In fact, five local golfers posted top-10 individual performances over the last eight days:

— Senior Amanda Myers (pictured) of Northern Colorado scored a runner-up showing this week at the Sacramento State Invitational in Roseville, Calif. Myers carded rounds of 74-74-72 for a 4-over-par 220 total, which put her in a playoff, where she lost to champion Vanessa Ha of San Francisco after two extra holes. For her performance, Myers was named Big Sky Conference women’s golfer of the week. She’s chalked up three top-10 performances so far this season (second, third and eighth).

— Colorado State freshman Katrina Prendergast recorded the best finish of her young college career by tying for fifth in the 85-player MountainView Collegiate last weekend in Tucson, Ariz. She shot rounds of 67-75-72 for a 2-under-par 214 total. The 67 tied the single-round CSU women’s record. Overall, it was Prendergast’s second top-10 of her freshman season. For her showing, Prendergast was named the Mountain West Conference’s women’s golfer of the week.

— Also notching a top-10 finish was Pueblo resident Jimmy Makloski, the Colorado State University golfer who placed 10th in the Desert Shootout last weekend in Goodyear, Ariz. Makloski went 69-68-70 for a 207 total. He’s posted five top-20 individual finishes in large-field tournaments this season.

— And on Saturday at The Goodwin in Palo Alto, Calif., University of Colorado teammates Philip Juel-Berg and Jeremy Paul placed ninth and 10th, respectively, in a 26-team event with a strong field. Juel-Berg notched his fourth top-10 in large-scale tournaments this season, going 70-68-71 for a 1-under-par 209 total. One stroke behind Juel-Berg was Paul, who went 67-68-75. It was Paul’s third top-10 in large events this season.
 

The showing marked the third top-two team performance in a large-scale tournament this season by the Buffs, who tied for the title at their own Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational and were second at the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, both in the fall.

On Sunday, CU had the second-best final-round score, an even-par 288, to put the pressure on 36-hole leader Kansas, which is coached by former Colorado State University coach Jamie Bermel. But the Jayhawks’ five golfers played the final five holes in a combined 6 under par to claim their third team title of the season.

KU posted a 2-over-par 866 total for three rounds, three shots better then Colorado.

Individually, CU senior Philip Juel-Berg (pictured), winner of the 2015 Danish International Amateur, placed third. Rounds of 72-69-71 left him at 4-under-par 212, three strokes behind champion Sean Walsh of Gonzaga.

The University of Denver placed 19th in the team race on Sunday at 914.

Wyoming Desert Collegiate
Feb. 19-21, 2016 (final) in Palm Desert, Calif.
2. Colorado (out of 20 teams) 289-290-288–869
3. Philip Juel-Berg 72-69-71–212; 11. Jeremy Paul 71-72-73–217; 35. Ross Macdonald 73-76-73–223; 76. Ethan Freeman 86-73-71–230; 101. Wilson Belk 73-81-82–236. Competing only as individuals: 14. John Souza 76-71-72–219; 101. Pierce Aichinger 82-78-77-237.

19. Denver 300-305-309–914
45. Jake Kelley 75-71-79–225; 71. Petter Mikalsen 68-81-80–229; 71. Arti Edelman 81-73-75–229; 97. Adam Ruben 77-81-78–236; 101. Chris Korte 80-80-77–237. Competing only as individuals: 76. Michael Boylan 75-80-75–230; 88. Johan Werge 76-79-78–233.

Also
39. Coloradan Cole Nygren, Cal-Poly 74-76-74–224
79. Coloradan Glenn Workman, Wyoming 78-80-73–231
 

Consider it a variation of the “drive for show, putt for dough” theme. Both portions of the college golf season are important, but it’s what a team does in the spring — more so than the fall — that really gets remembered.

And though “spring” may seem a long way off for Colorado golfers, the spring season will begin for at least one Colorado-based college team this weekend.

The University of Denver men will tee off their second-half schedule Friday and Saturday at the 54-hole, 17-team Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson. The Pioneer men are one of nine NCAA Division I teams based in Colorado, and all nine will begin their spring seasons before February ends.

And the rubber really meets the road in April, May and early June, when conference championships and NCAA regionals and finals are contested.

Most notable from a Colorado perspective this year are the men’s and women’s NCAA Division II Championship finals, set for May 17-21 at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club and May 18-21 at CommonGround Golf Course, respectively. It will be the first NCAA golf nationals held in Colorado since The Broadmoor last hosted the NCAA Division I men’s championship, in 1969.

As for the local Division I schedule, the Arizona Intercollegiate in which the DU men are competing this weekend marks the first major tournament of the spring season nationwide. College teams will be resuming competition after a three-to-four-month intermission following the fall season.

