Autumn is the Rodney Dangerfield of the college golf season.
It doesn’t get any respect, no respect at all.
With teams aiming to peak as they head into conference tournaments and the NCAA Championships — which culminate the spring portion of the season — the fall schedule clearly takes a back seat. And that’s even more the case because a 2½-month break separates fall and spring tournaments.
Still, the fall shouldn’t be ignored. After all, it includes more than two months of the season, and five tournaments for many teams.
With that in mind, it’s time to recognize the best local performances of the fall college golf season, which ended last week. We’ll look at Division I programs in Colorado, as well as Coloradans who play for out-of-state Division I schools.
The most successful Colorado-based team in the fall was that of the Colorado State University men, who captured two major team championships, bringing their victory total over the last 2½ seasons to 10. Other Colorado teams to post a win in a large-scale tournament were the University of Denver women and Air Force Academy men.
The DU women are ranked 18th in the nation in the most recent Golfweek poll and 21st by Golf World. The CSU men check in 34th in both Golfweek and Golf World.
As for top individual performances during the fall portion of the schedule, several local players won significant tournaments, including Northern Colorado’s Stephen Bidne, Arkansas’ Jamie Marshall (a Castle Rock resident), Air Force’s Kyle Bailey, and DU’s Stephanie Sherlock.
But not all of the top local individual performers made it into the win column. Here’s a rundown of the fall’s finest, in order of overall performance:
1. Espen Kofstad, DU senior (pictured; photo by Rich Clarkson and Associates) — Didn’t finish worse than eighth in five fall tournaments, and recorded a second place and two thirds. In 15 rounds of golf, he’s averaged 71.13 strokes per round.
2. Tom Whitney, Air Force Academy senior — Posted three top-three finishes and was never out of the top 25. Owns the second-best stroke average in the Mountain West Conference (71.0).
3. Riley Arp, CSU senior — In five fall tournaments, only finished out of the top 10 once, and he capped the fall season with a runner-up performance. Owns the fifth-best stroke average in the Mountain West Conference (71.29).
4. Stephanie Sherlock, DU senior — Won DU’s Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate tournament for the third straight season and placed seventh in the prestigious NCAA Fall Preview. The Ron Moore victory was the seventh individual title of her college career. Was named the Sun Belt Conference Female Golfer of the Month for October. She leads the SBC in stroke average at 73.08.
5. Jamie Marshall, Arkansas senior (Castle Rock resident) — The Regis High School graduate won the Wolverine tournament in Michigan for his first college victory and was subsequently named Golf World magazine’s male college player of the week.
6. Stephen Bidne, UNC junior — In a tournament that featured all of the top golf programs from the state, Bidne won the Falcon Invitational at the Air Force Academy. He also posted two other top-seven finishes in the fall.
7. Zahkai Brown, CSU sophomore — Finished third in each of his first two tournaments of the season and ranks eighth in the Mountain West Conference in stroke average (72.07).
8. Becca Huffer, Notre Dame sophomore (Denver resident) — Was a model of consistency in the fall, finishing 14th, 14th, fifth, 15th and 13th. Leads the Irish with a 73.75 stroke average. Won the Big East Female Golfer of the Month award for September.
9. Gunner Wiebe, University of San Diego junior (Aurora resident) — Recorded two top-seven finishes in five fall tournaments.
10. Kimberly Kim, DU freshman — The 2006 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion started her college career with fourth- and ninth-place finishes. Averaged 73.5 in four fall tournaments.
11. Kasey Claussen, CSU senior — Placed second and eighth in five fall events. Finished the fall fifth in scoring average among Mountain West Conference women (74.33).
12. Steve Ziegler, Stanford junior (Broomfield resident) — The U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist finished sixth in his first fall tournament and recorded three top-25 finishes in four events.
13. Justin Bardgett, University of Colorado senior — Bardgett, who qualified for the match play portion of the U.S. Amateur, posted two top-eight finishes in five fall tournaments.
14. Zach Zaremba, Wyoming junior (Pueblo West resident) — Recorded two top-10 finishes and ranks ninth in the Mountain West Conference in stroke average (72.2).
