Wednesday, April 23
Tulsa, Okla.
All Day
Colorado
vs
Third Round
Brandon Knight "came off the bench" and carded a 2-over 72 Wednesday.
Photo by: Seth Pringle
Golfers In Sixth After Three Rounds Of Big 12 Championship
April 23, 2025 | Men's Golf
Buffaloes In Middle of Logjam Between Third And 10th
TULSA — The University of Colorado men's golf team are smack in the middle of an eight-team logjam – sitting in sixth place – after the third round was completed here Wednesday of in the 28th Annual Big 12 Championships.
The leaders flip-flopped in the third round, with No. 5 Oklahoma State utilizing the only subpar team score of the round – a 4-under 276 – to vault into first with a 1-over 841 score. No. 4 Arizona State dropped into second after a 6-over 286 placed it six strokes back of the Cowboys at 7-over 847.
The Buffaloes were in a five-way tie for fourth place after the first round, finished day one in fourth, one shot out of third but one ahead of fifth, with six schools looming six strokes back; the logjam only loosened a bit Wednesday. No. 41 Houston moved into third with a 26-over 866 total, with No. 54 TCU in fourth with an 867 count; No. 62 Kansas State grabbed the fifth spot (870), then come the 34th-ranked Buffs at 33-over 873. CU recorded a 12-over 292 total in round three, which tied the ninth-best score for the day.
Just seven strokes separate sixth and 10th; Colorado is still leading four ranked teams ahead of it at this point of the championship, No. 14 Utah, No. 20 Arizona, No. 25 BYU and No. 33 Texas Tech.
Senior Justin Biwer is tied for 14th after fashioning CU's best round of the day – a 1-over 71 – as he has a 7-over 217 heading into the final 18 holes on the 7,556-yard, par-70 Southern Hills Country Club course. He had a steady day with two birdies and 14 pars with one bogey and a double, the latter coming on the 456-yard, par-4 12th, but he came right back and made birdie on the 632-yard, par-5 13th. After opening with nine straight pars, his other birdie came on No.10, with his bogey on No. 15 keeping him from recording an even par score. He did close with a par on No. 18 (a 491-yard, par-4) that has played the toughest in each round (just four birdies total and well over have bogey or worse). He's played the par-5's at 3-under and the par-3's and par-4's both at 5-over.
Senior Dylan McDermott is tied for 18th after an uncharacteristic 6-over 76 – his high score of the season – and stands at an 8-over 218 through 54 holes. Coming off CU's best round here – a 2-under 68 in Tuesday's seconds – for whatever reason, he couldn't get untracked Wednesday, opening with three straight bogeys and thus was battling from the unhappy side of par all day. He had three birdies and seven pars opposite a season-high seven birdies and a double en route to the 76.
Incidentally, Biwer and McDermott have become the 26th and 27th Buffaloes in history to compete in four conference championship events dating back to George Brown doing so from 1929 through 1932.
Junior Hunter Swanson is tied for 35th after a 3-over 73 the third time around the Southern Hills track, as has an 11-over 221 total. His lone birdie came on the 251-yard, par-3 8th hole – one of just 12 birdies on the hole for the in 240 attempts through three rounds – and made the turn at 1-over; he doubled the par-5 13th hole, a rarity for him as he been under par on the par-5 holes in 21 of his last 22 events, including 12 meets in a row (he's 1-over on the six combined here thus far). In addition to the birdie and double, he had 14 pars and two bogeys.
Sophomore Ty Holbrook carded a 6-over 76 to give him a 54-hole total of 11-over 221, thus also tying him for 35th. His third round was a bit adventurous to say the least, as he had three birdies, seven pars, seven bogeys and one double; he had six of his pars on the front nine and made the turn at 1-over, but went "bogey-double-bogey-bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie-par-bogey" on the back side for a bit of a rollercoaster ride. He's playing the par-5's at 1-over and the other two configurations both at 5-over.
