After posting finishes of ninth and fifth place in Series events over the last seven months, the CU sophomore on Friday won the 112-player Saguaro Amateur at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz.

Olkowski, a former Grand Junction resident who now lives in Las Vegas, carded rounds of 71-67-70 for an 8-under-par 208 total, good for a one-stroke victory over Sean Carlon of Albuquerque, N.M. In the final round, Olkowski made five birdies, giving him 16 for the three rounds. (Olkowski is pictured at left with Edwards in September at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, where the sophomore tied for first place but lost in a playoff.)

This week’s performance gave Olkowski the overall championship in the Troon Saguaro Amateur Series.

Olkowski was one of three players who grew up in Colorado to post top-10 finishes in the Saguaro Amateur on Friday. Jake Staiano of Cherry Hills Village, a senior at Colorado State, and Tyler Severin of Johnstown, a University of Wyoming freshman, tied for fourth place. Staiano, the 2017 CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year, went 73-69-71 for a 3-under-par 213 total. He birdied two of his last three holes. Severin carded scores of 70-73-70 for his 213. He made the top five despite a 42 on the front nine on Thursday.
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For all the scores from the Saguaro Amateur, CLICK HERE.
 

On Tuesday in Tarragona, Spain, Heisele’s hopes to regain his tour card went by the wayside — again, by a very narrow margin.

To keep those hopes alive, the German needed to make the 72-hole cut in the six-round Q-school finals. That required being in the top 70 and ties after Tuesday. Heisele was in good shape to meet that standard until he made his only bogey of the day, which happened to come on his final hole of the day.

With that 18th-hole bogey, Heisele missed the cut by one, meaning he won’t be a card-carrying member of the European Tour for a third consecutive year.

The players at 6-under-par 280 or better made the cut, while Heisele finished at 5-under 281. He shot a 2-under 70 on Tuesday, making three birdies and the 18th-hole bogey, tying for 78th place in the 156-person field.

The top 25 finishers and ties after six rounds will earn 2018-19 European Tour cards.

Heisele, who played for CU from 2008 through ’11, placed 19th at the Q-school finals in 2016 and 18th in 2017, both times earning his tour card. He lost his playing privileges as he placed 188th on the European Tour money list in 2017-18.

Here are Heisele’s round-by-round scores in Spain this week:

Missed 72-Hole Cut
78. Former CU golfer Sebastian Heisele 70-70-71-70–281

For all the scores from the final stage of European Tour Q-school, CLICK HERE.
 

First up, the German will need to make Tuesday’s 72-hole cut in the final stage of Q-school in Tarragona, Spain. Then, if he can overcome that hurdle, he’ll have two more rounds to move into the top 25 finishers and ties that will earn 2018-19 European Tour cards on Thursday.

Heisele (left) reached the halfway point of the Q-school finals and stands in 86th place out of the 156-man field. He shot an even-par 71 on Monday at the Lakes Course at Lumine Golf Club — making two birdies and two bogeys — which leaves him at 3-under-par 211 for 54 holes.

As of Monday evening, players at 10 under par and better were in the top 25 and ties. And those at 5 under and better were in the top 70 and ties.

Heisele, who played at CU from 2008 through ’11, is no stranger to success in the final stage of European Q-school. He earned cards in both 2016 and ’17, finishing 19th and 18th, respectively, but he lost his card this past season.

Here are Heisele’s round-by-round scores in Spain this week:

Former CU golfer Sebastian Heisele 70-70-71–211

For all the scores from the final stage of European Tour Q-school, CLICK HERE.
 

The fall portion of the college golf season wrapped up last week for the Division I programs based in Colorado.

There were plenty of highlights for teams and players with major connections to the Centennial State and, probably not coincidentally, many of those superlatives took place in tournaments held in Colorado.

As we enter intermission for a 2018-19 season that won’t resume in earnest until February in most cases — or late January at least — we’ll revisit some of the top local moments from the fall Division I schedule:

— The University of Colorado men’s squad claimed two team titles in September — at the season-opening Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational at the Air Force Academy, and at their own Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational in Erie.

— Not to be outdone, the Colorado State University men also won twice team-wise in the fall. The Rams claimed their fifth straight title as they hosted the Ram Masters Invitational in Fort Collins, then prevailed in winter-like conditions at the Paintbrush Invitational in Parker.

— On the women’s side, CSU accomplished a momentous feat by earning a team victory at a major invitational for the first time in over eight years. It came at the University of Denver’s Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate in Highlands Ranch, the Rams’ third tournament under new head coach Laura Cilek.

