At the Kansas State Bighorn Invitational in Palm Desert, Calif., the Buffs had three individuals finish in the top six of a large-field NCAA Division I tournament for the first time since September 2015.

Sophomore Daniel O’Loughlin from England (pictured in a CU photo by Chip Bromfield) placed a college career-best second, while seniors Spencer Painton of Colorado and Yannik Paul of Germany tied for sixth.

With a strong final round — a 9-under-par 279 at The Canyons at Bighorn Golf Club — the Buffs placed third in the 12-team field, 19 strokes behind champion Illinois and nine back of runner-up Mississippi State.

The last time before Saturday that CU had put three individuals in the top six in a large-field DI tournament — featuring 10 teams or more — was at the 2015 Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational in Erie, where Jeremy Paul, Ethan Freeman and Ross Macdonald all placed in the top five individually.

O’Loughlin recorded six birdies on Saturday and closed with a 3-under-par 69 to post an 8-under 208 total, which left him three strokes behind individual winner Bryan Baumgarten of Illinois.

Painton, a former Colorado 5A state high school champion, notched his second top-six individual finish of the season. He carded six birdies on Saturday, with nine 3s on his card, in a round of 68. He ended up at 209.

Also at that figure was Paul, who recorded his third top-six showing of the season. Paul had five birdies in a round of 71 on Saturday.

Meanwhile, two of the other Colorado-based Division I men’s teams squared off in a dual match Friday in Bremerton, Wash., with Colorado State and the University of Denver tying with 2.5 points each. Each team won two matches and halved one.

Posting individual victories were Chris Korte and Eric Hagen of DU, and Jack Ainscough and Max Oelfke of CSU. The match results are below.

K-State Bighorn Invitational
March 23-24, 2018 (final) in Palm Desert, Calif.
3. (out of 12 teams) Colorado 283-281-279–843
2. Daniel O’Loughlin 72-67-69–208
6. Spencer Painton 72-69-68–209
6. Yannik Paul 65-73-71–209
39. John Souza 74-75-71–220
65. Victor Bjorlow 80-72-82–234

Colorado State-Denver Dual Match
March 23, 2018 (final) at Gold Mountain GC in Bremerton, Wash.
CSU 2.5, DENVER 2.5
Chris Korte, DU, def. AJ Ott, 3 and 1
Eric Hagen, DU, def. Jake Staiano, 2 and 1
Jack Ainscough, CSU, def. Jackson Solem, 5 and 3
Max Oelfke, CSU, def. Isaac Petersilie, 4 and 3
Parathakorn Suyasri, CSU, halved with John Sand, DU
 

Kyler Dunkle, a junior at the University of Utah, and Chris Korte, a senior at the University of Denver, placed fourth and fifth, respectively, out of an 84-man field in Bandon.

Dunkle, a former state high school champion who captured his first college title earlier this season at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational in Erie, posted rounds of 65-69-70 for a 9-under-par 204 total in Oregon. That left him four strokes behind champion Chun An Yu of Arizona State. Dunkle (pictured) made five birdies and two double bogeys on Tuesday.

It marked the third top-10 finish of the season for Dunkle, the 2016 CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year.

Korte had a stellar final two rounds in Bandon, going 66-66 after opening with a 74 to card a 7-under 206 total. Korte went bogey free on Tuesday and made 13 birdies over the final 36 holes.

Tuesday marked Korte’s first top-10 of the season, though he’s finished 11th twice. Korte’s DU squad placed 12th out of 14 school in the team standings. (March 15 Update: For his performance at Bandon, Korte was named the Summit League’s Men’s Golfer of the Week.)

On the women’s side, also placing in the top five on Tuesday was Coloradan Erin Sargent, a sophomore at the University of Wyoming, who finished a college career-best fourth in the BYU Entrada Classic in St. George, Utah. After recording scores of 69-74-72, Sargent’s 1-under-par 215 total left her seven strokes behind winner Pimnipa Panthong of Kent State.

Likewise recording a top-10 individual finish on Tuesday was Jack Ainscough of Colorado State, who placed a career-best ninth — one spot better than 2017 NCAA individual champion Braden Thornberry of Mississippi — while competing only as an individual at the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic. Ainscough, a freshman from England, was competing in just his third college tournament. He went 73-71-67 for a 5-under-par 211 total and ended up 10 strokes behind tournament winner Fredrik Nilehn of Texas Tech.

The University of Colorado finished eighth out of 16 teams in San Diego, while CSU was 12th.

Here are the results for the two NCAA Division I tournaments that finished on Tuesday and featured Colorado-based teams:

Bandon Dunes Championship
March 11-13, 2018 (final) in Bandon, Ore.
12. (out of 14 teams) Denver 297-288-285–872
5. Chris Korte 74-66-66–206
37. John Sand 70-74-73–217
57. Eric Hagen 75-74-72–221
71. Jackson Solem 78-74-74–228
78. Isaac Petersilie 79-80-75–234

Also
4. Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, Utah 65-69-70–204

Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic
March 12-13, 2018 (final) in Chula Vista, Calif.
8. (out of 16 teams) Colorado 285-294-296–875
32. Yannik Paul 74-72-73–219
40. Spencer Painton 71-78-71–220
51. John Souza 70-70-82–222
62. Trevor Olkowski 71-77-76–224
62. Daniel O’Loughlin 73-75-76–224

12. Colorado State 292-286-304–882
40. Jake Staiano 72-70-78–220
44. Max Oelfke 79-69-73–221
56. AJ Ott 75-73-75–223
69. Colton Yates 72-74-80–226
77. Parathakorn Suyasri 73-78-78–229
9. Jack Ainscough (competing only as individual) 73-71-67–211

Also
71. Coloradan Josh Seiple, Mississippi 80-75-72–227