Among in-state DI schools, the University of Colorado is the top-ranked women’s squad (24th nationally according to Golfweek), while CU is also tops among the men (Golfweek has the Buffs 68th).

The individuals from Colorado and Colorado schools who are top ranked nationally are, for men:

82. Jeremy Paul (pictured above), Colorado (Golfstat)
91. Wyndham Clark of Lone Tree, Oklahoma State (Golfweek)
100. Philip Juel-Berg, Colorado (Golfstat)

And for women:

16. Esther Lee (left), Colorado (Golfweek)
37. Hannah Wood of Highlands Ranch, Oklahoma (Golfstat)
86. Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, Wake Forest (Golfweek)
138. Kathi Baratta, Denver (Golfweek)
143. Alexis Keating, Colorado (Golfweek)

Here’s a team-by-team rundown on the Colorado-based Division I teams going into the spring portion of the season:

Air Force Men

National Ranking — 184th (Golfweek).

Best Fall Team Finish — Second at Bill Ross Intercollegiate.

Best Fall Individual Finishes — Brenden Bone (second), Sunwoo Choi (eighth).

Best Individual Stroke Average in Fall — Brenden Bone 72.6.

Next tournament — Feb. 28-March 1, Snowman Getaway, Goodyear, Ariz.

Conference Championships — Mountain West, April 22-24 in Tucson, Ariz.

Colorado Men

National Ranking — 68th (Golfweek).

Best Fall Team Finishes — Won Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, second at Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational.

Best Fall Individual Finishes — Philip Juel-Berg (first, second and eighth), Jeremy Paul (first, third and seventh), Ethan Freeman (fifth three times), Ross Macdonald (fifth).

Best Individual Stroke Average in Fall — Jeremy Paul 70.6.

Next Tournament — Feb. 4-6, Amer Ali Intercollegiate, Big Island, Hawaii.

Conference Championships — Pac-12, April 29-May 1 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Colorado Women

National Ranking — 24th (Golfweek).

Best Fall Team Finishes — Second at East & West Match Play Challenge, fourth at Pac-12 Preview.

Best Fall Individual Finishes — Esther Lee (first, fourth and ninth), Alexis Keating (third), Brittany Fan (ninth).

Best Individual Stroke Average in Fall — Esther Lee 72.6.

Next Tournament — Feb. 13-14, Peg Barnard Stanford Invitational, Stanford, Calif.

Conference Championships — Pac-12, April 18-20 in Pleasanton, Calif.

Colorado State Men

National Ranking — 74th (Golfstat).

Best Fall Team Finishes — Won Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational and Ram Masters Invitational, third at Tucker Intercollegiate, fourth at Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate.

Best Fall Individual Finishes — Dominic Kieffer (second, third, sixth), Max Oelfke (second, sixth, seventh), Kyler Dunkle (fourth, fifth, seventh), Jimmy Makloski (eighth), Jake Staiano (eighth).

Best Individual Stroke Average in Fall — Max Oelfke 71.9.

Next Major Tournament — Feb. 28-March 1, National Invitational, Tucson, Ariz.

Conference Championships — Mountain West, April 22-24 in Tucson, Ariz.

Colorado State Women

National Ranking — 68th (Golfstat).

Best Fall Team Finishes — Fourth at Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate.

Best Fall Individual Finishes — Allie Andersen (fifth), Sarah Archuleta (eighth).

Best Individual Stroke Average in Fall — Elizabeth Rau 74.1.

Next Tournament — Feb. 22-23, Gold Rush, Long Beach, Calif.

Conference Championships — Mountain West, April 18-20 in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Denver Men

National Ranking — 207th (Golfstat).

Best Fall Team Finish — Fifth at Pacific Invitational.

Best Fall Individual Finish — Chris Korte (fifth).

Best Individual Stroke Average in Fall — Chris Korte 73.4.

Next Tournament — Jan. 29-30, Arizona Medalist, Tucson, Ariz.

Conference Championships — Summit League, May 1-3 in Newton, Kan.

Denver Women 

National Ranking — 57th (Golfweek).

Best Fall Team Finishes — Won Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate, fourth at Golfweek Conference Challenge.

Best Fall Individual Finishes — Kathi Baratta (fifth, eighth).

Best Individual Stroke Average in Fall — Kathi Baratta 72.5.

Next Tournament — Feb. 13-14, Peg Barnard Stanford Invitational, Stanford, Calif.

