Men's Golf: Summer Update No. 2

BOULDER – The second of three annual summer updates on happenings with the Colorado Buffalo men's golf program:

ACADEMIC ACCOLADES

This past Monday. two Buffaloes were named 2025-26 NCAA Division I Cobalt Golf All-America Scholars: Parker Paxton (3.310 grade point average in Strategic Communication/Advertising and a minor in Business) and Jackson Rivera (3.600 in Organizational Leadership). Those honored must have a GPA of 3.2 or greater, and have played in 50 percent of his team's competitive rounds with a stroke average under 76. It's the seventh straight year Colorado has had at least one player honored (and the 11th time in the last 12).
The Buffaloes earned the GCAA's PLATFORM Golf Team Academic Award, also announced this week, as the eight Buffaloes had a cumulative GPA of 3.42 as a team. The criteria require a collective team grade point average of 3.0 or higher. This is the fifth straight year that CU has been recognized, with the team recording its highest cumulative GPA in its history (the previous high was 3.35 in 2019-20).

CURRENT TEAM UPDATES

Brandon Knight and Tyler Long qualified for the U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club (Ardmore, Pa.) and Philadelphia Country Club, August 10-16. Knight tied for medalist honors in the final qualifying with a bogey-free, 9-under 63 at the Club at Ruby Hill in Pleasanton, Calif., on July 13, while Long won a nine-hole playoff over BYU senior Peter Kim at The Country Club of Salt Lake; both tied for the fourth and final spot with 3-under 69s.
Sophomore Casey Kosney tied for 13th in the Carolinas Open, turning in a 7-under 66-69-74—209 scorecard; he finished eight off the lead in tying for the seventh low amateur. Before he returns for the fall semester, he will compete in the South Carolina Match Play Championship, August 11-15.
Junior Parker Paxton was the low amateur in the Wyoming State Open, posting a 9-under 62-64-75—201 scorecard at the Airport Golf Club in Cheyenne. In late July, he won the Silverado Amateur with an 8-under 208 score (68-68-72), defeating UC Davis junior Ryan Firpo by four strokes on Silverado's North Course in Napa, Calf.

RECRUIT NEWS

Gavin Amella, Castle View High School (Castle Rock). He finished second on July 30 in the AJGA Junior Open at The Bridges presented by City of Montrose with a 17-under par 196 score (64-62-70), one off the lead.
Colt Farrow, Andover (Kan.) Central. He tied for 31st in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, Texas (76-66-75—217, +1). In the Kansas Amateur, he shot 74-76—150 in the stroke play portion, missing advancing into match play by two strokes.
Asher Whitaker (transfer from Oklahoma) finished second in the stroke play portion of the Kansas Amateur (62-71—133, -7), earning the No. 2 seed for the match play, where he won his first match but lost 1-up in the Round of 32. His 62 was his career-best score.

BLUER THAN BLUE

Several Buffs attempted to qualify on July 6 for the Korn Ferry Tour's The Blue Championship at TPC Colorado in Berthoud. At Colorado National, Justin Biwer ('25) shot a bogey-free, 6-under 66 to earn the last of four qualifying spots. Current Buff Parker Paxton (1-under 71, tied for 28th), and Amella (72, tied for 38th) also tried to qualify but had most respectable showings.
In the qualifier at the Walnut Creek Golf Preserve, coaches Derek Fribbs ('13) and Hunter Swanson ('26) missed the cut but shot even-par 72's tying for 30th; it was the first professional round for Swanson since turning pro in June; four qualified at 5-under par. Tucker Clark ('25) tied for 42nd with a 2-over 74.

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

Four current Buffaloes teed it up in the 59th Annual Pacific Coast Amateur at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Livermore, Calif., July 21-24. Brandon Knight (69-65-68-74—276, -4) tied for 11th; he was in contention but had some bad luck early and fell from second, finishing eight out of the lead. His 65 was highlighted by finishing his round with four consecutive birdies. Ty Holbrook (65-73-71-68—277, -3) tied for 19th, with Tyler Long (68-72-70-69—279, -1) tying for 29th. Parker Paxton (68-72-73—215) missed the cut by two strokes, tying for 57th.

