The scenic 189-yard, par-3 16th hole at Golf Mountain Golf Club
Photo by: Rob Perry Photography
Golfers Ready For NCAA Championship
May 10, 2025 | Men's Golf
Regional Play Begins Monday In Washington
BREMERTON, Wash. — The 32nd-ranked University of Colorado men's golf team arrived here in the Pacific Northwest here Friday with designs on not ending one of the best seasons in school history in the same state it started in last September, as the Buffaloes are one of 14 teams set to begin play in the NCAA Northwest/Washington Regional on Monday.
The Buffs opened the '24-25 season in the Evergreen State, though on the opposite end with a second place finish in Washington State's Palouse Collegiate. For CU to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals later this month in Carlsbad, Calif., the Buffaloes must finish in the top five of the team standings.
CU is the No. 6 seed here, equaling its highest-ever (also in 2017) since the regional format came into play in 1989.
"We've had a great year so far and are looking forward to continue working and getting even better," head coach Roy Edwards said of his 32nd-ranked Buffalo team, the highest at this juncture of the season in his 19 years leading the program. "The team is hungry and motivated. It's a great regional site as Gold Mountain is one of the best championship courses in college golf. It will be a great test and will reward five worthy teams."
"The team is quite focused," he added. "We still use last year's challenging fall season, which is what kept us out in 2023-24, as motivation to work hard and work on the right things. We joke around about having a 'sense of urgency' but in order to be remotely competitive at the top levels of college athletics you have to bring a sense of urgency in absolutely everything that you do. This team does a great job of bringing that energy every day."
Edwards cited two main attributes that have contributed to the team's success, which includes one win, six runner-up efforts and nine top five finishes in 12 tournaments to date (and in the upper half of the other three, no placing lower than seventh).
"I would say that the team's competitiveness and their collective will to work every day to improve," he responded to the inquiry. "These have been the biggest factors in having the year we have had so far."
Each team is allowed six players, the sixth as an alternate: CU's starting lineup has two seniors, Justin Biwer and Dylan McDermott, junior Hunter Swanson and sophomores Ty Holbrook and Brandon Knight; senior Jack Holland is here and can be activated for either the second and/or the third round in the event that a player suffers an injury, illness or is struggling in play. At the recent Big 12 Championships, Biwer tied for 14th, McDermott tied for 17th, Swanson tied for 34th and Holbrook tied for 43rd; Knight "came off the bench" and provided a key pair of 2-over 72's, while Holland did not participate.
"We had a really good finish to the (final) round after a rough start," Edwards said. "Again, I was really impressed with the team's fight and competitiveness. Everyone did this really well but Dylan especially. This week was an amazing opportunity to get better and learn about ourselves and there is no question we took full advantage of that. Southern Hills tests absolutely every part of your game and we saw what we had all week. An upper division finish in a field with likely 13 teams that will make the NCAA regionals is a really strong event (11 would make it, with three sending individuals).
"The six guys on the NCAA team are all ready to go," Edwards said. "Lots of talent, lots of experience, they understand how to play the game. Derek (Tolan, associate head coach) and I feel very comfortable taking this group to Washington. We have played really nice golf all year but I believe we haven't played our 'best' yet and I expect us to get here this month."
Edwards took the time to cite the role Tolan – who was on Edwards' first three CU teams, has played in the team's success.
"Derek is the best," he exclaimed. "In golf, it is an 'all hands-on deck' approach to everything, and Derek is willing to do anything to get better. The guys really respond to Derek. He is a great player who really knows how to communicate and teach what is best for each individual guy, not just what works best for him, and that is an important characteristic of a high-level coach."
Biwer leads the team in stroke average with a 69.50 figure, with McDermott right behind at 69.65; those numbers rank 1-2 in the Big 12 but are also the seventh- and 10th-best in the nation. Swanson has the league's 11th-best average (70.63), with Knight 20th (71.04) and Holbrook (71.33); Holland owns a 71.72 norm, but is just three rounds shy of the minimum number needed to make the list (he has 18).
Biwer will become the eighth Buffalo to play in four NCAA Championships, two with the full team, two as an individual. He is joining Rick Cramer (1979-80-81-82); Bobby Kalinowski (1991-94); Matt Zions (1999-2002; Kane Webber (2000-01-02-04); Derek Tolan (2006-07-08-09); Phillip Juel-Berg (2013-14-15-16) and Yannik Paul (2014-15-17-18).
The field includes (in seed order with Clippd/Scoreboard ranking as of May 7): No. 5 Arizona State, No. 8 Florida, No.17 Utah, No. 20 South Carolina, No. 29 South Florida, No. 32 Colorado, No. 41 Charlotte, No. 44 Kansas, No. 54 Colorado State, No. 57 Kansas State, No. 68 Elon, No. 85 Coastal Carolina, No. 130 Oral Roberts and No. 140 Seattle.
The Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club is hosting a regional for the third time, and will play to a par-72 and 7,167 yards for the first and third rounds, and a shade shorter at 7,114 for round two.
"Gold Mountain is a great golf course. It has been an under-the-radar top championship course, hosting many of the best tournaments in college golf and for the USGA," Edwards noted. "I can't imagine a better course for a regional – it is fair, yet challenging, and tests all parts of a player's game."