Conference Championships — Summit League, April 18-20 in Nebraska City

Also Notable — The DU women, who have won 12 consecutive conference championships, are favored to make it a baker’s dozen. The Pioneers were recently picked No. 1 in the nine-team Summit League in a midseason poll of the conference’s head coaches. DU is in its third season in the Summit League.

Northern Colorado Men

National Ranking — 202nd (Golfstat).

Best Fall Team Finish — Seventh at Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational.

Best Fall Individual Finishes — Joshua Matz (fourth).

Next Tournament — Feb. 8-9, Thunderbird Invitational, St. George, Utah.

Conference Championships — Big Sky, April 29-May 1 in Boulder City, Nev.

Current Ranking Among Big Sky Conference Teams — Fourth out of eight.

Northern Colorado Women

National Ranking — 116th (Golfweek).

Best Fall Team Finish — Eighth at Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Invitational.

Best Fall Individual Finishes — Amanda Myers (third, eighth), Kala Keltz (eighth).

Next Tournament — Feb. 22-24, Grand Canyon Invitational, Goodyear, Ariz.

Conference Championships — Big Sky, April 18-20 in Boulder City, Nev.

Current Ranking Among Big Sky Conference Teams — Second out of 12.
 

With the University of Colorado men’s golf team having lost two of its top three players from last season — David Oraee and Yannik Paul — the opportunity to help fill a void is certainly at hand this fall.

And several home-grown players — all graduates of Colorado high schools — are doing their best to address the issue.

That was apparent the last two days at CU’s own Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational at Boulder Country Club.

Three Coloradans finished in the top 11 out of a field of 74, including freshmen Ross Macdonald and Wilson Belk. And junior Ethan Freeman and Macdonald, who established and tied their best college finishes, respectively, on Tuesday by sharing fifth place, played major roles in helping the Buffs tie for the team title.

For the third consecutive year — and fourth overall — CU earned a least part of the team championship at the Simpson Invite. Against all odds, they’ve tied for the title two of the last three years, this time with Missouri-Kansas City.

The Buffs (left) rallied from five strokes behind entering last round to shoot a Tuesday-best 1-under-par 279. That left them and the Roos at 7-over-par 847 for three rounds.

And besides their overall solid play, Macdonald and Freeman helped seal the deal for CU on the final hole.

Macdonald drained a very fast downhill 5-foot putt for bogey. Then junior Jeremy Paul, Yannik’s twin brother, chipped in for birdie on that same hole from 30 feet. And Freeman made an impressive up and down from a greenside bunker, sinking a challenging sidehill 4-footer for par. (Freeman is pictured at top getting congratulated by CU head coach Roy Edwards.)

And the Buffs needed all three of those things to happen to earn a tie for the title.

“The whole team is riding on you,” said Freeman, who was in the final group. “You’re the last guy in. I had to make that putt or we wouldn’t have tied for the win, so I definitely felt the nerves. I knew I had to pull it out for my team.

“That was huge for me. We’re at our home event and this is the one we want to win every year. That putt definitely meant a lot. It was just (4) feet, but that felt like a really long putt. I was real excited to make that.”

As for two-time CGA Junior Stroke Play champion Macdonald (at left preparing to fist-bump with CU assistant coach Pat Grady), CU coach Roy Edwards was likewise impressed by his play, especially given that he’s in his first month of college golf.

“That’s one big thing for Ross Macdonald,” Edwards said. “He’s come right in and been a huge part of our success early in the season. We’ve got some good talented young players. It’s always a developmental process. They’re in the middle of it and sometimes it doesn’t feel as good as other days. They’re doing a lot of really good things. There are some growing pains, but I actually enjoy it because you get to see guys (make strides, and) the fruition is guys like Philip (Juel-Berg, a senior) and Jeremy and Ethan. That’s what those young guys are going to be in a couple of years. They’re thrown right into the fire right now.”

All told, CU put five individuals in the top 11 Tuesday, with Jeremy Paul (210) finishing third — marking the 12th top-10 of his career — Macdonald and Freeman (212) sharing fifth, and Juel-Berg (213) tying for 11th. Belk, competing solely as an individual, also shared 11th place.

Freeman, a two-time state high school champion from Kent Denver, has recorded three fifth-place individual finishes so far this season.

While the Coloradans certainly made their contributions on Tuesday, Paul had the most impressive moment of the day. With CU trailing UMKC by a stroke, he spun his approach shot off the front of the final green, then proceeded to hole out his chip (left) for birdie, tying things up.

“I was trying to make it because I knew we needed to make up one shot,” said the native of Germany. “Usually it never goes in (under those circumstances), but this time it did so it was really emotional. It’s just important for us as a team to at least share the victory. I was just super excited about it.”

