Hunter Swanson returns as CU's lone senior for the '25-26 campaign.
Photo by: Ashton Scott
Men's Golfers Set To Open '25-26 Season Tuesday In The Pacific Northwest
September 07, 2025 | Men's Golf
Edwards Begins His 20th Season As CU’s Head Coach
BOULDER — The University of Colorado men's golf team will open the fall portion of its schedule this Tuesday, Sept. 9, heading to the Pacific Northwest for the second straight season to participate in Washington State's Palouse Collegiate.
Two rounds are scheduled for Tuesday and the final 18 on Wednesday at Palouse Ridge Golf Club, a 7,302-yard, par-71 that opened in 2008. It's one of the higher courses outside of the Rocky Mountain region, with an average elevation of 2,600 feet. The weather forecast at present has high temperatures around 70 degrees with a 50 percent chance of rain showers both days.
The event was most friendly to the Buffaloes last September, as CU finished second with a 34-under par team score, the fourth-best by a CU team in relation to par (with the team total of 818 the second-lowest gross score). Four CU duffers finished in the top 25, three in the top 15 as the six competing Buffs a year ago recorded scores of par or better in 15 of 18 rounds.
Colorado is in its 20th season under head coach Roy Edwards, who mentored one of the best teams in the program's history last year. But the Buffaloes lost five seniors to graduation from that '24-25 squad, including one of the best 1-2 duos in school history, Justin Biwer and Dylan McDermott. Between the two, they combined to set 44 school records while tying 17 others, including most of the major scoring marks. Thus, the natural question is can the Buffs keep that momentum or even build on it from a team that won one tournament, with six runner-up finishes along with two third places, one of which came in the NCAA regional. The Buffs finished 23rd in the NCAA Finals and were ranked 32nd in the final Clippd/Scoreboard computer poll 34th in the GCAA/Coaches poll.
However, this edition of the Buffaloes has also gained some respect from the outset: Golfweek ranked CU 26th in its return to creating national rankings, while the coaches pegged the Buffaloes 32nd in their preseason poll. Colorado returns five lettermen from the '24-25 unit, most of whom saw plenty of action, combining for 139 rounds among them and a healthy 72.01 stroke average.
In addition to host WSU and the Buffaloes, the 12-team field includes Boise State, Eastern Washington, Fresno State, Idaho, Oregon State, Pacific, Santa Clara, San Jose State, Seattle and Southern Illinois.
Edwards held four qualifying rounds over the past week at various challenging courses around the metro area, and it was extremely competitive from top to bottom among the CU roster. Earning the top spot was sophomore Parker Paxton, who finished with a 7-under 73-67-70-71—281 total to best junior Ty Holbrook by three shots. Holbrook did have the low score in the four qualifiers, a 7-under 65 in the opening round at Colorado National Golf Club, CU's home course. The other courses included CNGC for the second round, TPC Colorado (Championship Course) and Bear Creek Golf Club.
Six players will make the trip to Pullman; in addition to Paxton and Holbrook, the other three designated scorers will be senior Hunter Swanson, junior Brandon Knight and freshman Tyler Long. First-year graduate student Jackson Rivera will participate as an individual.
Paxton earned the No. 1 spot for opener by winning the qualifier; he appeared in seven tournaments for CU as a true freshman, all as an individual. This will be the first time his score will count in the team scoring. Long is the first freshman to make CU's initial starting scorers since 2022, when Swanson performed well in Notre Dame's Fighting Irish Classic, where he tied for 32nd (out of 84 players) with a 1-over 71-67-73—211 effort.
Swanson paced the Buffaloes last year in Pullman, finishing fourth overall with a 12-under 65-67-69—201 scorecard. It was one of the best performances of his career, as he had 15 birdies with 36 pars and only three bogeys. Knight tied for 25th with a 4-under 66-71-72—209 performance, while Holbrook tied for 48th with a solid 1-over 73-70-71—214 performance.
