It took a while to get in the groove, but suffice it to say the Rams have now mastered the Ram Masters Invitational.
Each of the first two years the Colorado State University men’s golf team hosted the tournament at Fort Collins Country Club, 2012 and ’13, it suffered through consecutive runner-up finishes — by one stroke each year, no less.
But since then, the Rams have run off team victories in the event three straight years, including on Tuesday in the fifth time the tournament was conducted.
“This is obviously very special to win three in a row here, and against a really good field,” said CSU head coach Christian Newton, whose Rams notched their fifth team victory since he arrived in Fort Collins in 2012. “We had the biggest field we’ve ever had with 100 players. It was awesome to see the guys come out and compete and defend their home turf.”
With senior Blake Cannon (pictured above getting a victory shower) shooting a bogey-free 6-under-par 64 in the final round and becoming the first CSU player to claim an individual college title since Cameron Harrell in 2013, the Rams rallied on Tuesday to earn a seven-stroke victory over Nevada.
After entering the day four strokes out of the lead, CSU shot a 3-under-par 277 to post a 4-over-par 844 total for 54 holes. Air Force, which shared the 36-hole lead, finished fourth in the 18-team field at 858, while Northern Colorado (879) was 11th, Denver (887) 15th and CSU’s second squad (893) 16th.
Three members of CSU’s title-winning team — Jake Staiano, AJ Ott (left, with Newton) and Jimmy Makloski — are products of Colorado junior golf. A week after placing fourth in the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitatational, Staiano finished 17th individually on Tuesday at 5-over-par 215. Ott, a freshman, was 32nd at 218, and Makloski was 70th at 227.
“I can tell I’ve come a long way,” said Staiano, who posted rounds of 73-71-71. “Last week at Air Force I didn’t have my A-plus game, but to still be able to get a top-5 was nice. And I can tell it’s carrying over.
“We have so many good guys on this team. We have eight or 10 guys who can play, who can really compete on any given week. For us to put that together feels really good.”
Cannon (left), a product of Scottsdale, Ariz., who spent a season and a half at Arizona State before transferring to CSU, earned his first individual college victory. And he was impressive doing it, with his 64 on Tuesday missing Kyler Dunkle’s single-round tournament record by just a stroke. Cannon carded six birdies and no bogeys on a course that certainly wasn’t set up easy. After all, the next-best score on Tuesday was a 67. All told, Cannon’s 7-under-par 203 total was four better than runners-up Brenden Bone (below) of Air Force and Kaleb Gorbahn of Nevada.
“To get my first win, in my senior year, it feels pretty good,” said Cannon, who played in the U.S. Amateur last month. “I’ve been waiting for it for a while. I’ve come close a few times. It’s nice to finally pull through and get it.
“Honestly, I was struggling with a bunch of different injuries between my back and neck so my expectations weren’t overly high this week. But it felt a little better than I expected. All around, I’ve been striking it so well. I just needed my putting and chipping to come around a little bit, and it finally did. Once those synched up, I was able to really take off.”
Said Newton of Cannon’s performance: “For Blake to come out and play today flawlessly was awesome. We haven’t had somebody win a tournament (individually) in three years, so I’m very happy and real proud of him.”
But it was the whole team — Cannon, Colton Yates, Staiano (left), Ott and Makloski — starting out on a torrid pace that set the tone for the team victory. Collectively, the five golfers played the first four holes in 8 under par on Tuesday. And at one point on the front nine, the Rams were 11 under par as a team for the day. So for almost the entire final round, they were the team to beat. And no opponent came close to matching their 277 final-round total.
Yates, who qualified for the U.S. Amateur at Fort Collins Country Club this summer, joined Cannon in the top five individually, placing fourth at 208 despite a triple bogey on the ninth hole Tuesday.
“You never take for granted winning,” Newton said. “You never know when the next one might come. I hope these boys enjoy it. It obviously means a lot.
“The course is tough — firm and fast — and it’s not like we usually see it. So it’s nice to see them have success in a real major-championship-type setup. It was awesome.”
Ram Masters Invitational
Sept. 19-20, 2016 at Par-70 Fort Collins CC
1. Colorado State 284-283-277–844
1. Blake Cannon 70-69-64–203
4. Colton Yates 68-69-71–208
17. Jake Staiano 73-71-71–215
32. AJ Ott 73-74-71–218
70. Jimmy Makloski 76-77-74–227
4. Air Force Academy 281-282-295–858
2. Brenden Bone 69-68-70–207
9. Sunwoo Choi 65-70-77–212
28. Todd Millard 73-70-74–217
65. Joshua Wu 74-78-74–226
76. Bryant Falconello 77-74-77–228
11. Northern Colorado 286-292-301–879
21. Li Chen 71-71-74–216
46. Coby Welch 76-70-75–221
52. Joshua Matz 73-73-76–222
65. Andrew Romano 72-78-76–226
89. Philip Lee 70-84-79–233
15. Denver 299-296-292–887
21. Chris Korte 74-72-70–216
52. Jake Kelley 71-75-76–222
65. Isaac Petersilie 79-74-73–226
76. Petter Mikalsen 75-80-73–228
89. Troy Dangler 79-75-79–233
16. Colorado State B 302-304-287–893
34. Max Oelfke 69-78-72–219
34. Logan Iverson 76-71-72–219
70. Alec Bone 79-75-73–227
76. Kyle Kidd 78-80-70–228
95. Pierce Aichinger 79-80-78–237
Also
21. Victor Bjorlow, Colorado 75-70-71–216
41. Sam Marley, UNC 69-79-72–220
41. Tate Tatom, Air Force 72-74-74–220
64. Ryan Schmitz, Colorado 76-72-77–225
70. Eric Hagen, DU 76-78-73–227
82. Turner Howe, Air Force 76-80-74–230
82. Jack Li, Colorado 77-74-79–230
87. Kade Crossland, Colorado 79-73-80–232
87. Coloradan Glenn Workman, Wyoming 76-78-78–232