UMKC’s Antoine Rozner, No. 53 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, claimed the individual title Tuesday, though he missed a 15-foot birdie attempt on No. 18 that would have given the Roos the outright team championship. He shot a 1-under-par 69 Tuesday for a 2-under 208 total.

While the Buffs notched their second team victory of the season — the first came in a three-team field at Ballyneal — Air Force (878) placed seventh on Tuesday and Northern Colorado (885) was 10th.

A small junior-golf event was held in conjunction with the Simpson Invitational. Fairview High School golfer Daniel Pearson, from Longmont, posted the low 54-hole total for the group, a 17-over-par 227. Here are the scores of all the junior players who competed:

Daniel Pearson 73-76-78–227
Cole Krantz 80-75-73–228
Timothy Amundson 80-80-76–236
Jackson Solem 81-77-80–238
Austin Burgess 82-82-80–244

Boulder Country Club will host the men’s Pac-12 Conference Championships in the spring of 2017.

Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational
At Par-70 Boulder CC

T1. (out of 12 teams) Colorado 275-293-279–847
3. Jeremy Paul 67-75-68–210
T5. Ethan Freeman 69-72-71–212
T5. Ross Macdonald 67-75-70–212
11. Philip Juel-Berg 72-71-70–213
47. Kade Crossland 74-76-74–224
CU Players Competing Only as Individuals
11. Wilson Belk 73-69-71–213
53. Drew Trujillo 77-72-77–226
58. Pierce Aichinger 76-76-76–228

7. Air Force 289-293-296–878
16. Brenden Bone 71-73-72–216
27. Sunwoo Choi 71-74-74–219
41. Bryant Falconello 76-72-74–222
58. Kyle Fuller 71-81-76–228
61. Michael Fan 77-74-78–229
Competing as Individuals
45. Tate Tatom, Air Force 72-74-77–223
64. Dan Hankamer 78-75-75–230
66. Troy Berglund 74-79-79–232

10. Northern Colorado 293-288-304–885
16. Conner Barr 74-68-74–216
35. Steven Kupcho 70-70-81–221
35. Joshua Matz 75-74-72–221
61. Sam Marley 75-76-78–229
68. Julian Woodfork 74-79-80–233
Competing as Individual
47. Li Chen 74-77-73–224

Also
27. Colton Yates, Colorado State 73-71-75–219
27. Blake Cannon, Colorado State 73-72-74–219
47. Coloradan Glenn Workman, Wyoming 75-76-73–224
 

It seemed only fitting that a week that will culminate with the Colorado-Colorado State football game would start with a showdown between the rivals on the golf course.

Though 14 other teams competed in the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational at the Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue Course at the Air Force Academy, they ended up playing second fiddle to CSU and CU.

The Rams (pictured above) prevailed in the 16-team tournament on Sunday, earning the Falcon Invite title for the third time in the 47-year-old event. CSU has taken home the trophy in 2008, ’09 and ’15.

“It’s big” to beat CU, said Rams senior Dominic Kieffer, who placed third individually. “The history between the two schools … we’ve always been close to them, (but) they’ve been a little bit better than us the last few years so it’s nice to get a win against them.”

But the Buffs didn’t go home empty-handed. They claimed the individual championship — with senior Philip Juel-Berg (left) earning his first college victory — in addition to being the runner-up team-wise.

Breaking through individually is “awesome,” said Juel-Berg, a native of Denmark who earlier this summer won the Danish International Amateur. “It’s definitely been a dream since I started college. I played really well over the summer, so I thought there was a chance to win a tournament when I got back here. It’s a great way to start off my senior year. I’m obviously really, really happy.”

CSU, which went into the final round three behind CU, shot a 7-under-par 281 as a team on Sunday and finished at 15-under 849. That was three better than CU, the 2012 champions. Wyoming was a distant third at 863. Northern Colorado (877) was seventh and host Air Force (881) was 11th.

Individually, Juel-Berg birdied five consecutive holes in the middle of his round — making a 45-foot putt, then four inside of 3 feet — and was 6 under for the day through 12. Ultimately, he posted a 4-under 68 in the final round. That left him at 12-under 204, good for a five-stroke victory over Devon Purser of Weber State. Juel-Berg matched the CU record for most shots under par in a three-round tournament.

Kieffer (above) and UTEP’s Frederik Dreier shared third place at 210.

Two former Colorado state high school champions also placed in the top 10, with CU’s Ethan Freeman (below) tying for fifth at 212 and CSU’s Kyler Dunkle sharing seventh place at 213.

The last four holes ultimately determined the team title as the four CSU golfers who had their scores count on Sunday went a combined 1 under down the stretch, while the corresponding Buffs went 5 over par.