COLORADO OPEN REPRISE

               Eight Buffaloes – two recent team members, one current and five alumni qualified for this year's Inspirato Colorado Open (July 23-26) on the 7,252-yard, par-71 Green Valley Ranch course in northeast Denver.

               Playing in his first tournament as a professional, Hunter Swanson ('26) carded a 15-under par scorecard of 68-65-67-69—269, tying him for sixth. His second and third rounds were bogey-free – in the middle of a 56-hole streak of scoring par or better – he was within one of the lead five holes into the final round but three straight bogeys dropped him back as low as 15th before rallying three birdies on the back nine to jump back up into sixth.

               Matthew Zions ('02) tied for 26th (75-64-67-68—274; -10) and was the second low amateur, one behind recent Washington State graduate Sam Renner; eight amateurs made the cut out of the 25 that were entered in the field. Graduate Jackson Rivera (71-68-70-67—276; -8) tied for 38th and was the third low amateur, while CU associate head coach Derek Tolan ('09) 69-67-76-73—285 (+1) finished 62nd. The cut was 2-under par (140); other Buffaloes who competed who missed it were Patrick Grady ('09), 76-66—142, Derek Fribbs ('13) 72-71—143, Tucker Clark ('25), 73-72—145 and Dan Sniffin ('00) 79-85—164.

CGA AMATEUR

Several Buffs are competing in the CGA's Amateur (formerly known as the Stroke Play Championship before 2015) this week at Sonnenalp Golf Club in Edwards. Current Buffs Ty Holbrook, Tyler Long and Parker Paxton are in the field, along with incoming freshman Gavin Amella and former Buff Patrick Grady ('09). This is the 90th annual event, which has been won 22 times by Buffaloes, including Grady as a CU sophomore in 2006. Multiple champions include Hale Irwin (1963-64-65), Les Fowler (1960-62-68), John Hamer (1969-70), Scott Petersen (1991-93), Matt Call (1998-2000) and Kane Webber (2002-03). The first CU duffer to win it was Leo Stasica in 1946 and the last to was David Oraee in 2014, with winners in-between including Terry Kahl (1980), Steve Jones (1981), Rick Cramer (1982), Matt Potter (1984) and Mike Troyer (1995).

ALUMNI NOTES

Justin Biwer ('25) qualified for the KFT's The Blue Championship on the Monday preceding the tournament, and went on tie for fifth after posting a 69-72-67-63—271 score, which was 17-under par at TPC Colorado in Berthoud (five back of the lead). After making the cut on the cutline (-3) and being tied for 61st, his final round 63 matched the best other score in the final round (and one of four in the event), tying the TPC course record. Later in the month he missed the cut in the KFT's Evans Scholar (73-72—145) by four strokes. He has made the cut in six of eight PGA Tour Americas events (next up: the Manitoba Open, August 20-23).
Jack Holland ('25) won for the first time as a professional on July 4, winning the Rockhampton (Aus.) Pro-Am with an 18-under par score of 198.
Dylan McDermott ('25) tied for ninth in the The River Championship, a GPro Tour event in Radford, Va. He finished with a 4-under effort of 70-74-68—212 on the Pete Dye River Course, as he was one of three players to shoot in the 60s in the final round.
Jeremy Paul ('17) who has been playing on both the PGA and Korn Ferry Tours this year, played in two PGA events in July. He just missed the cut in the ISCO Championship on the regular tour by two strokes with a 1-under 139 (68-71). A week later he made the cut in the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic and finished down the line in 79th (287,-1). He's made the cut three of 10 tries on the PGA Tour (best finish was a tie for eighth in March's Puerto Rico Open), but nine times in 10 starts on the KFT (two top 25 finishes, his best a third in May's UNC Health Championship in Raleigh.
Yannik Paul ('18) tied for 31st with a 7-under scorecard (71-70-69-71--281) in the Infortar Estonian Challenge in Joelahtme, Estonia. He had missed the cut, albeit barely, in two of them, in three other DP Tour July events.
Victor Bjorlow ('21) also competed in the Infortar, tying for 17th with a 10-under 69-69-73-67—278 effort; he tied three others for the low score in the final round. Earlier in the month he tied for 44th in the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge with a 1- under scorecard (72-71-71-73—287). His best finish this year came at the end of May, a tie for 14th in the Challenge de Catalunya with a 10-under performance (72-67-68-67—274).
Freddy Eisenbeis ('25) has been playing on the Hotel Planner Tour.
Ryan Schmitz ('17) advanced to final qualifying for the U.S. Open and carded a 1-under 71 at Columbine Country Club, but only two qualified for the August event; Grady also missed advancing with a 5-over 77.