Sophomore Brandon Knight was activated by the coaches to be a designated scorer for the third round after sitting out Tuesday. In recording a 2-over 72, he opened with 16 pars – extending a streak to 21 straight holes of par or better including his last time out – before he bogeyed the 371-yard, par-4 17th and then closing with another on No. 18. He was flirting with the only other known occasion where a Buff parred all 18 holes in a round, which Beau Schoolcraft accomplished in the third round of the 2012 Wyoming Cowboy Classic in Scottsdale; two others recorded 17 pars in a round. At 2-over, he has the best performance of the seven players that have substituted in through three rounds.
Senior Tucker Clark sat out Wednesday, though helped wherever he could with his teammates. He struggled in the first two rounds, ending in 75th with a 19-over 80-79—159 score.
"Just a tough day overall, but I am still very proud of the competitiveness we are showing and how the guys stayed in it mentally despite not having our best today," head coach Roy Edwards said. "Brandon did a great job coming in mid-tournament and provided a bit of a boost. A good round tomorrow will put us in position for a high finish."
There's a three-way tie for the individual lead among Arizona State's Connor Williams and Jose Luis Ballester, who were tied at the midway point, and Houston's Wolfgang Glawe. All have 1-under par 209 totals, and thus are the only three players in the red at this juncture.
The fourth and final round is set to get underway at 6 a.m. mountain time Thursday (just 21 minutes after sunrise in Tulsa as tee times have been moved up 30 minutes to expedite the finish before projected afternoon thunderstorms). Colorado will be paired with the Kansas State, Texas Tech and Arizona and will tee off on No. 1 to start the event from the get-go.
NOTES: Partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-70's dominated the round, the wind picking up at times but not as big a factor as on Tuesday … For an interesting comparison, the SEC is playing its title affair on a par-70 course some 550 yards shorter than the Big 12 layout, and nine teams are under par and three others just 1-over, which is the SCIRP leading here … … The average score for all 239 rounds thus far is 74.06; it was 73.38 for the third round, the lowest of the three; yet, only three players are under par with three others in at even (42 players are 10-plus over par, with seven 20+) … Only three eagles (one each round) have been scored thus far … Colorado is playing the par-3's at 19-over (remaining tied for 13th; OSU is first at even-par), but the par-4's still at third-best at 37-over (ASU and OSU top the field at 18-over) and the par-5's at 2-over (tied for 12th; Kansas State leads at 6-under) … The Buffs are tied for ninth in birdies with 28 birdies (Okie State leads with 42), are sixth with 164 pars (OSU had 176) and are sixth in bogeys with 70 (Baylor has 80, OSU the fewest with 47), however the Buffs have the fourth-fewest doubles or worse (8) … Sixteen of the 18 holes are still paying over par on average through three rounds, with the exception of the 214-yard, par-3 6th and the 632-yard, par-5 13th; the seven toughest remained the same through 54 holes (in order, Nos. 18, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15 and 7): CU's scorers played those at just 5-over Wednesday (and 23-over for the three rounds; Okie State also played them at 5-over in the third round, while ASU did so at 9-over) … This is CU's first appearance in the Big 12 title meet since 2011 before the school joined the Pac-12 for 13 years … Overall, nine of the nation's top 50 (13 of the top 75) with 28 of the top 150 individuals are competing here (14 of the top 50).
The leaders flip-flopped in the third round, with No. 5 Oklahoma State utilizing the only subpar team score of the round – a 4-under 276 – to vault into first with a 1-over 841 score. No. 4 Arizona State dropped into second after a 6-over 286 placed it six strokes back of the Cowboys at 7-over 847.
The Buffaloes were in a five-way tie for fourth place after the first round, finished day one in fourth, one shot out of third but one ahead of fifth, with six schools looming six strokes back; the logjam only loosened a bit Wednesday. No. 41 Houston moved into third with a 26-over 866 total, with No. 54 TCU in fourth with an 867 count; No. 62 Kansas State grabbed the fifth spot (870), then come the 34th-ranked Buffs at 33-over 873. CU recorded a 12-over 292 total in round three, which tied the ninth-best score for the day.
