the college event, he would have tied for fifth.
As it was, Freeman, who has verbally committed to play for CU next season, finished a whopping 14 strokes ahead of his nearest high school competition. Pueblo South’s Jimmy Makloski, the 2012 CGA Junior Stroke Play champion, was runner-up out of the nine high school standouts, posting a 223 total.
“This gives me confidence that my game is college-ready, and that I can go into CU and play for them right away, and I can be a factor,” said Freeman, who will be seeking his third 3A state title next week.
Here are the scores of all the high school players who competed in the CJGA Collegiate High School Invitational: Ethan Freeman, Glenmoor CC 69-69-71–209; Jimmy Makloski, Pueblo CC 77-68-78–223; Andrew Romano, Colorado Golf Club 70-78-76–224; Jack Cummings, Omni Interlocken Resort GC 75-78-73–226; Ross Macdonald, Ridge at Castle Pines North 78-75-74–227; Joshua Seiple, Castle Pines Golf Club 82-72-73–227; Colin Prater, Broadmoor GC 74-80-74–228; Kyler Dunkle, The Club at Pradera 77-72-79–228; Chris Korte, The Links Golf Club 81-76-76–233.
Here are the scores of the Colorado-based college teams that played in the Simpson Invitational:
2. Colorado 290-280-275–845
3. Derek Fribbs 70-70-67–207; 7. David Oraee 73-68-69–210; 20. Beau Schoolcraft 72-73-69–214; 27. Philip Juel-Berg 75-71-70–216; 52. Jason Burstyn 75-71-76–222. Competing only as individuals: 9. Johnny Hayes 71-67-73–211; 35. Drew Trujillo 71-72-75–218; 74. Tyler Engel 83-69-77–229; Ross Thornton 74-DQ-78.
3. Colorado State 289-279-279–847
1. Kirby Pettitt 71-67-64–202; 20. Kory Harrell 72-70-72–214; 25. Parker Edens 72-70-73–215; 47. Cameron Harrell 74-74-73–221; 47. Jordan Wetsch 79-72-70–221. Competing only as individual: 47. Dominic Kieffer 76-71-74–221.
7. Northern Colorado 292-283-286–861
20. Charlie Mroz 73-69-72–214; 25. Steven Kupcho 73-72-70–215; 27. Steve Connell 72-73-71–216; 35. Conner Barr 76-69-73–218; 58. Ben Krueger 74-75-74–223. Competing only as individual: 69. Jason Pearce 75-76-76–227.
8. Denver 295-278-292–865
10. Oskar Arvidsson 70-69-73–212; 35. ChunJi Kim 73-68-77–218; 35. Ole Ramsnes 75-72-71–218; 41. Jordan Burgess 79-69-71–219; 75. Arti Edelman 77-75-78–230; Competing only as individual: 10. Victor Doka 70-70-72–212.
9. Air Force Academy 295-284-288–867
10. Kyle Westmoreland 73-70-69–212; 27. Andrew Hoops 73-71-72–216; 35. Jack Howard 72-69-77–218; 65. Todd Berglund 80-74-71–225; 76. Blake Jones 77-79-76–232. Competing only as individual: 78. Matthew Dunn 79-75-81–235.