— At that same event, CSU junior Ellen Secor claimed the first individual victory of her college career. Secor subsequently was named the Mountain West Conference’s Women’s Golfer of the Month for October. And notably, one of the two players who tied for second in Highlands Ranch, a stroke behind Secor, was CSU’s Katrina Prendergast, Secor’s teammate when the two won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball national championship in May. (The two are pictured, with Secor at left.)

— Kyler Dunkle, who grew up in Colorado and won the CGA Amateur in August, had a stellar fall individually as a senior at Utah. Dunkle won the individual title at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational for the second straight year. And this time, it was his second college win in eight days. Dunkle finished the fall with three top-four finishes.

— Also at CU’s Simpson Invitational, Buffs sophomore Trevor Olkowski technically tied for the individual title — and it will go down as a victory — though Dunkle beat him in a playoff by making a 6-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole. (Below, Olkowski is pictured with Dunkle, in the red shirt.)

— Junior Daniel O’Loughlin, a CU teammate of Olkowski, recorded an outright individual victory at the season opener at the Air Force Academy. O’Loughlin notched four top-10 finishes in five fall tournaments.

— One of the more remarkable performances of the fall was by CSU freshman Oscar Teiffel, from Sweden. In a final round of the Paintbrush Invitational in which temperatures hovered in the mid-30s and it was snowing more than a little, Teiffel carded a stellar 5-under-par 67 at Colorado Golf Club. The three-stroke victory was the first for Teiffel in his young college career.

Add up all of the above, and local schools recorded five team victories in the fall, and local players posted six individual wins — or, in Olkowski’s case, a tie for first.

— Junior Robyn Choi, the top player for the CU women, didn’t manage an individual victory in the fall, but certainly made a few runs at it. In all, she had three top-six finishes in three fall tournaments. And, perhaps most impressively, she earned her LPGA card for 2019 by finishing 45th in the final stage of Q-school, the Q-Series.

— Coby Welch, a junior at the University of Northern Colorado who went to the U.S. Amateur in August, had a strong fall, notching three top-five individual finishes — all coming in Colorado. He was third at both the Gene Miranda and Ram Masters, and fifth at the Paintbrush Invite.

— Freshmen had the top two stroke averages for CSU in the fall: Teiffel (70.77) and Aurora resident Davis Bryant (72.13).

— Mary Weinstein of Highlands Ranch, a junior at the University of Denver, shot a program-record 8-under-par 64 to close out the Golfweek Conference Challenge at the Fazio Course at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott. The stellar final round gave Weinstein her best individual finish — third place — since transferring from Regis to DU in the summer of 2017.

— Luke Trujillo, a freshman from Colorado Springs, leads the Air Force Academy golf team in stroke average after the fall season with a 74.4 norm.

— Beah Cruz, a sophomore from Vacaville, Calif., recorded two top-10 individual finishes for the University of Northern Colorado women in the fall — a sixth and a ninth.

— Meanwhile, in a matter not directly related to performance, this season a DU women’s player is carrying a golf bag at each tournament that honors Danny Dietz, a Navy Seal and former Littleton resident who was killed in combat in 2005 during the war in Afghanistan. Coach Lindsay Kuhle went to Heritage High School with Dietz, knows his family, and came up with the idea to pay tribute to Dietz through the Folds of Honor Foundation program. Dietz’s story was part of the book and movie “Lone Survivor”.

Below are the rankings for the Colorado-based NCAA Division I teams as of the end of the fall season (updated Nov. 14):

Men
Colorado State ( 47th Golfstat, 51st Golfweek)
Colorado (73rd Golfstat, 81st Golfweek)
Northern Colorado (118th Golfstat, 122nd Golfweek)
Denver (137th Golfstat, 149th Golfweek)
Air Force Academy (203rd Golfstat, 204th Golfweek)

Women
Colorado (36th Golfweek, 42nd Golfstat)
Colorado State (69th Golfstat, 74th Golfweek)
Denver (79th Golfweek, 81st Golfstat)
Northern Colorado (149th Golfstat, 150th Golfweek)

And here are the rankings of local players in the top 250 in the nation:

Men
91. Longtime Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, Utah (Golfweek)
110. Daniel O’Loughlin, CU (Golfstat)
118. Oscar Teiffel, CSU (Golfweek)
120. Coby Welch, UNC (Golfstat)
189. Davis Bryant, CSU (Golfweek)
238. Trevor Olkowski, CU (Golfstat)

