Friday, May 23
Carlsbad, Calif.
All Day
Colorado
vs
First Round
Justin Biwer lines up a putt Friday on day one of the NCAA Championship Final.
Photo by: Simon Broan
Golfers Open In Tie For Eighth At NCAA Championship Finals
May 23, 2025 | Men's Golf
Senior Biwer Leading The Way With a 4-under par 68; Tied For Fourth
CARLSBAD, Calif. — The University of Colorado men's golf team opened play here in the 127th Annual NCAA Championship Finals in a tie for eighth place, the Buffaloes second-best ever start in 17 appearances in the event.
No. 8 ranked and sixth-seed Oklahoma has built a five-stroke lead after the first round, as three Sooners recorded subpar scores contributing to an 8-under par 280 team score. Three are tied for second with 3-under 285 tallies: No. 4 Texas, No. 7 Florida and No. 9 Florida State (the fourth, seventh- and ninth-seeds). Then three more are tied for fifth with 2-under 286 totals: No. 1 Auburn, No. 5 Florida State and No. 12 Illinois (the top, fifth- and 11th-seeds).
Colorado, ranked 29th but is the 22nd seed, hung around even par all round, ranging for the most part between 2-under and 2-over before finishing with a 1-over 289 score, tying the Buffs for eighth with BYU and California. CU and Cal were the "leaders in the clubhouse" after the morning round, though with the staggered starting times of the afternoon schools starting before their rounds were complete, neither actually was ever leading the tournament.
This is CU's 17th appearance in the NCAA Championship Finals dating back to its first in 1947, and it's eighth-place standing after the first round is the second-best of those 17 occasions. The 2002 Buffaloes were in the lead with a 4-under 280 score when play was suspended for the first round, and eventually were in fourth, three out of first, when the round concluded the next morning. The Buffs were 10th after one round in 1968 (10 strokes back), when they went on to post their highest-ever finish – 8th – and were tied for 11th after 18 holes in 1981 on their way to tying for 11th.
Senior Justin Biwer recorded his sixth bogey-free round of the season and the eighth of his career – both school records – firing a 4-under par 68 on the 7,480-yard, par-72 North Course at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa. One of both three-bogey free and 15 rounds in the 60's on the day, it was one off the course record at the time since it was redesigned last year and has him tied for fourth entering the second round. He was under par on all three configurations: minus-1 on the par-3's (tied for the fifth-best in the 156-man field) and par-4's and 2-under on the par-5's.
For Biwer – the Big 12's stroke average leader nearly from wire-to-wire (69.6) – the 68 tied the third-best score by a Buff in the finals, behind only Hale Irwin's 65 in the third round on his way to claiming medalist honors in 1967, and a 5-under 66 by Ben Portie in the first round in 2002.
Born in Laguna Hills, he grew up in southern California, in Thousand Oaks and San Diego, where he attended Torrey Pines High School. He had played the course several times growing up, and playing his final collegiate tournament in his hometown is special to him.
"The course itself is very different – I had played it numerous times before the redesign, but it plays completely different, especially around and on the greens," he said. "The layout I was still familiar with, but the greens are much more challenging than they were. But it was nice to know what I was getting with the golf course, having seen it plenty of times before. My own goals are sort of post-college, and I know I need a good week, and it's definitely extra motivation to come out here and play well in my hometown.
"When we got here on Tuesday, it felt really nice to be back home, and to play a tournament like this back in my hometown, and it being my last college event and the importance of it, is a pretty cool thing."
He played about as well as can be Friday, scoring a team-high four birdies (two each side) and 14 pars for 34's on each nine; the 14 pars tied for the seventh-most Friday, and only 45 players in the field made four or more birds.
"Everything was pretty solid – I hit 13 fairways and 15 greens, and felt I was pretty good with ball striking," Biwer said. "From the last round at the regional (a 5-under 67), I've really tried to pay attention to positioning, where I want to be on the greens, and if I miss them, where can I be to be in position to get it up-and-own. The longest birdie putt I had today was around 40 feet, I didn't have any lag putts. It was truly a stress-free round."
He needed to get up-and-down on hist last hole – the 426-yard, par-4 9th – as his approach was off the green, chipped to just under four feet to save par ("It was my longest par-putt of the day."). He also made up-and-downs on No. 14 – the toughest hole on the course – where he chipped it from about 15 yards off the green to inside a foot, and on No. 7.