“The guys did a nice job in general,” said CSU coach Christian Newton. “Kyler Dunkle was 3 over after 3, then made three birdies on the front to get it back to even, then shoots 2 under on the back, which was awesome, really gutsy. Blake Cannon had played really bad yesterday — he was in (71st) place — but he was 1 under for us today, which was huge. It was fun to watch.”

But not so much for the Buffs, who shot 16 strokes higher in round 3 than in round 2.

“It’s obviously real sad standing here afterward not being able to pull it out (team-wise),” Juel-Berg said. “We have to be honest: We just weren’t good enough. We dropped a lot of shots coming down the stretch.”

During Saturday’s first two rounds of the 54-hole event, CU competed with a four-man team, meaning that all the scores counted, with none being thrown out. That was because sophomore John Souza withdrew due to back spasms. He returned for Sunday’s third round and shot a 77.

“We’re very happy for Philip (Juel-Berg, left),” Buffs coach Roy Edwards said. “Anytime you have an individual win the event, you’re real excited. He’s a very hard worker, a senior. I know he’s very motivated to play well this year.

“Second (as a team) is obviously a nice event considering our situation with one guy not playing yesterday and hitting some bunts off the tee today. You’re never happy when you don’t win. We’re definitely not satisfied with second, but I’m certainly happy with how we played.

“It was a great battle with CSU. It’s always good to be in those situations, especially to start the year off.”

CU has a solid lineup, but lost one of its key players after just two seasons, as Yannik Paul is back is his native Germany, expected to soon turn pro. Yannik’s twin brother, Jeremy, remains one of the Buffs’ top players and tied for seventh on Sunday.

As for CSU, it put three players in the top 10 on Sunday — Kieffer, Dunkle and Max Oelfke (who also tied for seventh).

“We’ve got a tremendous amount of competition” on the team, Newton noted. “All the guys have gotten better. We’ve got seven or eight legitimate players; there are good guys at home. That speaks well for the program. There’s a lot of pushing and shoving for those spots. Ultimately that will make everyone better.

“We’re looking forward to next week and our home event (the Ram Masters Invitational Sept. 21-22 at Fort Collins Country Club). I’m really happy for the boys. This is really nice for them because they’ve worked really hard.”

Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational
At Par-72 Eisenhower GC (Blue Course) at Air Force Academy

Team scores — 1. Colorado State 849; 2. Colorado 852; 3. Wyoming 863; 4. Weber State 866; 5. Texas-El Paso 867; 6. Nevada 875; 7. (tie) Northern Colorado and Missouri-Kansas City 877; 9. William & Mary 878; 10. Utah State 879; 11. Air Force 881; 12. Boise State 885; 13. (tie) Abilene Christian and Utah 886; 15. Air Force B 904; 16. Southern Utah 944.

1. Colorado State 286-282-281–849
3. Dominic Kieffer 70-71-69–210; 7. Max Oelfke 72-70-71–213; 7. Kyler Dunkle 71-72-70–213; 15. Jimmy Makloski 73-69-73–215; 52. Blake Cannon 74-79-71–224.

2. Colorado 294-271-287–852
1. Philip Juel-Berg 69-67-68–204; 5. Ethan Freeman 76-67-69–212; 7. Jeremy Paul 71-69-73–213; 52. Ross Macdonald 78-68-78–224; 86. John Souza DNP-DNP-77.

7. Northern Colorado 286-299-292–877
22. Steven Kupcho 72-75-71–218; 35. Joshua Matz 75-71-75–221; 35. Sam Marley 68-78-75–221; 52. Conner Barr 78-75-71–224; 69. Li Chen 71-81-76–228.

11. Air Force Academy 300-291-290–881
18. Sutton Farmer 73-72-72–217; 35. Michael Fan 74-74-73–221; 46. Sunwoo Choi 76-75-72–223; 46. Bryant Falconello 77-73-73–223; 52. Brenden Bone 77-72-75–224.

15. Air Force Academy B 301-297-306–904
59. Tate Tatom 73-73-79–225; 62. Kyle Fuller 76-74-76–226; 67. Dane Hankamer 75-76-76–227; 79. Troy Berglund 86-74-75–235; 80. Turner Howe 77-79-80–236.

Other Local Players and Locals Competing as Individuals Only
22. Tristan Rohrbaugh, Boise State 73-72-73–218
28. Pierce Aichinger, Colorado 74-73-72–219
29. Glenn Workman, Wyoming 72-73-75–220
35. Jake Staiano, Colorado State 72-70-79–221
52. Kade Crossland, Colorado 73-74-77–224
88. Colton Yates 68-72-DNP