Women
11. Robyn Choi, CU (Golfstat)
57. Coloradan Jennifer Kupcho, Wake Forest (Golfweek)
72. Kirsty Hodgkins, CU (Golfweek)
87. Mary Weinstein, DU (Golfweek)
97. Former Coloradan Elizabeth Wang, Harvard (Golfweek)
192. Katrina Prendergast, CSU (Golfstat)
 

The German, who played for CU from 2008 to ’11, fired a 2-under-par 70 on Sunday at the Hills Course at Lumine Golf Club in Tarragona, Spain to stand at 3-under 140 with four rounds remaining. Heisele sits in 87th place out of 156 players, 13 strokes behind leader David Borda.

The top 25 finishers and ties after six rounds will earn European Tour cards for the 2018-19 wraparound season. The players in the top 25 after two rounds were at 135 and better. The field will be cut to the low 70 players and ties after four rounds.

Heisele made three birdies and one bogey on Sunday.

The former Buff has successfully negotiated the final stage of Q-school each of the last two years, placing 19th in 2016 and 18th in 2017. In 2018, his best showing on the European Tour was an eighth place in the Qatar Masters in February, but he didn’t play well enough overall to keep his card.

For all the scores from the final stage of European Tour Q-school, CLICK HERE.
 

In an tournament in which the top 25 finishers and ties after six rounds earn European Tour cards, the German placed 19th in 2016 and 18th in 2017.

This year, after losing his tour card, Heisele (left) finished third at a second stage Q-school tournament earlier this month to advance to the final stage. And on Saturday in Tarragona, Spain, the former Buff (2008-11) opened with a 1-under-par 70 in the final stage, which leaves him tied for 98th place out of 156 players with five rounds left. Heisele, whose best showing on the European Tour this year was an eighth place in the Qatar Masters in February, made five birdies and four bogeys on Saturday and trails co-leaders Max Schmitt and Daniel Gavins by eight.

The field will be cut to the low 70 players and ties after four rounds.

For all the scores from the final stage of European Tour Q-school, CLICK HERE.
 

Over the last 15 days, the junior has played 11 competitive rounds against some of the best women’s competition around. Eight came in the LPGA Q-Series, in which she finished tied for 45th, earning one of the final LPGA Tour cards available for 2019.

Then the two-time U.S. Women’s Open qualifier flew from Pinehurst, N.C., to Hawaii to compete for CU in the Nanea Pac-12 Preview, which started less than 48 hours after the eight-round Q-Series concluded.

Not only did Choi (left in an LPGA photo) make it in time, she finished fifth individually in the 60-player event, joining fellow Australian Kirsty Hodgkins in posting top-five showings on Wednesday.

Hodgkins’ third-place performance marked her second top-five in eight days and the seventh of her career. Hogdkins recorded rounds of 76-69-70 for a 4-under-par 215 total, which left her two strokes behind co-champions Yu-Sang Hou of Arizona and Tze-Han Lin of Oregon.

As for Choi, she’s finished no worse than sixth in her three fall college starts this season, going sixth, third and fifth. This week, she carded scores of 70-74-72 for a 3-under 216 total.

As a team, CU tied for third, accounting for its best team showing of the fall season, which concluded for the Buffs on Wednesday. Colorado finished with a three-day total of even-par 876, two strokes behind champion Arizona and tied with nationally top-ranked Southern California.

Dunkle Notches Another Top-Five Finish; CSU Fifth as Team: Elsewhere, 2018 CGA Amateur champion Kyler Dunkle of Utah posted a top-five finish on Wednesday at the Saint Mary’s Invitational in Pebble Beach, Calif., where Colorado State University placed fifth in the 18-team tournament.

Dunkle notched two wins in the fall college season, including one at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, and three top-five individual finishes in five fall events.

CSU recorded a stellar 5-under-par 279 — the second-best round on Wednesday — to check in at 853, 22 strokes behind team champion Southern California. Freshman Oscar Teiffel, who won the Paintbrush Invitational last month, placed 12th individually on Wednesday to lead the Rams.

