Wednesday, September 30
Boulder, Colo.
All Day
Colorado
vs
Third Round
Brandon Knight shot three rounds in the 60's to finish third in the Simpson.
Photo by: CUBuffs.com
Golfers Take Third in Mark Simpson-CU Invitational
September 30, 2026 | Men's Golf
Knight finished third individually; four Buffs in top 11
BOULDER – The Colorado men's golf team couldn't make up any ground but also didn't lose any as the Buffaloes finished in third place here Wednesday in the 16th Annual Mark Simpson-Colorado Invitational.
Arkansas State leapfrogged Long Beach State during the final nine holes to capture its second straight Simpson, as the Red Wolves posted the day's best round of 8-under 272 for a 27-under 813 team score. Long Beach had an even par 280 to finish with an 818 score, while the Buffaloes remained where they started the day, in third with a 15-under 825 score. San Diego took fourth (830), with Denver fifth (833) and Kansas City sixth (839), as all other 11 teams finished over par.
Only three teams recorded subpar scores in the final round after there was a total of 15 in the first two rounds combined, Arkansas State along with CU and San Diego, both who recorded 2-under 278's.
"It was a disappointing day," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "We did have some good stuff at times, but we simply made too many mistakes. Their names may not be recognizable, but Arkansas state and Long Beach State are two of the best teams in the country and you can't do that and expect to beat those guys.
"Third place in this tournament is not anything other than a really solid result, but it's just disappointing because you expect to win the whole thing when you're at home."
Senior Brandon Knight led the Buffs for the third time in four tournaments in the young season, finishing third after closing with a 2-under 68 for an 8-under 202 total on the 7,085-yard, par-70 Boulder Country Club course layout. The 202 is the fourth-best score in school history on a par-70 course, and the 20th time a player recorded three rounds in the 60's in a tournament. He had 12 birdies and 39 pars, the latter tied for fourth-most in the 93-man field, with just three holes worse than par (two bogeys and a double).
"My thoughts for the day going in was just trying to stay really emotionally neutral and stay happy throughout the day," he said. "I was focused on hitting it in the right spot and playing how I was supposed to play and trying to get a few putts to go in the hole."
In playing all the hole designs under par – 4-under on the par-4's and 2-under on the par-3's and par-5's – it was his team-best the eighth time in his career he was par or better on all the configurations and the third time he was in the red on all three. He is now within two of the all-time CU record of 10 set by Justin Biwer between 2021 and 2025.
Knight is off to a solid start in his final year at CU, continuing the momentum from his advancing to the quarterfinals in the U.S. Amateur in August. He has four top 20 finishes in as many events – 14 in his career – with two third place performances. He's make par or better on 194 of 216 holes thus far this season, a 89.8 percentage likely one of the top figures nationally.
Sophomore Tyler Long bookended his efforts here with a second even-par 70 with a 67 sandwiched in-between, with is 3-under 207 tying him for 11th. He began his day with birdies on 1 and 2 – two of his five in the round – and had tied for the most by a Buff with 12 – along with making 34 pars, seven bogeys and a double. He played the par-5's at 4-under, the best by a Buff and fourth-best in the field, while playing the par-4's even and the par-3's 1-over. The 207 was his low score for 54 holes, bettering his old mark by one shot.
"Over last two days, I thought I-played decent overall," Long said. "I hit a lot of quality shots alongside some very poor ones. I have been able to post a lot of solid rounds so far this season despite my ball striking being far off, though my short game has improved significantly from last year."
Senior Ty Holbrook fashioned a second straight 1-under 69 that brought him back to an even 210 that tied him for 25th. He was 1-uncer through 13 and got to 2-under after a birdie on 14, but unfortunately closed the tournament with a bogey on 18. He did avoid big numbers here, finishing with nine birdies, 36 pars and nine bogeys. He was 2-under on the par-5's and 1-over on the other layouts.