Just seven strokes separate sixth and 10th; Colorado is still leading four ranked teams ahead of it at this point of the championship, No. 14 Utah, No. 20 Arizona, No. 25 BYU and No. 33 Texas Tech.
Senior Justin Biwer is tied for 14th after fashioning CU's best round of the day – a 1-over 71 – as he has a 7-over 217 heading into the final 18 holes on the 7,556-yard, par-70 Southern Hills Country Club course. He had a steady day with two birdies and 14 pars with one bogey and a double, the latter coming on the 456-yard, par-4 12th, but he came right back and made birdie on the 632-yard, par-5 13th. After opening with nine straight pars, his other birdie came on No.10, with his bogey on No. 15 keeping him from recording an even par score. He did close with a par on No. 18 (a 491-yard, par-4) that has played the toughest in each round (just four birdies total and well over have bogey or worse). He's played the par-5's at 3-under and the par-3's and par-4's both at 5-over.
Senior Dylan McDermott is tied for 18th after an uncharacteristic 6-over 76 – his high score of the season – and stands at an 8-over 218 through 54 holes. Coming off CU's best round here – a 2-under 68 in Tuesday's seconds – for whatever reason, he couldn't get untracked Wednesday, opening with three straight bogeys and thus was battling from the unhappy side of par all day. He had three birdies and seven pars opposite a season-high seven birdies and a double en route to the 76.
Incidentally, Biwer and McDermott have become the 26th and 27th Buffaloes in history to compete in four conference championship events dating back to George Brown doing so from 1929 through 1932.
Junior Hunter Swanson is tied for 35th after a 3-over 73 the third time around the Southern Hills track, as has an 11-over 221 total. His lone birdie came on the 251-yard, par-3 8th hole – one of just 12 birdies on the hole for the in 240 attempts through three rounds – and made the turn at 1-over; he doubled the par-5 13th hole, a rarity for him as he been under par on the par-5 holes in 21 of his last 22 events, including 12 meets in a row (he's 1-over on the six combined here thus far). In addition to the birdie and double, he had 14 pars and two bogeys.
Sophomore Ty Holbrook carded a 6-over 76 to give him a 54-hole total of 11-over 221, thus also tying him for 35th. His third round was a bit adventurous to say the least, as he had three birdies, seven pars, seven bogeys and one double; he had six of his pars on the front nine and made the turn at 1-over, but went "bogey-double-bogey-bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie-par-bogey" on the back side for a bit of a rollercoaster ride. He's playing the par-5's at 1-over and the other two configurations both at 5-over.
Sophomore Brandon Knight was activated by the coaches to be a designated scorer for the third round after sitting out Tuesday. In recording a 2-over 72, he opened with 16 pars – extending a streak to 21 straight holes of par or better including his last time out – before he bogeyed the 371-yard, par-4 17th and then closing with another on No. 18. He was flirting with the only other known occasion where a Buff parred all 18 holes in a round, which Beau Schoolcraft accomplished in the third round of the 2012 Wyoming Cowboy Classic in Scottsdale; two others recorded 17 pars in a round. At 2-over, he has the best performance of the seven players that have substituted in through three rounds.
Senior Tucker Clark sat out Wednesday, though helped wherever he could with his teammates. He struggled in the first two rounds, ending in 75th with a 19-over 80-79—159 score.
"Just a tough day overall, but I am still very proud of the competitiveness we are showing and how the guys stayed in it mentally despite not having our best today," head coach Roy Edwards said. "Brandon did a great job coming in mid-tournament and provided a bit of a boost. A good round tomorrow will put us in position for a high finish."
There's a three-way tie for the individual lead among Arizona State's Connor Williams and Jose Luis Ballester, who were tied at the midway point, and Houston's Wolfgang Glawe. All have 1-under par 209 totals, and thus are the only three players in the red at this juncture.