Colorado played a practice round Saturday at Tacoma Golf & Country Club; all teams will play a shotgun practice round at Gold Mountain at 11 a.m. MDT on Sunday, and the regional will begin at 9 a.m. mountain time on all three competition days. The Buffaloes will be paired with No. 4-seed Utah and No. 5-seed South Carolina and will start on the 10th tee in their bid to return to the NCAA Finals for the second time in three years. Live scoring can be found on-line at https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/236556/scoring/team.
NOTES: The NCAA started adopting the sixth-man format eight years ago where teams can enter six players, with five designated scorers and the sixth utilized as a substitute or the preferred word, "alternate" … All five Buff seniors – Biwer, Holland, McDermott, Tucker Clark and Freddy Eisenbeis – graduated on Thursday, keeping a perfect 100 percent graduate rate for all 42 players Edwards has had on his rosters in his 19 seasons … Colorado owns a 162-26-2 record against Division I competition thus far this season, fourth-best in the nation with an 85.8 winning percentage, but is first in overall wins … Biwer was named CU's Male Career Athletic Achievement Award winner at the school's CUSPY's (CU Sports Performers of the Year Awards) for all sports in late April, and this past Wednesday at the team's senior banquet, he was selected by his coaches, teammates and those who support the program as the recipient of the David Plati/Mr. Buffalo Award (given to the player who most exemplifies what it means to be a Colorado Buffalo, including dedication, loyalty and work ethic) … The highest CU has been ranked this season was 27th back in March; a reminder that 308 teams play in Division I … Gold Mountain previously hosted the 2008 and 2015 regionals, won by USC and Alabama-Birmingham, both by two strokes respectively; those two seasons Colorado was sent to the Midwest (Ohio and Indiana) … This will be the first time CU will play as a team in an NCAA event in the state of Washington (in 2021 in Pullman, Daniel O'Loughlin represented the Buffs as an individual) ... CU is one of a record 11 Big 12 Conference schools that earned a trip to the postseason ... The top five teams out of 14 competing will advance to the NCAA Finals, set for May 23-28 in Carlsbad, Calif. (the University of Texas will host at Omni La Costa Resort Champions Course) ... Five teams will also advance to the Finals out of five other regionals, along with the top individual not associated with the five teams that qualify will also advance to the Finals.
GEOGRAPHY SNAPSHOT: Bremerton is located off the Sinclair Inlet about 15 miles west of Seattle; the University of Washington is serving as the host institution. Its average elevation is 39 feet, which bodes well for the Buffaloes –in the three events CU has competed in this season where the elevation has been under 100 feet, CU has finished second: Hawaii's Ka'anapali Classic (3-10'), San Diego's Lamkin (72') and Stanford's "The Goodwin" (30').
The Buffs opened the '24-25 season in the Evergreen State, though on the opposite end with a second place finish in Washington State's Palouse Collegiate. For CU to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals later this month in Carlsbad, Calif., the Buffaloes must finish in the top five of the team standings.
CU is the No. 6 seed here, equaling its highest-ever (also in 2017) since the regional format came into play in 1989.
"We've had a great year so far and are looking forward to continue working and getting even better," head coach Roy Edwards said of his 32nd-ranked Buffalo team, the highest at this juncture of the season in his 19 years leading the program. "The team is hungry and motivated. It's a great regional site as Gold Mountain is one of the best championship courses in college golf. It will be a great test and will reward five worthy teams."
"The team is quite focused," he added. "We still use last year's challenging fall season, which is what kept us out in 2023-24, as motivation to work hard and work on the right things. We joke around about having a 'sense of urgency' but in order to be remotely competitive at the top levels of college athletics you have to bring a sense of urgency in absolutely everything that you do. This team does a great job of bringing that energy every day."
Edwards cited two main attributes that have contributed to the team's success, which includes one win, six runner-up efforts and nine top five finishes in 12 tournaments to date (and in the upper half of the other three, no placing lower than seventh).
"I would say that the team's competitiveness and their collective will to work every day to improve," he responded to the inquiry. "These have been the biggest factors in having the year we have had so far."
Each team is allowed six players, the sixth as an alternate: CU's starting lineup has two seniors, Justin Biwer and Dylan McDermott, junior Hunter Swanson and sophomores Ty Holbrook and Brandon Knight; senior Jack Holland is here and can be activated for either the second and/or the third round in the event that a player suffers an injury, illness or is struggling in play. At the recent Big 12 Championships, Biwer tied for 14th, McDermott tied for 17th, Swanson tied for 34th and Holbrook tied for 43rd; Knight "came off the bench" and provided a key pair of 2-over 72's, while Holland did not participate.
"We had a really good finish to the (final) round after a rough start," Edwards said. "Again, I was really impressed with the team's fight and competitiveness. Everyone did this really well but Dylan especially. This week was an amazing opportunity to get better and learn about ourselves and there is no question we took full advantage of that. Southern Hills tests absolutely every part of your game and we saw what we had all week. An upper division finish in a field with likely 13 teams that will make the NCAA regionals is a really strong event (11 would make it, with three sending individuals).