Junior Parker Paxton also tied for 25th after posting a 1-over 71, pushing him to an even 210 as well. After staring his day par-par-bogey, he birdied three of the next four holes (4, 5 and 7) to get to 2-under. But he ran into trouble on the back nine, playing the first four holes at 4-over, but came back with a birdie on 14 and ended the day with four straight pars. He had an eagle, nine birdies and 34 pars all told, with nine bogeys and a double. He was 3-under on the par-5's, 2-under on the 4's but 5-over on the 3's. He had one of his birdies on No. 8 in the first round, one of just 21 in the tournament on a hole that is a par-5 for members.
"I was more focused on just keeping my emotions in check after not hitting good golf shots," said Paxton. "I also just wanted my course management to be more dialed in, it was more important today because the pins were a lot tougher. I admit today that I didn't have my best stuff, but golf is like that sometimes."
Junior Asher Whitaker finished up with a 2-over 72 that popped his final score to a 1-over 211 that tied him for 30th. He started his day with a birdie on 1 and came back with another on 5 after going par-birdie-double in-between. He had nine birdies and 36 pars against eight bogeys and a double. He was 2-under on the par-5's, 1-over on the par-3's and 2-over on the par-4's.
The entire nine-man CU roster competed here, the four who were not designated scorers played as individuals with two posting top 10 finishes.
Freshman Colt Farrow closed with an even par 70 that maintained his 5-under effort (205), which gave him an eight place finish.
He spent the entire final round within one shot either way within par, as he was first among the 14 freshmen who competed in the tournament; the next closest was UTEP's Julien Dulait who finished 2-under par. He had an eagle, 11 birdies and 35 pars opposite six bogeys and a double, playing the par-4 holes tied for fourth-best in the field at 6-under. He was even on the par-5's and 1-over on the par-3's in recording the lowest 54-hole score by a freshman in CU history – and the third lowest on any configuration.
"I played pretty solid today," Farrow said. "One thing that I focused on was being more patient, but also just being more committed to lines because coach put a lot harder pins. But yeah, it was a pretty solid day."
Sophomore Casey Kosney carded a 1-over 71 to finish in a tie for ninth with a 4-under 206 effort. He was 3-over after finishing the back nine but played the front side 2-under with birdies on 1 and 5. He had no jumbo numbers for the event, in fact he finished under par on all hole configurations: 2-under on the par-3's and 1-under on the 4's and 5's, the second time he has done that in his career along with Air Force's Gene Miranda Invitational two weeks ago; it was the third time he played all par or better in eight career events. He had 10 birdies and 38 pars with just six bogeys.
"It was a fair day," Kosney said. "I didn't have my best stuff, but grinded and still got a top 10. My focus today was to leave myself in good spots to make par or maybe sneak out a birdie where I could."
Freshman Gavin Amella tied for 50th after he closed with a 4-over 74 for a 5-over 215. He had a rocky start in the final round, with a couple of bogeys on 10 and 11 and three more with one birdie to make the turn with a 39; but he would settle down and finish the tourney with nine straight pars. He finished overall with 10 birdies and 31 pars against 11 bogeys and two doubles, playing the par-5's at 3-under and the par-3's at 1-under (tied for fourth-best in the field) but struggled in all on the par-4's at 9-over.
Graduate Jackson Rivera finished in a tie for 84th as he wrapped things with a 10-over 80 for a 14-over 224. Starting on 10, he also bogeyed his first two holes en route to scoring 40 on each side; he did not have a birdie in the round. For the event he finished with four birdies and 32 pars with 12 bogeys and two doubles while playing the par-5's at 1 under, the par-3's at 4-over and the par-4's at plus-11.
"It was great tournaments for Brandon, Colt, Casey and Tyler," Edwards said. "Those guys did really well and four in the top 11 is always a good accomplishment. Brandon has been on a nice little tear so far, it's enjoyable to see how he has started his senior year."
Arkansas State junior Henry Styles cruised to medalist honors, as he closed with a 2-under 68 for a 15-under 195 The Romford, England product played 43 holes before making his first bogey – scoring 16 pars along the way. Dating back to his final round in New Mexico's Tucker Invitational, he played 53 holes between bogeys with 19 birdies. Arkansas State is the first team in the Simpson other than the host Buffaloes to have the medalist in back-to-back years; the Red Wolves' Thomas Schmitt won last year with a 22-under 194 score at Colorado National Golf Club., the lowest score in the event.
