Colorado State University Athletics
Men's Golf's Staiano Named CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year
11/20/2017 6:51:00 PM | Men's Golf
The junior earns the top award given in golf in the state of Colorado by the organization
(portions courtesy of Colorado Golf Association)
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Colorado State junior Jake Staiano has been named the Les Fowler Player of the Year by the Colorado Golf Association, the organization announced today.
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"Being named player of the year definitely means a lot," Staiano said in a recent email. "Just to be in the category with some of the best players to come out of Colorado shows a lot about how far I have come in the past few years with my game. I definitely went through some hard times, but to get this award really shows my maturity through it all and how I was able to get through those times."
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Covering the 2017 calendar year, Staiano has been a standout for the Colorado State golf team, earning All-Mountain West honors at the end of the 2016-17 season and advancing to the NCAA Austin Regional as an individual. This fall, Staiano had led the Rams to a top-25 national ranking in all major national polls and ratings with the squad having top-five finishes in all four fall tournaments, including a victory in the Ram Masters Invitational. He is averaging 71.33 strokes per round with nine of 12 rounds at par or better and the top finish a fifth at the Ram Master Invitational.
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Playing as an individual amateur, Staiano was in the hunt for the title this year in the biggest tournament held annually in the state, the CoBank Colorado Open. He shared the lead after three holes of the final round, which is no small feat considering only two players (Gary Longfellow and Brian Guetz) have won the Colorado Open as amateurs. He ended up finishing eighth at 15-under-par for 72 holes, taking low-amateur honors by seven strokes. It was the best overall showing by an amateur at the Colorado Open since Cameron Harrell placed fifth in 2014.
Elsewhere, Staiano qualified for the U.S. Amateur for the second time and advanced to Sectionals at U.S. Open qualifying. In the biggest CGA championships, Staiano placed second at the CGA Amateur and fell in the semifinals of the CGA Match Play to eventual champion Chris Korte.
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The CGA's top annual award for players has gone to first-time winners for the last nine years, since Pat Grady won in both 2007 and '08. And Staiano, a Colorado State University golfer, is the 10th college-age player in the last 11 years to earn the overall POY honor, with the lone exception over that time being Michael Harrington of Colorado Springs in 2014.
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As CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year, Staiano joins a list of past honorees that includes 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones (1980 and '81); Brandt Jobe, who has won more than $11.1 million combined on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions (1985); Kevin Stadler, winner of the 2014 Waste Management Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour (2002); and three-time Colorado Open winner and 1986 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Bill Loeffler (1986). (The CGA Player of the Year award debuted in 1978, after golfers such as Hale Irwin and Bob Byman had starred as amateurs in Colorado.)
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Colorado State junior Jake Staiano has been named the Les Fowler Player of the Year by the Colorado Golf Association, the organization announced today.
Â
"Being named player of the year definitely means a lot," Staiano said in a recent email. "Just to be in the category with some of the best players to come out of Colorado shows a lot about how far I have come in the past few years with my game. I definitely went through some hard times, but to get this award really shows my maturity through it all and how I was able to get through those times."
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Covering the 2017 calendar year, Staiano has been a standout for the Colorado State golf team, earning All-Mountain West honors at the end of the 2016-17 season and advancing to the NCAA Austin Regional as an individual. This fall, Staiano had led the Rams to a top-25 national ranking in all major national polls and ratings with the squad having top-five finishes in all four fall tournaments, including a victory in the Ram Masters Invitational. He is averaging 71.33 strokes per round with nine of 12 rounds at par or better and the top finish a fifth at the Ram Master Invitational.
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Playing as an individual amateur, Staiano was in the hunt for the title this year in the biggest tournament held annually in the state, the CoBank Colorado Open. He shared the lead after three holes of the final round, which is no small feat considering only two players (Gary Longfellow and Brian Guetz) have won the Colorado Open as amateurs. He ended up finishing eighth at 15-under-par for 72 holes, taking low-amateur honors by seven strokes. It was the best overall showing by an amateur at the Colorado Open since Cameron Harrell placed fifth in 2014.
Elsewhere, Staiano qualified for the U.S. Amateur for the second time and advanced to Sectionals at U.S. Open qualifying. In the biggest CGA championships, Staiano placed second at the CGA Amateur and fell in the semifinals of the CGA Match Play to eventual champion Chris Korte.
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The CGA's top annual award for players has gone to first-time winners for the last nine years, since Pat Grady won in both 2007 and '08. And Staiano, a Colorado State University golfer, is the 10th college-age player in the last 11 years to earn the overall POY honor, with the lone exception over that time being Michael Harrington of Colorado Springs in 2014.
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As CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year, Staiano joins a list of past honorees that includes 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones (1980 and '81); Brandt Jobe, who has won more than $11.1 million combined on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions (1985); Kevin Stadler, winner of the 2014 Waste Management Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour (2002); and three-time Colorado Open winner and 1986 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Bill Loeffler (1986). (The CGA Player of the Year award debuted in 1978, after golfers such as Hale Irwin and Bob Byman had starred as amateurs in Colorado.)
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Players Mentioned
/ Men's Golf
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