Sophomore Brandon Knight fashioned an even-par 72 that has him tied for 39th. After a bogey-par-bogey start on Nos. 10 through 12, he birdied the 162-yard, par-3 16th (one of just 13 scored on 156 attempts Friday), enabling him to get back down to even; he then played the front nine even as well, finishing with three birdies, 12 pars and three bogeys for the round, his first-ever in an NCAA final. He finished even on the par-3's, was 1-under on the par-4's and 1-over on the par-5's.
Senior Dylan McDermott ended round one with a 1-over 73, tying him for 47th. He was the only Buff to open with a birdie, making a 4 on the 596-yard, par-5 10th hole. After making a bogey on No. 16, he ended that side with a birdie on No. 18 to make the turn at 1-under. He was still in the red after a bogey on No. 4 but an immediate birdie on No. 5 (one of just five in the morning and 17 all day on the hole), but a double bogey on the 571-yard, par-5 6th dropped him to the unhappy side of par. He finished up with three pars, however (12 in all), with three birdies opposite two bogeys and that double. He played the par-4's and par-5's even and the par-3's at 1-over.
Sophomore Ty Holbrook carded a 4-over 76, which has him tied for 107th. He was 1-over at the turn and through 11 holes, but he had rough patch where he had two pars and a double to balloon to 5-over; but rallied to birdie the 203-yard, par-3 8th, the "easiest" of the par-3 holes but only saw 14 birdies as it played as the eighth-hardest hole overall. He played the par-3's and par-5's even but th par-4's at 4-over.
Junior Hunter Swanson is tied for 130th after having some struggles on day one, finishing with a 6-over 78. He had a "hat trick of threes" – three birdies, bogeys and double-bogeys – with nine pars, but his last non-par hole on each nine were doubles that helped inflate his score, including for him a rare double on a par-5 (the 571-yard 7th hole; he entered the day 49-under on par-5 holes for the year). He wound up shooting 39's on both sides, and was over par on all layouts (1-over on par-3's, 2-over on par-5's and 3-over on par-4's).
"'Overall a very good start to the tournament," head coach Roy Edwards said. "Justin had a really strong round and was very consistent all day. Dylan hung in there and Brandon's round of even was very good as well. Ty was off his game but really hung in there at the end and did a nice job. Hunter didn't play his best but this is a good course for him and he will have a good rest of the week.
"We will likely end up in the top 10, but there is almost always a big advantage to playing in the morning," he added. "We play in the afternoon tomorrow, when the wind has a tendency to pick up, so we just have to do what we've done all season, and that's staying in the proper mindset. The team's main goal all week is just to be consistent in that mindset and attitude, and our competitiveness today was indicative of that."
Senior Jack Holland is the sixth Buffalo on the trip as the NCAA approved "sixth man," and can be activated to substitute prior to any round, which is allowed for injury, illness or to replace a struggling player. He was the same for the NCAA Northwest Regional and while not seeing action there, he essentially served a third member of the coaching staff.
Texas A&M's Phichaksn Maichon had one of those bogey-free rounds, his 6-under 66 setting a new course record and good for a one-shot lead over two others, who matched the previous championship course record 67.
The second round will be Saturday; the Buffaloes will this time start on the No. 1 and will again be paired with UNLV and Purdue starting in 11-minute intervals at 1:45 p.m. MDT. The third round is Sunday, when after which the field will be cut to 15 teams and nine individuals not associated with those advancing, with the fourth round on Monday (Memorial Day) with the top eight teams qualifying for the match play portion (quarter- and semifinals Tuesday, finals Wednesday).