The Buffaloes will now have almost two weeks off before returning to action from October 12-14 in the Big 12 Match Play Championship, which Utah is hosting at the Country Club of Salt Lake. CU will then finish the fall portion of its '26-27 schedule at the Ka'anapali Classic by OUTRIGGER in Lahaina, Maui.
BCC COMPARISON NOTES: This was the third time the Simpson was held at Boulder Country Club; the course renovation likely played a role in lower scores. In 2015 with good weather, when CU and Kansas City were co-champions with 7-over 847 team scores, there were just two players under par (and one even);UMKC's Antoine Rozner was the medalist (-2). In 2022, Wyoming won with a 2-under team tally of 838, with 13 players subpar (and no one was even); Utah Valley's Brady McKinley was the individual champion (7-under). BCC also hosted the 2017 Pac-12 Conference championship (a 6-scoring-5 format); Oregon won the team title at 15-over par (1,065) with the event shortened to 54 holes due to snow (and plenty of wind at other times); UO's Wyndham Clark was the medalist at 4-under in a field that included future pros such as Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Maverick McNealy, Justin Suh, Rico Hoey and CU's Yannik Paul.
NOTES: It was a cool 56 degrees under overcast skies when the Buffaloes began teeing off at 8:20 a.m.; it warmed to 64 as the tournament was able to conclude before expected heavy rains hit the area … Wednesday completed one of the busiest stretches in CU history, as the Buffs played 12 competitive rounds in 17 days (not including four practice rounds) … The average score for all 279 rounds was 71.48 (72.97 in the final round after being nearly identical on Tuesday: 70.67 in the first round and 70.69 in the second); the five CU scorers averaged 69.3 for its 15 total rounds here … There were 24 players who finished under par and five who ended up even … Twelve holes played over par, six +0.21 or higher (compared to just three after 36 holes); in order they were Nos. 8, 10, 6, 4, 11 and 3; the Buff quintet played those at 14-over all told, 11-over Wednesday after 2-under in the first round and 5-over in round two; Arkansas State played those just one better at 13-over (7-over in the final round) … CU and Arkansas State played the par-5's the best at 12-under; it played the par-3's the third-best at 5-over (Denver was 3-over to lead) and the par-4's the fourth-best at 4-under (A-State was minus-13) … Colorado finished fourth in the most birdies (51, up from 11th after two rounds; Long Beach had the most, 66), CU and Arkansas State had the most pars (178), and had the second-fewest bogeys (34; Arkansas State had 32) … There were just 11 eagles the entire meet, with Colorado (and Pacific) making two of those … The Buffaloes have now posted 10 subpar team rounds this season (all in a row); over the last two-plus seasons, CU now has 62, with five even-par rounds, in its last 91 overall … Five Buffaloes recorded their best 36-hole scores of their collegiate careers on Tuesday, among those Farrow and Long who had their low college rounds (65 and 67, respectively) … Jack Holland had the old freshman best on a par-70 course – a 4-under 206 in 2022 in Stanford's The Goodwin … Knight has now finished 17 times subpar in event; it was Long's sixth tome, Kosney's third and Farrow's first … This was the fifth time that all five Division I programs in the state played in the 16 years of the Simpson (CU, AFA, CSU. DU and UNC) … Wyoming joined CU and UNC having played in all 16 … CU is now 49-9 against Division I competition and 143-26-5 in single rounds thus far this season.
(*—played as an individual)
Arkansas State leapfrogged Long Beach State during the final nine holes to capture its second straight Simpson, as the Red Wolves posted the day's best round of 8-under 272 for a 27-under 813 team score. Long Beach had an even par 280 to finish with an 818 score, while the Buffaloes remained where they started the day, in third with a 15-under 825 score. San Diego took fourth (830), with Denver fifth (833) and Kansas City sixth (839), as all other 11 teams finished over par.
Only three teams recorded subpar scores in the final round after there was a total of 15 in the first two rounds combined, Arkansas State along with CU and San Diego, both who recorded 2-under 278's.