Nanea Pac-12 Preview

Nov. 5-7, 2018 (final) in Kailua Kona, Hawaii
3. (out of 12 teams) Colorado 290-293-293–876
3. Kirsty Hodgkins 76-69-70–215
5. Robyn Choi 70-74-72–216
18. Haley Nist 70-76-74–220
31. Malak Bouraeda 74-74-77–225
53. Gillian Vance 76-81-78–235

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

Saint Mary’s Invitational
Nov. 5-7, 2018 (final) in Pebble Beach, Calif.
5. (out of 18 teams) Colorado State 284-290-279–853
12. Oscar Teiffel 69-72-70–211
15. Davis Bryant 72-72-68–212
30. AJ Ott 71-72-73–216
39. Jack Ainscough 72-76-70–218
56. Jake Staiano 78-74-71–223

Also
4. Former Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, Utah 71-68-69–208

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

After rounds of 72-74 earlier in the week, Paul (left) rebounded with a 6-under-par 66 at Bear Creek Golf Club to jump into a tie for 18th place at 4-under 212 going into Friday’s final round.

The top 18 finishers and ties on Friday will advance to the final stage of Q-school.

Paul made two eagles on the front nine on Thursday and finished an eventful day with two eagles, five birdies and three bogeys.

Meanwhile, Josh Creel of Cheyenne, who started his college golf career at CU before transferring to Central Oklahoma, moved up to seventh place on Thursday. The former NCAA Division II individual champion posted a 1-under 71 to check in at 6-under 210. He made an eagle, four birdies, a bogey and two double bogeys in round 3.

Zahkai Brown of Golden carded a 69 on Thursday which lifted him into 33rd place at 216. He finished with five birdies and two bogeys in the third round.

Four more Second Stage tournaments will be held next week. The Final Stage is Dec. 6-9 in Chandler, Ariz., where 2019 Web.com Tour cards will be distributed.

Here are this week’s second stage scores for all the players with strong Colorado ties:

Q-School Second Stage (Oct. 30-Nov. 2)
Murrieta, Calif. (Top 18 Finishers and Ties After 72 Holes Advance to Final Stage)
7. Former CU golfer Josh Creel of Cheyenne, Wyo. 69-70-71–210
18. Former CU golfer Yannik Paul 72-74-66–212
33. Zahkai Brown of Golden 72-75-69–216

The top 18 finishers and ties after 72 holes will advance to the final stage of Q-school.

Creel, the national Division II player of the year at Central Oklahoma in 2012, made four birdies and two bogeys in posting a 2-under-par 70 on Wednesday. That left him at 5-under-par 139 overall, eight strokes behind leader Armando Favelo of Chula Vista, Calif.

The other players with significant Colorado-area ties competing this week will need to rally in the final two rounds to get inside the top 18. Former University of Colorado golfer Yannik Paul is tied for 40th place at 146, while Zahkai Brown of Golden is 43rd at 147.

Four more Second Stage tournaments will be held next week. The Final Stage is Dec. 6-9 in Chandler, Ariz., where 2019 Web.com Tour cards will be distributed.

Here are this week’s second stage scores for all the players with strong Colorado ties:

Q-School Second Stage (Oct. 30-Nov. 2)
Murrieta, Calif. (Top 18 Finishers and Ties After 72 Holes Advance to Final Stage)
10. Former CU golfer Josh Creel of Cheyenne, Wyo. 69-70–139
40. Former CU golfer Yannik Paul 72-74–146
43. Zahkai Brown of Golden 72-75–147
 

Hodgkins, a junior from Australia, shot an even-par 72 on Tuesday and rallied to place fourth in the SMU Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas.

Hodgkins (pictured in a CU photo) checked in at 2-over-par 218, ending up four strokes behind individual champion Ellie Slama of Oregon State. She now owns a win, a second, three fourths and a fifth-place finish in her college career.

Despite missing junior Robyn Choi, who’s competing at the LPGA Q-Series, CU placed a season-best fourth as a team on Tuesday. The Buffs ended up with a 32-over-par 896 total, which left them 24 strokes behind champion Illinois.

Freshman Kelsey Webster from Boulder made her collegiate debut while competing as an individual in Dallas. She tied for 49th place with a 234 total for three rounds.

SMU Trinity Forest Invitational
Oct. 29-30, 2018 (final) in Dallas
4. (out of 12 teams) Colorado 299-294-303–896
4. Kirsty Hodgkins 74-72-72–218
21. Haley Nist 76-73-76–225
29. Malak Bouraeda 74-74-79–227
24. Gillian Vance 75-75-76–226
64. Elle Otten 81-80-83–244
Competing Only as Individual
49. Kelsey Webster 79-75-80–234

For complete results, CLICK HERE.