"The six guys on the NCAA team are all ready to go," Edwards said. "Lots of talent, lots of experience, they understand how to play the game. Derek (Tolan, associate head coach) and I feel very comfortable taking this group to Washington. We have played really nice golf all year but I believe we haven't played our 'best' yet and I expect us to get here this month."
Edwards took the time to cite the role Tolan – who was on Edwards' first three CU teams, has played in the team's success.
"Derek is the best," he exclaimed. "In golf, it is an 'all hands-on deck' approach to everything, and Derek is willing to do anything to get better. The guys really respond to Derek. He is a great player who really knows how to communicate and teach what is best for each individual guy, not just what works best for him, and that is an important characteristic of a high-level coach."
Biwer leads the team in stroke average with a 69.50 figure, with McDermott right behind at 69.65; those numbers rank 1-2 in the Big 12 but are also the seventh- and 10th-best in the nation. Swanson has the league's 11th-best average (70.63), with Knight 20th (71.04) and Holbrook (71.33); Holland owns a 71.72 norm, but is just three rounds shy of the minimum number needed to make the list (he has 18).
Biwer will become the eighth Buffalo to play in four NCAA Championships, two with the full team, two as an individual. He is joining Rick Cramer (1979-80-81-82); Bobby Kalinowski (1991-94); Matt Zions (1999-2002; Kane Webber (2000-01-02-04); Derek Tolan (2006-07-08-09); Phillip Juel-Berg (2013-14-15-16) and Yannik Paul (2014-15-17-18).
The field includes (in seed order with Clippd/Scoreboard ranking as of May 7): No. 5 Arizona State, No. 8 Florida, No.17 Utah, No. 20 South Carolina, No. 29 South Florida, No. 32 Colorado, No. 41 Charlotte, No. 44 Kansas, No. 54 Colorado State, No. 57 Kansas State, No. 68 Elon, No. 85 Coastal Carolina, No. 130 Oral Roberts and No. 140 Seattle.
The Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club is hosting a regional for the third time, and will play to a par-72 and 7,167 yards for the first and third rounds, and a shade shorter at 7,114 for round two.
"Gold Mountain is a great golf course. It has been an under-the-radar top championship course, hosting many of the best tournaments in college golf and for the USGA," Edwards noted. "I can't imagine a better course for a regional – it is fair, yet challenging, and tests all parts of a player's game."
Colorado played a practice round Saturday at Tacoma Golf & Country Club; all teams will play a shotgun practice round at Gold Mountain at 11 a.m. MDT on Sunday, and the regional will begin at 9 a.m. mountain time on all three competition days. The Buffaloes will be paired with No. 4-seed Utah and No. 5-seed South Carolina and will start on the 10th tee in their bid to return to the NCAA Finals for the second time in three years. Live scoring can be found on-line at https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/236556/scoring/team.
NOTES: The NCAA started adopting the sixth-man format eight years ago where teams can enter six players, with five designated scorers and the sixth utilized as a substitute or the preferred word, "alternate" … All five Buff seniors – Biwer, Holland, McDermott, Tucker Clark and Freddy Eisenbeis – graduated on Thursday, keeping a perfect 100 percent graduate rate for all 42 players Edwards has had on his rosters in his 19 seasons … Colorado owns a 162-26-2 record against Division I competition thus far this season, fourth-best in the nation with an 85.8 winning percentage, but is first in overall wins … Biwer was named CU's Male Career Athletic Achievement Award winner at the school's CUSPY's (CU Sports Performers of the Year Awards) for all sports in late April, and this past Wednesday at the team's senior banquet, he was selected by his coaches, teammates and those who support the program as the recipient of the David Plati/Mr. Buffalo Award (given to the player who most exemplifies what it means to be a Colorado Buffalo, including dedication, loyalty and work ethic) … The highest CU has been ranked this season was 27th back in March; a reminder that 308 teams play in Division I … Gold Mountain previously hosted the 2008 and 2015 regionals, won by USC and Alabama-Birmingham, both by two strokes respectively; those two seasons Colorado was sent to the Midwest (Ohio and Indiana) … This will be the first time CU will play as a team in an NCAA event in the state of Washington (in 2021 in Pullman, Daniel O'Loughlin represented the Buffs as an individual) ... CU is one of a record 11 Big 12 Conference schools that earned a trip to the postseason ... The top five teams out of 14 competing will advance to the NCAA Finals, set for May 23-28 in Carlsbad, Calif. (the University of Texas will host at Omni La Costa Resort Champions Course) ... Five teams will also advance to the Finals out of five other regionals, along with the top individual not associated with the five teams that qualify will also advance to the Finals.
GEOGRAPHY SNAPSHOT: Bremerton is located off the Sinclair Inlet about 15 miles west of Seattle; the University of Washington is serving as the host institution. Its average elevation is 39 feet, which bodes well for the Buffaloes –in the three events CU has competed in this season where the elevation has been under 100 feet, CU has finished second: Hawaii's Ka'anapali Classic (3-10'), San Diego's Lamkin (72') and Stanford's "The Goodwin" (30').
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