"It was a disappointing day," CU head coach Roy Edwards said. "We did have some good stuff at times, but we simply made too many mistakes. Their names may not be recognizable, but Arkansas state and Long Beach State are two of the best teams in the country and you can't do that and expect to beat those guys.
"Third place in this tournament is not anything other than a really solid result, but it's just disappointing because you expect to win the whole thing when you're at home."
Senior Brandon Knight led the Buffs for the third time in four tournaments in the young season, finishing third after closing with a 2-under 68 for an 8-under 202 total on the 7,085-yard, par-70 Boulder Country Club course layout. The 202 is the fourth-best score in school history on a par-70 course, and the 20th time a player recorded three rounds in the 60's in a tournament. He had 12 birdies and 39 pars, the latter tied for fourth-most in the 93-man field, with just three holes worse than par (two bogeys and a double).
"My thoughts for the day going in was just trying to stay really emotionally neutral and stay happy throughout the day," he said. "I was focused on hitting it in the right spot and playing how I was supposed to play and trying to get a few putts to go in the hole."
In playing all the hole designs under par – 4-under on the par-4's and 2-under on the par-3's and par-5's – it was his team-best the eighth time in his career he was par or better on all the configurations and the third time he was in the red on all three. He is now within two of the all-time CU record of 10 set by Justin Biwer between 2021 and 2025.
Knight is off to a solid start in his final year at CU, continuing the momentum from his advancing to the quarterfinals in the U.S. Amateur in August. He has four top 20 finishes in as many events – 14 in his career – with two third place performances. He's make par or better on 194 of 216 holes thus far this season, a 89.8 percentage likely one of the top figures nationally.
Sophomore Tyler Long bookended his efforts here with a second even-par 70 with a 67 sandwiched in-between, with is 3-under 207 tying him for 11th. He began his day with birdies on 1 and 2 – two of his five in the round – and had tied for the most by a Buff with 12 – along with making 34 pars, seven bogeys and a double. He played the par-5's at 4-under, the best by a Buff and fourth-best in the field, while playing the par-4's even and the par-3's 1-over. The 207 was his low score for 54 holes, bettering his old mark by one shot.
"Over last two days, I thought I-played decent overall," Long said. "I hit a lot of quality shots alongside some very poor ones. I have been able to post a lot of solid rounds so far this season despite my ball striking being far off, though my short game has improved significantly from last year."
Senior Ty Holbrook fashioned a second straight 1-under 69 that brought him back to an even 210 that tied him for 25th. He was 1-uncer through 13 and got to 2-under after a birdie on 14, but unfortunately closed the tournament with a bogey on 18. He did avoid big numbers here, finishing with nine birdies, 36 pars and nine bogeys. He was 2-under on the par-5's and 1-over on the other layouts.
Junior Parker Paxton also tied for 25th after posting a 1-over 71, pushing him to an even 210 as well. After staring his day par-par-bogey, he birdied three of the next four holes (4, 5 and 7) to get to 2-under. But he ran into trouble on the back nine, playing the first four holes at 4-over, but came back with a birdie on 14 and ended the day with four straight pars. He had an eagle, nine birdies and 34 pars all told, with nine bogeys and a double. He was 3-under on the par-5's, 2-under on the 4's but 5-over on the 3's. He had one of his birdies on No. 8 in the first round, one of just 21 in the tournament on a hole that is a par-5 for members.
"I was more focused on just keeping my emotions in check after not hitting good golf shots," said Paxton. "I also just wanted my course management to be more dialed in, it was more important today because the pins were a lot tougher. I admit today that I didn't have my best stuff, but golf is like that sometimes."
Junior Asher Whitaker finished up with a 2-over 72 that popped his final score to a 1-over 211 that tied him for 30th. He started his day with a birdie on 1 and came back with another on 5 after going par-birdie-double in-between. He had nine birdies and 36 pars against eight bogeys and a double. He was 2-under on the par-5's, 1-over on the par-3's and 2-over on the par-4's.
The entire nine-man CU roster competed here, the four who were not designated scorers played as individuals with two posting top 10 finishes.
Freshman Colt Farrow closed with an even par 70 that maintained his 5-under effort (205), which gave him an eight place finish.