THE COLORADO TOP 150 PROJECT

               The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame recently completed its Top 150 Project to celebrate the state's 150th anniversary after being admitted to the union on August 1, 1876. Two of the moments featured CU golfers, Hale Irwin's ('67) first U.S. Open victory at Winged Foot in 1974 as the No. 30 moment, and Yuma's Steve Jones ('81) capturing the '96 Open at Oakland Hills as the No. 136 moment. You can listen to podcasts featuring Hale (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uwI__ybbV4) and Steve (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYvZil2fjoY). Overall, CU athletics had nine moments; the entire list of the 150 is on the Hall of Fame website (www.coloradosports.org).

CATCHING UP WITH FORMER BUFF KNUT EKJORD

               Lettering four seasons under the late Mark Simpson (1994-1999), Knut Ekjord led the Buffs in scoring average four times, joining Steve Jones at the time as the only players in CU history to accomplish that feat, and since joined by only Jeremy Paul. His 74.34 career average was fifth-best at the time of his graduation, and he remains CU's all-time leader in percentage of rounds counting toward team scoring (127 of 133, 95.5%).

               Knut has more or less retired from competitive golf, though still plays in a few elite amateur tournaments a year. He is the CEO for Swiss Life Asset Managers in the Nordics; he and others had sold their real estate business to Swiss Life in 2021. He has been married to former Buff skier Caroline Gedde-Dahl since 2013, a fellow Norwegian who was the NCAA giant slalom champion her senior year (1998); the two met while both attended CU (both from Oslo).   He is the father of three – sons Oskar (20) and Jakob (17) and daughter Fredrikke (14). Oskar is a tennis player and Jakob and Fredrikke are golfers. Fredrikke is also skiing.

               "I am still involved in golf and have started NextUp Golf Team with Peter Kaensche, who I played with and Viktor Hovland and Kristoffer Reitan. The latter two are playing quite well these days! Take a look at our home page (https://www.nextupgolf.com)."

LOOKING AHEAD

The CGA's Super-Senior Amateur Championship is set for August 11-12 at Estes Park Golf Course. Dave Roylance ('71) is in the 91-man field. The Western Championship will be August 27-29 at Ironbridge Golf Club in Glenwood Springs; Gavin Amella is currently the only one with Buff ties in the field. And far ahead is the Senior Amateur at Fox Hill Club in Longmont on September 21-23; Mike Glaesel ('90), Steve Ivan ('84) and Charlie Luther ('90) are among the expected field.
Kevin Kring ('12) will attempt to defend his Missouri Mid-Amateur title at Jefferson City Country Club (Aug. 29-31).
The 16th Annual Colorado Golf Day, the men's team's major fundraiser, is scheduled for Monday, August 24. Details can be found at https://cvent.me/NyMvzg.
The Buffaloes will tee off their 102nd season of intercollegiate golf in the Vuori Invitational, hosted by San Diego State in Rancho Santa Fe, Sept. 14-15.