NOTES: The Buffaloes teed off at 7:25 a.m. local time under cloudy skies and a temperature of 57 degrees … Of the 30 teams competing here, 29 are in the latest top 50 Clippd/Scoreboard rankings (only No. 94 Augusta is outside that number). Through 18 holes, no school ranked lower than CU's 29th is ahead of the Buffs (six top nine teams top the standings) … Two years ago, three of the same five Buffaloes playing, in Scottsdale CU was 12-over (292) after one round, tied for 23rd and 12 stroke out of the lead … CU's best standing after 36 holes in the championships have been a tie for seventh in 1968 (13 out of the lead), eighth in 1981 (also 13 back) and a tie for 10th in 1953, when stroke play ended and the teams went into match play …The average score for all 156 rounds Friday was 74.25; it was 74.78 for the 78 players in the morning round and 73.72 for the same in the afternoon … There were 38 players under par and 8 others who ended even … The eight toughest holes overall Friday, in order, were Nos. 14, 3, 12, 17, 3, 16, 7 and 9; the Buffs played them the third-best at just 2-over (OU played them even, Florida State at plus-1) … Fourteen of the 18 holes played over par; the 517-yard, par-4 14th by far the toughest (+0.55) with No. 3 the second hardest (+0.40): the four Buffs who scored for the team Friday played both even (four pars on No. 14, a birdie, bogey and two pars on No. 3); Augusta, Georgia and Texas joined CU as the only teams to play No. 14 even … Colorado played the par-3's at 1-over (tied for third-best; Florida State is first, 1-under), the par-4's at 5-over (tied for 13th, Florida leads at 2-under) and the par-5's at 1-over (tied for 16th; Oklahoma and Texas both played the best at 9-under) … The Buffs are 13th in birdies (15; OU has 21), are third in pars (58; Georgia has 63), has the second-fewest bogeys (12; UGA had only nine, South Carolina the most with 25); and is tied for 20th in fewest holes worse than bogey (5; four teams had just one) … It was the 49th round in the 60's for Biwer, now one behind McDermott's 50 for the most in CU annals, as well as adding to his school records subpar rounds (82) and those of par or better (101) … In addition to Irwin winning the NCAA individual title in 1967, CU's Merle Backlund was the medalist in stroke play, leading into match play in 1953 … In the Division II Championship, West Florida defeated Colorado Christian in a playoff after both were tied at 2½-2½ in the match play final (CCU were the defending champions).
No. 8 ranked and sixth-seed Oklahoma has built a five-stroke lead after the first round, as three Sooners recorded subpar scores contributing to an 8-under par 280 team score. Three are tied for second with 3-under 285 tallies: No. 4 Texas, No. 7 Florida and No. 9 Florida State (the fourth, seventh- and ninth-seeds). Then three more are tied for fifth with 2-under 286 totals: No. 1 Auburn, No. 5 Florida State and No. 12 Illinois (the top, fifth- and 11th-seeds).
Colorado, ranked 29th but is the 22nd seed, hung around even par all round, ranging for the most part between 2-under and 2-over before finishing with a 1-over 289 score, tying the Buffs for eighth with BYU and California. CU and Cal were the "leaders in the clubhouse" after the morning round, though with the staggered starting times of the afternoon schools starting before their rounds were complete, neither actually was ever leading the tournament.
This is CU's 17th appearance in the NCAA Championship Finals dating back to its first in 1947, and it's eighth-place standing after the first round is the second-best of those 17 occasions. The 2002 Buffaloes were in the lead with a 4-under 280 score when play was suspended for the first round, and eventually were in fourth, three out of first, when the round concluded the next morning. The Buffs were 10th after one round in 1968 (10 strokes back), when they went on to post their highest-ever finish – 8th – and were tied for 11th after 18 holes in 1981 on their way to tying for 11th.
Senior Justin Biwer recorded his sixth bogey-free round of the season and the eighth of his career – both school records – firing a 4-under par 68 on the 7,480-yard, par-72 North Course at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa. One of both three-bogey free and 15 rounds in the 60's on the day, it was one off the course record at the time since it was redesigned last year and has him tied for fourth entering the second round. He was under par on all three configurations: minus-1 on the par-3's (tied for the fifth-best in the 156-man field) and par-4's and 2-under on the par-5's.
For Biwer – the Big 12's stroke average leader nearly from wire-to-wire (69.6) – the 68 tied the third-best score by a Buff in the finals, behind only Hale Irwin's 65 in the third round on his way to claiming medalist honors in 1967, and a 5-under 66 by Ben Portie in the first round in 2002.
Born in Laguna Hills, he grew up in southern California, in Thousand Oaks and San Diego, where he attended Torrey Pines High School. He had played the course several times growing up, and playing his final collegiate tournament in his hometown is special to him.
"The course itself is very different – I had played it numerous times before the redesign, but it plays completely different, especially around and on the greens," he said. "The layout I was still familiar with, but the greens are much more challenging than they were. But it was nice to know what I was getting with the golf course, having seen it plenty of times before. My own goals are sort of post-college, and I know I need a good week, and it's definitely extra motivation to come out here and play well in my hometown.
"When we got here on Tuesday, it felt really nice to be back home, and to play a tournament like this back in my hometown, and it being my last college event and the importance of it, is a pretty cool thing."