The other two players on Colorado's 8-man roster, sophomore Michael Fang and freshman Casey Kosner will compete individually the following two days in Colorado State's Ram Masters Invitational (Sept. 11-12) at Fort Collins Country Club.
"'We're excited to get started in Pullman," Edwards said. "We let qualifying do the talking for us with the lineup with guys being very competitive. Hunter, being our only senior, has really taken a leadership role both from the golf/sport side but also from just being a friend and gathering the team for various outings. Michael and Casey will have an opportunity to compete at Colorado State so everyone will get some tournament data on the board right from the start. If we work hard and play with confidence and discipline, I expect us to once again be a very good team."
Colorado will be paired with the host Cougars, Oregon State and Pacific for Tuesday's first two rounds, and will begin play on holes 1 through 4 in a shotgun format at 9 a.m. MDT. The final round on Wednesday will commence at 8:45 a.m. (also a shotgun start).
NOTES: Edwards is now the 12th coach to serve as a head coach of a CU athletic program for at least 20 seasons, the third in men's golf, behind Les Fowler and Mark Simpson, both of whom coached for 29 seasons, Fowler from 1948 through 1976, Simpson from January 1977 to December 2005. The others: Frank Potts, Men's Cross Country & Track (41 seasons, 1927-68); Charles Vavra, Men's Gymnastics (32, 1930-61); Richard Rokos, Men's & Women's Skiing (31, 1991-2021); Mark Wetmore, Men's & Women's Cross Country/Track & Field (29, 1995/96-2023/24); Anne Kelly, Women's Golf (27, 1997-2024); Frank Prentup, Baseball (24, 1946-69); Sox Walseth, Men's (20) & Women's (3) Basketball (23, 1956-76; 1980-83); Ceal Barry, Women's Basketball (22; 1983/84-2004/05); and Dick Gray, Men's Tennis (22, 1946-67) … As was the case last year, the 756 miles between Boulder and Pullman are the fifth-longest road trip to open a season in CU history; the 999 miles to South Bend on two occasions (2004, 2022) to play in Notre Dame's meet, followed by 949 miles for San Francisco's Olympic Club tourney in 2008 and then 933 miles to Pebble Beach for St. Mary's home meet in 2007. It remains one of the rare times Colorado's first tournament of the season isn't in the state, or nearby in New Mexico or Wyoming.
Two rounds are scheduled for Tuesday and the final 18 on Wednesday at Palouse Ridge Golf Club, a 7,302-yard, par-71 that opened in 2008. It's one of the higher courses outside of the Rocky Mountain region, with an average elevation of 2,600 feet. The weather forecast at present has high temperatures around 70 degrees with a 50 percent chance of rain showers both days.
The event was most friendly to the Buffaloes last September, as CU finished second with a 34-under par team score, the fourth-best by a CU team in relation to par (with the team total of 818 the second-lowest gross score). Four CU duffers finished in the top 25, three in the top 15 as the six competing Buffs a year ago recorded scores of par or better in 15 of 18 rounds.
Colorado is in its 20th season under head coach Roy Edwards, who mentored one of the best teams in the program's history last year. But the Buffaloes lost five seniors to graduation from that '24-25 squad, including one of the best 1-2 duos in school history, Justin Biwer and Dylan McDermott. Between the two, they combined to set 44 school records while tying 17 others, including most of the major scoring marks. Thus, the natural question is can the Buffs keep that momentum or even build on it from a team that won one tournament, with six runner-up finishes along with two third places, one of which came in the NCAA regional. The Buffs finished 23rd in the NCAA Finals and were ranked 32nd in the final Clippd/Scoreboard computer poll 34th in the GCAA/Coaches poll.
However, this edition of the Buffaloes has also gained some respect from the outset: Golfweek ranked CU 26th in its return to creating national rankings, while the coaches pegged the Buffaloes 32nd in their preseason poll. Colorado returns five lettermen from the '24-25 unit, most of whom saw plenty of action, combining for 139 rounds among them and a healthy 72.01 stroke average.
