Men's Golf
Tolan, Derek
Derek Tolan
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- Derek.Tolan@colorado.edu
- Phone:
- 303-523-8875
Derek Tolan is in his third year as the associate head coach for the University of Colorado's men's golf team. In his sixth year overall on the CU staff, after three years as the assistant coach he was promoted to associate head coach status in November 2022. He returned to his alma mater in an interim assistant capacity in January, 2020, and earned the full-time assistant title in July of that year, thus officially returning to where he earned a host of honors during his playing career that spanned four seasons (2006-09).
Tolan, 39, played professionally for 10 years after he last teed it up for the Buffs in the spring of 2009; he first was named interim assistant coach on January 22, 2020, filling a midseason vacancy created when CU’s assistant of the previous five seasons, Pat Grady (a teammate of Tolan’s) decided to return to his private CPA business. He still plays in a few area professional tournaments during the summer, most recently tying for 10th in the 2024 Colorado Open (with a 13-under par performance).
“It means everything in the world to me to be part of CU again, not just the golf program but the university and athletic department as a whole,” Tolan said at the time of his return. ‘I was recruited by Mark Simpson as a player and played for Roy Edwards for three years, so this is a unique opportunity to be able to continue the values of both of them, but also to be able to apply my knowledge as well. I ’ve been in the ring for decades now and have successes and failures at all levels. It’s important for me to apply that knowledge to the players at CU, and feel so fortunate to have this opportunity.”
“We are excited to add Derek as our assistant coach for the remainder of the season,” Head Coach Roy Edwards said. “Hiring a permanent replacement for Pat was going to be very difficult in the middle of the season and we feel very fortunate Derek agreed to join us on an interim basis as he transitions from being a playing professional to a full-time instructor.
“Derek was a great player here and reached a high level of success as a professional golfer. He has strong institutional and team knowledge and we expect him to really help us.”
For his CU career (four-year letterman from 2006-09), Tolan finished third in the most rounds played (151), and was 13th in career stroke average (74.19). He tied for second in both the most top 10 finishes (18) and top 20 efforts (26) in school history (he was 11th with five top five performances). He had 89.8 percent of his career rounds count toward team scoring and at the time became just the fifth CU player to have qualified to play in four NCAA Championships. As a senior, he posted a 71.9 stroke average, leading the team in recording the second-best in school history at the time. Over the course of two tournaments – the DU-Ron Moore Invitational and the New Mexico Tucker Intercollegiate – he had a streak of 59 holes of par or better, a school record that held for 16 years until broken by Justin Biwer with 61 in 2025.
As a senior, Tolan was selected as the school’s Male Career Athletic Achievement Award winner for all sports, and the co-Male Athlete of the Year (with Grady). An honorable mention All-American by Golfweek and the GCAA, he also earned PING All-Central Region honors, All-Big 12 honors and All-Big 12 Tournament Team accolades.
Tolan was a national celebrity back in 2002, when he made history playing as a 16-year old in the U.S. Open at Bethpage on Long Island, N.Y. He missed the cut on the tough Bethpage Black course after earning his way into the field by tying for second in the local qualifying (68) and placing second in the sectional qualifying (70-69—139). Later that summer, he became the first golfer in United States Golf Association history to have played in the U.S. Open, the U.S. Public Links Championship, the U.S. Junior Amateur and the U.S. Amateur in the same year, doing so between June and August. The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame selected him as its Person of the Year for 2002.
He has won six tournaments as a professional, the 2009 San Juan Open in Farmington, N.M. (just his third event as a pro), the 2009 and 2012 Colorado opens, the 2009 Adams Tour Houston event (for recent college graduates at the time), the 2018 Southwest Kansas Pro-Am and the ’18 Navajo Trails Open; he has over $700,000 in professional earnings. He set a record at the time in winning the state’s ’09 event with a 22-under par score (262) at Green Valley Ranch. He has numerous top five and top 10 finishes in regional events as well.
In addition to playing in the ’02 U.S. Open, he qualified and played in four other PGA events. At various times, he has played on the web.com (now Korn Ferry), the PGA Canadian Mackenzie Tour and the PGA Tour Latinoamerican.
He was born October 21, 1985 in Denver. A Sociology major at Colorado, he was the recipient of the Clancy A. Herbst Jr. Student-Athlete Achievement Award, presented to the CU senior who overcame personal, academic and/or emotional difficulties to succeed both academically and athletically. Four hours shy of graduating in 2009, he finished up his degree in October 2020. His father (John) played collegiately at Southern Colorado, and has run the Family Sports Golf Center in Englewood since the mid-1990’s. He is married to the former Peggy Nichols and has a stepdaughter, Maliah.
Tolan’s Colorado Statistics
Overall--------------------------------------------- Spring------------------ Fall--------------------
Tolan, 39, played professionally for 10 years after he last teed it up for the Buffs in the spring of 2009; he first was named interim assistant coach on January 22, 2020, filling a midseason vacancy created when CU’s assistant of the previous five seasons, Pat Grady (a teammate of Tolan’s) decided to return to his private CPA business. He still plays in a few area professional tournaments during the summer, most recently tying for 10th in the 2024 Colorado Open (with a 13-under par performance).