He played about as well as can be Friday, scoring a team-high four birdies (two each side) and 14 pars for 34's on each nine; the 14 pars tied for the seventh-most Friday, and only 45 players in the field made four or more birds.
"Everything was pretty solid – I hit 13 fairways and 15 greens, and felt I was pretty good with ball striking," Biwer said. "From the last round at the regional (a 5-under 67), I've really tried to pay attention to positioning, where I want to be on the greens, and if I miss them, where can I be to be in position to get it up-and-own. The longest birdie putt I had today was around 40 feet, I didn't have any lag putts. It was truly a stress-free round."
He needed to get up-and-down on hist last hole – the 426-yard, par-4 9th – as his approach was off the green, chipped to just under four feet to save par ("It was my longest par-putt of the day."). He also made up-and-downs on No. 14 – the toughest hole on the course – where he chipped it from about 15 yards off the green to inside a foot, and on No. 7.
Sophomore Brandon Knight fashioned an even-par 72 that has him tied for 39th. After a bogey-par-bogey start on Nos. 10 through 12, he birdied the 162-yard, par-3 16th (one of just 13 scored on 156 attempts Friday), enabling him to get back down to even; he then played the front nine even as well, finishing with three birdies, 12 pars and three bogeys for the round, his first-ever in an NCAA final. He finished even on the par-3's, was 1-under on the par-4's and 1-over on the par-5's.
Senior Dylan McDermott ended round one with a 1-over 73, tying him for 47th. He was the only Buff to open with a birdie, making a 4 on the 596-yard, par-5 10th hole. After making a bogey on No. 16, he ended that side with a birdie on No. 18 to make the turn at 1-under. He was still in the red after a bogey on No. 4 but an immediate birdie on No. 5 (one of just five in the morning and 17 all day on the hole), but a double bogey on the 571-yard, par-5 6th dropped him to the unhappy side of par. He finished up with three pars, however (12 in all), with three birdies opposite two bogeys and that double. He played the par-4's and par-5's even and the par-3's at 1-over.
Sophomore Ty Holbrook carded a 4-over 76, which has him tied for 107th. He was 1-over at the turn and through 11 holes, but he had rough patch where he had two pars and a double to balloon to 5-over; but rallied to birdie the 203-yard, par-3 8th, the "easiest" of the par-3 holes but only saw 14 birdies as it played as the eighth-hardest hole overall. He played the par-3's and par-5's even but th par-4's at 4-over.
Junior Hunter Swanson is tied for 130th after having some struggles on day one, finishing with a 6-over 78. He had a "hat trick of threes" – three birdies, bogeys and double-bogeys – with nine pars, but his last non-par hole on each nine were doubles that helped inflate his score, including for him a rare double on a par-5 (the 571-yard 7th hole; he entered the day 49-under on par-5 holes for the year). He wound up shooting 39's on both sides, and was over par on all layouts (1-over on par-3's, 2-over on par-5's and 3-over on par-4's).
"'Overall a very good start to the tournament," head coach Roy Edwards said. "Justin had a really strong round and was very consistent all day. Dylan hung in there and Brandon's round of even was very good as well. Ty was off his game but really hung in there at the end and did a nice job. Hunter didn't play his best but this is a good course for him and he will have a good rest of the week.
"We will likely end up in the top 10, but there is almost always a big advantage to playing in the morning," he added. "We play in the afternoon tomorrow, when the wind has a tendency to pick up, so we just have to do what we've done all season, and that's staying in the proper mindset. The team's main goal all week is just to be consistent in that mindset and attitude, and our competitiveness today was indicative of that."
Senior Jack Holland is the sixth Buffalo on the trip as the NCAA approved "sixth man," and can be activated to substitute prior to any round, which is allowed for injury, illness or to replace a struggling player. He was the same for the NCAA Northwest Regional and while not seeing action there, he essentially served a third member of the coaching staff.
Texas A&M's Phichaksn Maichon had one of those bogey-free rounds, his 6-under 66 setting a new course record and good for a one-shot lead over two others, who matched the previous championship course record 67.
The second round will be Saturday; the Buffaloes will this time start on the No. 1 and will again be paired with UNLV and Purdue starting in 11-minute intervals at 1:45 p.m. MDT. The third round is Sunday, when after which the field will be cut to 15 teams and nine individuals not associated with those advancing, with the fourth round on Monday (Memorial Day) with the top eight teams qualifying for the match play portion (quarter- and semifinals Tuesday, finals Wednesday).
