As has become tradition, the University of Colorado men’s golf team won its own Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational by a narrow margin on Tuesday.
And, just four tournaments into his college career, University of Northern Colorado freshman Coby Welch claimed the individual title in a 108-man field.
Welch, the CGA’s Junior Player of the Year in 2015, closed with a 6-under-par 66 at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie and earned a one-stroke win individually. The former member of the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program finished at 11-under-par 205, just ahead of Ryan Wallen of Wyoming.
Welch (pictured), a Valor Christian High School graduate, eagled the 364-yard, par-4 17th hole (his eighth) on Tuesday and added five birdies and one bogey.
Meanwhile, CU won the Simpson team championship for the fourth consecutive year, though the Buffs have shared the title two of those occasions. This time around, CU edged Wyoming by a mere one stroke, with Colorado finishing at 20-under-par 844 for three rounds.
As for other Colorado-based schools, UNC (860) finished fifth, Air Force (861) sixth, and Colorado’s B team (876) 17th.
CU put two players in the top 10 individually, with freshman Morten Toft Hansen (7-under-par 209) tying for fourth and senior Ethan Freeman (210) sharing seventh place.
(Sept. 30 Update) Hansen was subsequently named the Pac-12 Men’s Golfer of the Month, while CU’s Esther Lee earned Pac-12 Women’s Golfer of the Month honors after shooting an NCAA women’s record-tying 61 earlier in September en route to a victory. Those were the first such Pac-12 honors for each CU program.
Also finishing in the top 10 Tuesday were Sunwoo Choi of the Air Force Academy (209, fourth place), and Coloradans Kyler Dunkle of Utah and Tanner Jenson of Utah State (both 211, ninth place).
Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational
Sept. 26-27, 2016 at Par-72 Colorado National GC in Erie
1. Colorado 282-276-286–844
4. Morten Toft Hansen 71-65-73–209
7. Ethan Freeman 69-69-72–210
13. Yannik Paul 74-68-70–212
36. Jeremy Paul 69-76-72–217
44. Spencer Painton 73-74-72–219
5. Northern Colorado 295-285-280–860
1. Coby Welch 70-69-66–205
36. Sam Marley 74-70-73–217
50. Joshua Matz 77-72-71–220
71. Andrew Romano 74-74-75–223
82. Li Chen 78-77-70–225
6. Air Force Academy 291-285-285–861
4. Sunwoo Choi 69-68-72–209
24. Brenden Bone 76-70-69–215
41. Tate Tatom 73-74-71–218
60. Joshua Wu 73-74-74–221
76. Todd Millard 78-73-73–224
17. Colorado B 287-287-302–876
19. John Souza 70-69-75–214
36. Wilson Belk 73-72-72–217
76. Ryan Schmitz 73-73-78–224
76. Victor Bjorlow 74-73-77–224
99. Kade Crossland 71-83-79–233
Also
9. Coloradan Kyler Dunkle of Utah 67-73-71–211
9. Coloradan Tanner Jenson of Utah State 70-69-72–211
13. Logan Iverson of CSU 72-67-73–212
16. Coloradan Glenn Workman of Wyoming 68-76-69–213
41. Joseph Crisostomo of Air Force 71-76-74–218
44. Coloradan Tristan Rohrbaugh of Boise State 71-73-75–219
50. Kyle Kidd of CSU 70-73-77–220
60. Alec Bone of CSU 71-76-74–221
82. Dane Hankamer of Air Force 76-74-75–225
93. Turner Howe of Air Force 75-77-76–228
96. Philip Lee of UNC 76-76-77–229
104. Anson Kuznik of Air Force 83-76-80–239
108. Jack Li of CU 81-NS-NS