“It means everything in the world to me to be part of CU again, not just the golf program but the university and athletic department as a whole,” Tolan said at the time of his return. ‘I was recruited by Mark Simpson as a player and played for Roy Edwards for three years, so this is a unique opportunity to be able to continue the values of both of them, but also to be able to apply my knowledge as well. I ’ve been in the ring for decades now and have successes and failures at all levels. It’s important for me to apply that knowledge to the players at CU, and feel so fortunate to have this opportunity.”
“We are excited to add Derek as our assistant coach for the remainder of the season,” Head Coach Roy Edwards said. “Hiring a permanent replacement for Pat was going to be very difficult in the middle of the season and we feel very fortunate Derek agreed to join us on an interim basis as he transitions from being a playing professional to a full-time instructor.
“Derek was a great player here and reached a high level of success as a professional golfer. He has strong institutional and team knowledge and we expect him to really help us.”
For his CU career (four-year letterman from 2006-09), Tolan finished third in the most rounds played (151), and was 13th in career stroke average (74.19). He tied for second in both the most top 10 finishes (18) and top 20 efforts (26) in school history (he was 11th with five top five performances). He had 89.8 percent of his career rounds count toward team scoring and at the time became just the fifth CU player to have qualified to play in four NCAA Championships. As a senior, he posted a 71.9 stroke average, leading the team in recording the second-best in school history at the time. Over the course of two tournaments – the DU-Ron Moore Invitational and the New Mexico Tucker Intercollegiate – he had a streak of 59 holes of par or better, a school record that held for 16 years until broken by Justin Biwer with 61 in 2025.
As a senior, Tolan was selected as the school’s Male Career Athletic Achievement Award winner for all sports, and the co-Male Athlete of the Year (with Grady). An honorable mention All-American by Golfweek and the GCAA, he also earned PING All-Central Region honors, All-Big 12 honors and All-Big 12 Tournament Team accolades.
Tolan was a national celebrity back in 2002, when he made history playing as a 16-year old in the U.S. Open at Bethpage on Long Island, N.Y. He missed the cut on the tough Bethpage Black course after earning his way into the field by tying for second in the local qualifying (68) and placing second in the sectional qualifying (70-69—139). Later that summer, he became the first golfer in United States Golf Association history to have played in the U.S. Open, the U.S. Public Links Championship, the U.S. Junior Amateur and the U.S. Amateur in the same year, doing so between June and August. The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame selected him as its Person of the Year for 2002.
He has won six tournaments as a professional, the 2009 San Juan Open in Farmington, N.M. (just his third event as a pro), the 2009 and 2012 Colorado opens, the 2009 Adams Tour Houston event (for recent college graduates at the time), the 2018 Southwest Kansas Pro-Am and the ’18 Navajo Trails Open; he has over $700,000 in professional earnings. He set a record at the time in winning the state’s ’09 event with a 22-under par score (262) at Green Valley Ranch. He has numerous top five and top 10 finishes in regional events as well.
In addition to playing in the ’02 U.S. Open, he qualified and played in four other PGA events. At various times, he has played on the web.com (now Korn Ferry), the PGA Canadian Mackenzie Tour and the PGA Tour Latinoamerican.
He was born October 21, 1985 in Denver. A Sociology major at Colorado, he was the recipient of the Clancy A. Herbst Jr. Student-Athlete Achievement Award, presented to the CU senior who overcame personal, academic and/or emotional difficulties to succeed both academically and athletically. Four hours shy of graduating in 2009, he finished up his degree in October 2020. His father (John) played collegiately at Southern Colorado, and has run the Family Sports Golf Center in Englewood since the mid-1990’s. He is married to the former Peggy Nichols and has a stepdaughter, Maliah.
Tolan’s Colorado Statistics
| Season | Rounds | Strokes | Average | Low | High | Rd | Strokes | Avg. | Rd | Strokes | Avg. |
| 2005-06 | 35 | 2618 | 74.80 | 69 | 83 | 23 | 1726 | 75.04 | 12 | 892 | 74.33 |
| 2006-07 | 36 | 2713 | 75.36 | 69 | 84 | 21 | 1576 | 75.05 | 15 | 1137 | 75.80 |
| 2007-08 | 40 | 2996 | 74.90 | 66 | 84 | 25 | 1859 | 74.36 | 15 | 1137 | 75.80 |
| 2008-09 | 40 | 2876 | 71.90 | 67 | 77 | 22 | 1598 | 72.64 | 18 | 1278 | 71.00 |
| Totals | 151 | 11203 | 74.19 | 66 | 84 | 91 | 6759 | 74.27 | 60 | 4444 | 74.07 |
Stroke Count In Relation To Par (+414/+2.74): +116/+3.31 (2005-06); +145/+4.03 (2006-07); +134/+3.35 (2007-08); +19/+0.48 (2008-09).
Finishes—Wins: 2 Top 5: 5 Top 10: 18 Top 20: 26
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Tuesday, August 12
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