The fourth and final round is set to get underway at 6 a.m. mountain time Thursday (just 21 minutes after sunrise in Tulsa as tee times have been moved up 30 minutes to expedite the finish before projected afternoon thunderstorms). Colorado will be paired with the Kansas State, Texas Tech and Arizona and will tee off on No. 1 to start the event from the get-go.
NOTES: Partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-70's dominated the round, the wind picking up at times but not as big a factor as on Tuesday … For an interesting comparison, the SEC is playing its title affair on a par-70 course some 550 yards shorter than the Big 12 layout, and nine teams are under par and three others just 1-over, which is the SCIRP leading here … … The average score for all 239 rounds thus far is 74.06; it was 73.38 for the third round, the lowest of the three; yet, only three players are under par with three others in at even (42 players are 10-plus over par, with seven 20+) … Only three eagles (one each round) have been scored thus far … Colorado is playing the par-3's at 19-over (remaining tied for 13th; OSU is first at even-par), but the par-4's still at third-best at 37-over (ASU and OSU top the field at 18-over) and the par-5's at 2-over (tied for 12th; Kansas State leads at 6-under) … The Buffs are tied for ninth in birdies with 28 birdies (Okie State leads with 42), are sixth with 164 pars (OSU had 176) and are sixth in bogeys with 70 (Baylor has 80, OSU the fewest with 47), however the Buffs have the fourth-fewest doubles or worse (8) … Sixteen of the 18 holes are still paying over par on average through three rounds, with the exception of the 214-yard, par-3 6th and the 632-yard, par-5 13th; the seven toughest remained the same through 54 holes (in order, Nos. 18, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15 and 7): CU's scorers played those at just 5-over Wednesday (and 23-over for the three rounds; Okie State also played them at 5-over in the third round, while ASU did so at 9-over) … This is CU's first appearance in the Big 12 title meet since 2011 before the school joined the Pac-12 for 13 years … Overall, nine of the nation's top 50 (13 of the top 75) with 28 of the top 150 individuals are competing here (14 of the top 50).
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| .T14. | Justin Biwer | 72-74-71—217 |
| T18. | Dylan McDermott | 74-68-76—218 |
| T35. | Ty Holbrook | 73-72-76—221 |
| T35. | Hunter Swanson | 76-72-73—221 |
| --- | Brandon Knight | XX-XX-72— 72 |
| --- | Tucker Clark | 80-79-XX—159 |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| T1. | Jose Luis Ballester, Arizona State | 68-71-70—209 |
| T1. | Wolfgang Glawe, Houston | 70-71-68—209 |
| T1. | Connor Williams, Arizona State | 70-66-73—209 |
| T4. | Preston Stout, Oklahoma State | 70-70-70—210 |
| T4. | Eric Lee, Oklahoma State | 71-73-66—210 |
| T4. | Joe Pagdin, TCU | 74-69-67—210 |
| TEAM STANDINGS |
| 1. | Oklahoma State | 286-279-276—841 |
| 2. | Arizona State | 277-284-286—847 |
| 3. | Houston | 295-287-284—866 |
| 4. | TCU | 297-283-287—867 |
| 5. | Kansas State | 295-292-283—870 |
| 6. | COLORADO | 295-286-292—873 |
| 7. | Texas Tech | 299-288-287—874 |
| 8. | Arizona | 299-288-289—876 |
| 9. | Cincinnati | 290-294-293—877 |
| 10. | Utah | 295-299-286—880 |
| 11. | Kansas | 295-297-292—884 |
| 12. | Brigham Young | 291-296-300—887 |
| 13. | West Virginia | 302-300-290—892 |
| 14. | Baylor | 300-301-297—898 |
| 15. | Central Florida | 298-305-297—900 |
| 16. | Iowa State | 306-297-298—901 |
Players Mentioned
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