In addition to host WSU and the Buffaloes, the 12-team field includes Boise State, Eastern Washington, Fresno State, Idaho, Oregon State, Pacific, Santa Clara, San Jose State, Seattle and Southern Illinois.
Edwards held four qualifying rounds over the past week at various challenging courses around the metro area, and it was extremely competitive from top to bottom among the CU roster. Earning the top spot was sophomore Parker Paxton, who finished with a 7-under 73-67-70-71—281 total to best junior Ty Holbrook by three shots. Holbrook did have the low score in the four qualifiers, a 7-under 65 in the opening round at Colorado National Golf Club, CU's home course. The other courses included CNGC for the second round, TPC Colorado (Championship Course) and Bear Creek Golf Club.
Six players will make the trip to Pullman; in addition to Paxton and Holbrook, the other three designated scorers will be senior Hunter Swanson, junior Brandon Knight and freshman Tyler Long. First-year graduate student Jackson Rivera will participate as an individual.
Paxton earned the No. 1 spot for opener by winning the qualifier; he appeared in seven tournaments for CU as a true freshman, all as an individual. This will be the first time his score will count in the team scoring. Long is the first freshman to make CU's initial starting scorers since 2022, when Swanson performed well in Notre Dame's Fighting Irish Classic, where he tied for 32nd (out of 84 players) with a 1-over 71-67-73—211 effort.
Swanson paced the Buffaloes last year in Pullman, finishing fourth overall with a 12-under 65-67-69—201 scorecard. It was one of the best performances of his career, as he had 15 birdies with 36 pars and only three bogeys. Knight tied for 25th with a 4-under 66-71-72—209 performance, while Holbrook tied for 48th with a solid 1-over 73-70-71—214 performance.
The other two players on Colorado's 8-man roster, sophomore Michael Fang and freshman Casey Kosner will compete individually the following two days in Colorado State's Ram Masters Invitational (Sept. 11-12) at Fort Collins Country Club.
"'We're excited to get started in Pullman," Edwards said. "We let qualifying do the talking for us with the lineup with guys being very competitive. Hunter, being our only senior, has really taken a leadership role both from the golf/sport side but also from just being a friend and gathering the team for various outings. Michael and Casey will have an opportunity to compete at Colorado State so everyone will get some tournament data on the board right from the start. If we work hard and play with confidence and discipline, I expect us to once again be a very good team."
Colorado will be paired with the host Cougars, Oregon State and Pacific for Tuesday's first two rounds, and will begin play on holes 1 through 4 in a shotgun format at 9 a.m. MDT. The final round on Wednesday will commence at 8:45 a.m. (also a shotgun start).
NOTES: Edwards is now the 12th coach to serve as a head coach of a CU athletic program for at least 20 seasons, the third in men's golf, behind Les Fowler and Mark Simpson, both of whom coached for 29 seasons, Fowler from 1948 through 1976, Simpson from January 1977 to December 2005. The others: Frank Potts, Men's Cross Country & Track (41 seasons, 1927-68); Charles Vavra, Men's Gymnastics (32, 1930-61); Richard Rokos, Men's & Women's Skiing (31, 1991-2021); Mark Wetmore, Men's & Women's Cross Country/Track & Field (29, 1995/96-2023/24); Anne Kelly, Women's Golf (27, 1997-2024); Frank Prentup, Baseball (24, 1946-69); Sox Walseth, Men's (20) & Women's (3) Basketball (23, 1956-76; 1980-83); Ceal Barry, Women's Basketball (22; 1983/84-2004/05); and Dick Gray, Men's Tennis (22, 1946-67) … As was the case last year, the 756 miles between Boulder and Pullman are the fifth-longest road trip to open a season in CU history; the 999 miles to South Bend on two occasions (2004, 2022) to play in Notre Dame's meet, followed by 949 miles for San Francisco's Olympic Club tourney in 2008 and then 933 miles to Pebble Beach for St. Mary's home meet in 2007. It remains one of the rare times Colorado's first tournament of the season isn't in the state, or nearby in New Mexico or Wyoming.
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