Coloradans Kyler Dunkle and Spencer Painton have battled it out on the golf course more times than either can probably remember over the years — from junior golf to high school and now in the open-age-division amateur ranks and in college.
But Tuesday was really special for the golfers who won consecutive 5A Colorado state high school individual titles in 2012 (Dunkle beat Painton by one) and ’13 (Painton).
Not only did they go head-to-head for the individual title at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, but the team championship was also on the line between Painton’s University of Colorado Buffs and Dunkle’s Utah Utes.
Basically, it doesn’t get much better than this for two young golfers from Colorado — except that only one of them could win.
On Tuesday, that someone was Dunkle, who shot an 8-under-par 64 in the final round to overtake Painton and claim the individual title — his first as a college player. He then birdied the first hole of a team playoff to help give the Utes the team championship — though for statistical and rankings purposes it goes down as a tie for the top spot with Colorado. (Dunkle is pictured with host coach Roy Edwards from CU.)
When Dunkle emerged with the victory individually and Painton placed second, it was the best college showing for both players. Dunkle tied the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational tournament record for both 54-hole and 18-hole scoring, while Painton tied CU’s all-time 54-hole scoring record — matching the marks of current CU assistant coach Pat Grady, John Lindberg and Philip Juel-Berg.
“It was really fun to compete against Spencer,” Dunkle said after his final round, which included 10 birdies. “Him and I have a long history of competing. It was really fun for us to go back and forth. We were kind of joking about it, but it was fun to be able to compete and play as well as I did.”
When both players birdied the 11th hole on Tuesday — with Painton pitching in from 26 yards and Dunkle sinking a 12-foot putt — the two savored the moment.
“It was fun to be a part of,” Painton said. “After I chipped in on 11 and he made birdie on 11, we kind of reminisced how much fun we had a few years ago in high school when were doing this with each other too. We both firmly believe this is where we belong and this is what we should be doing more often against each other.”
With his stellar final round — when he played his final 14 holes in 9 under par, including the playoff — Dunkle (left) finished with a 14-under-par 202 total, which matched the tournament best in this event, established by Colorado State’s Kirby Pettitt in 2012.
“It feels great to play some really good golf for three rounds in a row,” said Dunkle, a junior who’s in his second season at Utah after transferring from CSU. “Collectively, that was probably some of the best golf I’ve played this year. It felt good. I was hitting the ball well and I was making the putts.”
Dunkle’s previous best individual showing in a college tournament was at the 2015 Ram Masters Invitational, where he placed fourth after an opening-round 63 at Fort Collins Country Club.
“This is probably one of the best (rounds) I’ve ever played,” the 2016 CGA Player of the Year said of Tuesday’s 64. “I didn’t make a lot of mistakes. Something clicked (after five holes, when he was even-par for the day) and I never really looked back. It ended up being pretty good.”
As for notching his first college victory, “It feels really good,” he said. “Hopefully there’s more to come. If I can keep playing like this, I’ll give myself a chance. It kind of solidies for me that what I’ve been working hard on in Salt Lake is starting to pay off.”
As for Painton (left), he was denied his first individual college victory, but he went 65-70-69 to finish at 204, two back of Dunkle. Certainly plenty was going right for him to post a college career-best runner-up finish.
“Yesterday was the first time I’ve shot 65 (as a college player) and it’s the first tournament I’ve been double digits under par,” Painton said. “So a lot of things are going in the right direction and I’m very happy with that.”
Said CU coach Edwards: “Spencer played really well this week, and he handled basically being in the lead for the entire tournament. He’s a guy who works really hard and is a great team guy. He’s playing the best golf of his life. It’s awesome to see that from such a good young man.”
And while Painton certainly wanted to win, he can take some consolation that he was beaten by a guy who shot a final-round 64.
“What Kyler (below) did today was unbelievable — with both his long game and the putter,” Painton said. “He deserves every ounce of that. It was fun to watch.”
Meanwhile, also posting top-10 finishes from Colorado-based schools on Tuesday were Bryant Falconello of the Air Force Academy (fourth at 207) and fellow Falcon Joseph Crisostomo (fifth at 209).
In the team playoff, CU was trying to win its Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational for the fifth consecutive year, but it wasn’t to be — statistical college technicalities aside. With the best four scores out of five counting toward the team total, CU and Utah each sent its five players out for sudden death on the 18th hole at Colorado National.
With two fivesomes playing the hole, Utah finished with two birdies and three pars, while CU had three pars and two bogeys.
“Officially in the rankings and everything, it goes in as a tie,” Edwards said. “But we wanted to do a playoff if we could. It’s rare to have that opportunity. Even though we lost, it’s a great opportunity to have the guys feel that pressure and accountability. You can’t recreate those in practice.
“Obviously, we wanted to win, but I felt good about the day, especially the way we competed. We shot the second-low round of the day (7-under-par 283, behind only Utah’s 277). I probably don’t think we played our best, but I felt good about how we went about it.”
Colorado — which played without one of its top golfers, senior Yannik Paul, who was battling back issues — and Utah finished with three-round scores of 22-under-par 842. Victor Bjorlow, told just before Monday’s first round that he was replacing Paul, finished 14th individually Tuesday with a 212 total. Also placing in the top 15 for the Buffs was sophomore Daniel O’Loughlin (211, 12th place). Out of its five players, the Buffs only made one bogey in the final 12 holes on Tuesday.
“I’m slightly disappointed considering this is our home turf,” Painton said of CU losing in a playoff. “You never want to lose in your home event, on your home turf. We were in a tough situation. We came straight from a tough tournament last week (Friday and Saturday in Albuquerque). And Yannik has a little bit of a back injury. Overall, we fought hard and did what we could, but it wasn’t quite good enough. The Utes deserve it. To be completely honest, I think all of us are a little bit tired and ready for a nice little break. But we gave it our best.”
Wyoming placed third at 846, while Air Force was sixth at 861 and Northern Colorado ninth at 866. A second CU squad, led by freshman Trevor Olkowski’s 18th-place individual finish, checked in 18th as a team at 885.
Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational
At Par-72 Colorado National GC in Erie
2. (out of 20 teams) Colorado 275-286-281–842
2. Spencer Painton 65-70-69–204
12. Daniel O’Loughlin 68-72-71–211
14. Victor Bjorlow 70-73-69–212
24. John Souza 72-71-72–215
99. Ross Macdonald 77-78-77–232
6. Air Force Academy 283-287–291–861
4. Bryant Falconello 69-68-70–207
5. Joseph Crisostomo 71-68-70–209
51. Tate Tatom 71-75-73–219
87. Andy Germann 73-76-78–227
107. Dane Hankamer 72-79-90–241
24. Turner Howe (competing only as individual) 74-70-71–215
95. Anson Kuznik (competing only as individual) 73-81-75–229
99. Joshua Wu (competing only as individual) 77-75-80–232
9. Northern Colorado 288-289-289–866
18. Andrew Romano 69-74-70–213
30. Coby Welch 73-69-74–216
43. Joshua Matz 75-74-69–218
57. Li Chen 71-72-77–220
96. Sam Marley 76-79-76–231
105. Marcus Tait (competing only as individual) 77-77-82–236
18. Colorado B Team 295-287-303–885
18. Trevor Olkowski 68-72-73–213
64. Cole Krantz 73-71-77–221
78. Kade Crossland 77-73-75–225
82. Wilson Belk 77-71-78–226
Also
1. Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, Utah 70-68-64–202
30. Coloradan Glenn Workman, Wyoming 73-71-72–216
34. Jack Ainscough, Colorado State 73-72-72–217