He spent the entire final round within one shot either way within par, as he was first among the 14 freshmen who competed in the tournament; the next closest was UTEP's Julien Dulait who finished 2-under par. He had an eagle, 11 birdies and 35 pars opposite six bogeys and a double, playing the par-4 holes tied for fourth-best in the field at 6-under. He was even on the par-5's and 1-over on the par-3's in recording the lowest 54-hole score by a freshman in CU history – and the third lowest on any configuration.
"I played pretty solid today," Farrow said. "One thing that I focused on was being more patient, but also just being more committed to lines because coach put a lot harder pins. But yeah, it was a pretty solid day."
Sophomore Casey Kosney carded a 1-over 71 to finish in a tie for ninth with a 4-under 206 effort. He was 3-over after finishing the back nine but played the front side 2-under with birdies on 1 and 5. He had no jumbo numbers for the event, in fact he finished under par on all hole configurations: 2-under on the par-3's and 1-under on the 4's and 5's, the second time he has done that in his career along with Air Force's Gene Miranda Invitational two weeks ago; it was the third time he played all par or better in eight career events. He had 10 birdies and 38 pars with just six bogeys.
"It was a fair day," Kosney said. "I didn't have my best stuff, but grinded and still got a top 10. My focus today was to leave myself in good spots to make par or maybe sneak out a birdie where I could."
Freshman Gavin Amella tied for 50th after he closed with a 4-over 74 for a 5-over 215. He had a rocky start in the final round, with a couple of bogeys on 10 and 11 and three more with one birdie to make the turn with a 39; but he would settle down and finish the tourney with nine straight pars. He finished overall with 10 birdies and 31 pars against 11 bogeys and two doubles, playing the par-5's at 3-under and the par-3's at 1-under (tied for fourth-best in the field) but struggled in all on the par-4's at 9-over.
Graduate Jackson Rivera finished in a tie for 84th as he wrapped things with a 10-over 80 for a 14-over 224. Starting on 10, he also bogeyed his first two holes en route to scoring 40 on each side; he did not have a birdie in the round. For the event he finished with four birdies and 32 pars with 12 bogeys and two doubles while playing the par-5's at 1 under, the par-3's at 4-over and the par-4's at plus-11.
"It was great tournaments for Brandon, Colt, Casey and Tyler," Edwards said. "Those guys did really well and four in the top 11 is always a good accomplishment. Brandon has been on a nice little tear so far, it's enjoyable to see how he has started his senior year."
Arkansas State junior Henry Styles cruised to medalist honors, as he closed with a 2-under 68 for a 15-under 195 The Romford, England product played 43 holes before making his first bogey – scoring 16 pars along the way. Dating back to his final round in New Mexico's Tucker Invitational, he played 53 holes between bogeys with 19 birdies. Arkansas State is the first team in the Simpson other than the host Buffaloes to have the medalist in back-to-back years; the Red Wolves' Thomas Schmitt won last year with a 22-under 194 score at Colorado National Golf Club., the lowest score in the event.
The Buffaloes will now have almost two weeks off before returning to action from October 12-14 in the Big 12 Match Play Championship, which Utah is hosting at the Country Club of Salt Lake. CU will then finish the fall portion of its '26-27 schedule at the Ka'anapali Classic by OUTRIGGER in Lahaina, Maui.
BCC COMPARISON NOTES: This was the third time the Simpson was held at Boulder Country Club; the course renovation likely played a role in lower scores. In 2015 with good weather, when CU and Kansas City were co-champions with 7-over 847 team scores, there were just two players under par (and one even);UMKC's Antoine Rozner was the medalist (-2). In 2022, Wyoming won with a 2-under team tally of 838, with 13 players subpar (and no one was even); Utah Valley's Brady McKinley was the individual champion (7-under). BCC also hosted the 2017 Pac-12 Conference championship (a 6-scoring-5 format); Oregon won the team title at 15-over par (1,065) with the event shortened to 54 holes due to snow (and plenty of wind at other times); UO's Wyndham Clark was the medalist at 4-under in a field that included future pros such as Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Maverick McNealy, Justin Suh, Rico Hoey and CU's Yannik Paul.
