Colorado men’s golf takes second in Palo Alto

Jack Holland drives the ball from the tee box on Friday. The senior finished 1-under on the day. (Photo via CUBuffs.com)

PALO ALTO, Calif. – The Colorado Buffaloes claimed another second-place finish at The Goodwin.  

The Buffs put themselves in a great spot to win their second tournament of the season, leading the group of 30 universities at Stanford Golf Course after the first round. A lackluster second round brought the Buffs back to even par heading into the third round. A strong Saturday bumped Colorado to second on the leaderboard, finishing 2-under 838, nine strokes more than the victorious UCLA Bruins. 

Ty Holbrook finished the tournament 1-under as the only Buff under par. The Granbury, Texas native shot well in the first and final rounds but oddly struggled in the second. Holbrook shot more bogeys in the second round (five) than in the first and third rounds combined (three).

In the final round, Holbrook helped boost the Buffs in the standings with a 3-under score. He finished tied at No. 12 individually. The sophomore could have competed for the individual title if not for his out-of-character second round. 

Senior Justin Biwer continued his dominant play for the Buffaloes. Biwer shot 1-under in the first, contributing to the Buffs sitting atop the leaderboard.

Like the rest of the black and gold, Biwer also struggled in the second round. He shot 3-over with a double bogey on hole eight (par-3). The senior was on fire to start the third round, shooting 5-under on the front nine. Back-to-back double bogeys on the back nine dropped Biwer’s final score to even par. 

Hunter Swanson shot seven birdies in the first round, ending the day at 3-under and tied at No. 3 individually. The junior stayed in the upper echelon of golfers with an even-par second round but was unable to make a late jump on the leaderboard. Swanson shot 6-over in the third round, dropping his final score to 3-over. 

Jack Holland struggled in the first round. He shot 7-over with six bogeys, six pars, four birdies, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey. The senior cleaned it up quickly, being the only Buff to finish under par in the second round.

Holland’s combined score of 1-under in the second and third rounds was a team-high. Despite his late success, the Australian tied at No. 55 individually with a score of 6-over. 

After shooting 9-over and finishing tied for No. 6 in his last tournament, veteran Dylan McDermott finished the Goodwin with the worst score out of the Colorado quintet.

While he wasn’t the lowest-scoring golfer in any one round, McDermott had the fourth-best score on the team every day. The senior shot 1-over in the first and 3-over in the final two rounds to combine for a score of 7-over. 

A second-place finish should not be satisfying for the Buffs anymore. With this marking the fifth time Colorado has placed second this season, the team must find a way to push over the final hump and bring home more hardware. 

Once the black and gold can string together a couple of wins, they can be considered a national championship contender. 

The Buffaloes have a quick turnaround, traveling to Tennessee to compete in the Mason Rudolph Championship hosted by Vanderbilt, starting on Friday.