NOTES: The Buffaloes teed off at 7:25 a.m. local time under cloudy skies and a temperature of 57 degrees … Of the 30 teams competing here, 29 are in the latest top 50 Clippd/Scoreboard rankings (only No. 94 Augusta is outside that number). Through 18 holes, no school ranked lower than CU's 29th is ahead of the Buffs (six top nine teams top the standings) … Two years ago, three of the same five Buffaloes playing, in Scottsdale CU was 12-over (292) after one round, tied for 23rd and 12 stroke out of the lead … CU's best standing after 36 holes in the championships have been a tie for seventh in 1968 (13 out of the lead), eighth in 1981 (also 13 back) and a tie for 10th in 1953, when stroke play ended and the teams went into match play …The average score for all 156 rounds Friday was 74.25; it was 74.78 for the 78 players in the morning round and 73.72 for the same in the afternoon … There were 38 players under par and 8 others who ended even … The eight toughest holes overall Friday, in order, were Nos. 14, 3, 12, 17, 3, 16, 7 and 9; the Buffs played them the third-best at just 2-over (OU played them even, Florida State at plus-1) … Fourteen of the 18 holes played over par; the 517-yard, par-4 14th by far the toughest (+0.55) with No. 3 the second hardest (+0.40): the four Buffs who scored for the team Friday played both even (four pars on No. 14, a birdie, bogey and two pars on No. 3); Augusta, Georgia and Texas joined CU as the only teams to play No. 14 even … Colorado played the par-3's at 1-over (tied for third-best; Florida State is first, 1-under), the par-4's at 5-over (tied for 13th, Florida leads at 2-under) and the par-5's at 1-over (tied for 16th; Oklahoma and Texas both played the best at 9-under) … The Buffs are 13th in birdies (15; OU has 21), are third in pars (58; Georgia has 63), has the second-fewest bogeys (12; UGA had only nine, South Carolina the most with 25); and is tied for 20th in fewest holes worse than bogey (5; four teams had just one) … It was the 49th round in the 60's for Biwer, now one behind McDermott's 50 for the most in CU annals, as well as adding to his school records subpar rounds (82) and those of par or better (101) … In addition to Irwin winning the NCAA individual title in 1967, CU's Merle Backlund was the medalist in stroke play, leading into match play in 1953 … In the Division II Championship, West Florida defeated Colorado Christian in a playoff after both were tied at 2½-2½ in the match play final (CCU were the defending champions).
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| T4. | Justin Biwer | 34-34—68 |
| T39. | Brandon Knight | 36-36—72 |
| T47. | Dylan McDermott | 38-35—73 |
| T107. | Ty Holbrook | 39-37—76 |
| T130. | Hunter Swanson | 39-39—78 |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| 1. | Phichaksn Maichon, Texas A&M | 32-34—66 |
| T2. | Carter Lofton, Georgia | 33-34—67 |
| T2. | Tommy Morrison, Texas | 33-34—67 |
| T4. | Justin Biwer, Colorado | 34-34—68 |
| T4. | Connor Williams, Arizona State | 34-34—68 |
| T4. | Charlie Berridge, California | 33-35—68 |
| T4. | Jackson Van Paris, Vanderbilt | 35-33—68 |
| TEAM STANDINGS |
| 1. | Oklahoma | 280 |
| 2. | Florida | 285 |
| 2. | Texas | 285 |
| 2. | Florida State | 285 |
| 5. | Arizona State | 286 |
| 5, | Auburn | 286 |
| 5. | Illinois | 286 |
| T8. | COLORADO | 289 |
| T8. | California | 289 |
| T8. | BYU | 289 |
| 11. | Georgia | 291 |
| T12. | Troy | 292 |
| T12. | Texas Tech | 292 |
| T14. | Georgia Tech | 293 |
| T14. | Mississippi | 293 |
| T14. | Oklahoma State | 293 |
| T14. | Pepperdine | 293 |
| T14. | South Florida | 293 |
| T19. | San Diego | 294 |
| T19. | Vanderbilt | 294 |
| 21. | Augusta | 295 |
| 22. | Wake Forest | 296 |
| T23. | New Mexico | 297 |
| T23. | Texas A&M | 297 |
| T25. | Nevada-Las Vegas | 299 |
| T25. | Virginia | 299 |
| T27. | UCLA | 301 |
| 28. | South Carolina | 302 |
| 29. | Tennessee | 304 |
| 30. | Purdue | 307 |
Players Mentioned
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