NOTES: It was a cool 56 degrees under overcast skies when the Buffaloes began teeing off at 8:20 a.m.; it warmed to 64 as the tournament was able to conclude before expected heavy rains hit the area … Wednesday completed one of the busiest stretches in CU history, as the Buffs played 12 competitive rounds in 17 days (not including four practice rounds) … The average score for all 279 rounds was 71.48 (72.97 in the final round after being nearly identical on Tuesday: 70.67 in the first round and 70.69 in the second); the five CU scorers averaged 69.3 for its 15 total rounds here … There were 24 players who finished under par and five who ended up even … Twelve holes played over par, six +0.21 or higher (compared to just three after 36 holes); in order they were Nos. 8, 10, 6, 4, 11 and 3; the Buff quintet played those at 14-over all told, 11-over Wednesday after 2-under in the first round and 5-over in round two; Arkansas State played those just one better at 13-over (7-over in the final round) … CU and Arkansas State played the par-5's the best at 12-under; it played the par-3's the third-best at 5-over (Denver was 3-over to lead) and the par-4's the fourth-best at 4-under (A-State was minus-13) … Colorado finished fourth in the most birdies (51, up from 11th after two rounds; Long Beach had the most, 66), CU and Arkansas State had the most pars (178), and had the second-fewest bogeys (34; Arkansas State had 32) … There were just 11 eagles the entire meet, with Colorado (and Pacific) making two of those … The Buffaloes have now posted 10 subpar team rounds this season (all in a row); over the last two-plus seasons, CU now has 62, with five even-par rounds, in its last 91 overall … Five Buffaloes recorded their best 36-hole scores of their collegiate careers on Tuesday, among those Farrow and Long who had their low college rounds (65 and 67, respectively) … Jack Holland had the old freshman best on a par-70 course – a 4-under 206 in 2022 in Stanford's The Goodwin … Knight has now finished 17 times subpar in event; it was Long's sixth tome, Kosney's third and Farrow's first … This was the fifth time that all five Division I programs in the state played in the 16 years of the Simpson (CU, AFA, CSU. DU and UNC) … Wyoming joined CU and UNC having played in all 16 … CU is now 49-9 against Division I competition and 143-26-5 in single rounds thus far this season.
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
| 3. | Brandon Knight | 65-69-68—202 |
| 8.. | *Colt Farrow | 70-65-70—205 |
| T9. | *Casey Kosney | 67-68-71—206 |
| T11. | Tyler Long | 70-67-70—207 |
| T25. | Ty Holbrook | 72-69-69—210 |
| T25. | Parker Paxton | 68-71-71—210 |
| T30. | Asher Whitaker | 69-70-72—211 |
| T50. | *Gavin Amella | 70-71-74—215 |
| T84. | *Jackson Rivera | 72-72-80—224 |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS |
| 1. | Henry Styles, Arkansas State | 63-64-68—195 |
| 2. | Jake Wallis, Arkansas State | 66-69-66—201 |
| 3. | Brandon Knight, Colorado | 65-69-68—202 |
| T4. | Cooper Humphreys, San Diego | 67-70-66—203 |
| T4. | Jaden Huggins, Long Beach State. | 67-65-71—203 |
| TEAM STANDINGS |
| 1. | Arkansas State | 267-274-272—813 |
| 2. | Long Beach State | 265-273-280—818 |
| 3. | COLORADO | 272-275-278—825 |
| 4. | San Diego | 277-275-278—830 |
| 5. | Denver | 270-281-282—833 |
| 6. | Kansas City | 277-275-287—839 |
| 7. | Utah | 277-275-290—842 |
| 8. | Nevada | 275-282-293—850 |
| 9. | Pacific | 282-280-290—852 |
| 10. | Texas-El Paso | 281-278-295—854 |
| 11. | Boise State | 282-283-290—855 |
| 12. | Colorado State | 283-284-289—856 |
| 13. | Utah State | 283-281-293—857 |
| T4. | Air Force | 282-282-294—858 |
| 15. | Northern Colorado | 284-278-297—859 |
| 16. | Wyoming | 294-281-291—866 |
| 17. | Utah Valley | 290-287-293—870 |
Players Mentioned
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