#18 Men's Golf Opens Spring at National Invitational Tournament, Feb. 25-26

Tournament: National Invitational Tournament
Date: February 26-27, 2018
Host: University of Arizona
Location: Tucson, Ariz.
Course: Omni Tucson National's Catalina Course
Course Par/Yardage: Par 72 / 7,200 yards
Host Web Site: http://www.arizonawildcats.com
Live Scoring: http://www.golfstat.com
Tournament Field (16): Colorado State, Arizona, Arizona State, Iowa State, Nevada, New Mexico State, North Texas, Princeton, Rutgers, Sacramento State, Santa Clara, San Diego, UNLV, Utah, UTEP, Wyoming

Next on the Tee: The Colorado State men's golf team will open the spring segment of the 2017-18 season at the National Invitational Tournament, Feb. 26-27. The two-day, 54-hole tournament, hosted by the University of Arizona, will be played at Omni Tucson National's Catalina Course (Par 72- 7,200 yards) in Tucson, Ariz.

Handicapping the Field: There are 16 teams in the field for the St. Mary's Invitational, with 11 in the top 100 according to Golfweek. Joining the Rams, ranked #18, will be host Arizona (40), Arizona State (32), Santa Clara (39), UNLV (47), North Texas (57), Wyoming (63), Nevada (70), Utah (77), UTEP (78), Iowa State (81), Rutgers (132), New Mexico State (134), San Diego (151), Princeton (152) and Sacramento State (231). In the field, five teams (Arizona State, Iowa State, Sacramento State, UNLV, UTEP) competed in the 2017 NCAA Regionals, with four other schools (CSU, Nevada, North Texas, Santa Clara) qualifying individuals for the postseason.

Lineup for the National Invitational Tournament: The Rams are in a standard play five, count four event this week. For CSU, the lineup will be:
1.   AJ Ott
2.   Max Oelfke
3.   Jake Staiano
4.   Colton Yates
5.   Parathakorn Suyasri

Making A Mark Nationally: The Rams are making their presence known on the national scene this year. With four top-five finishes in the fall, CSU is ranked No. 18 in the nation according to the Golfweek ratings, No. 22 according to Golfstat's ratings and No. 22 in Golf Coaches Association of America Poll.

Fall Accomplishments: The Rams had one of their most successful falls, with several notables:
In the fall schedule, CSU finished in the top five in all four fall events with three third top-threes and one tournament title (Ram Masters Invitational).
In the four tournaments of the fall, CSU defeated 22 teams that were represented either with teams or individuals in the NCAA Regionals last year. Of those, 14 were victories over regional teams with three over squads that advanced to the NCAA Championship.
CSU had six of their 12 team rounds in the fall that all four counting rounds come in at par or better.
The Rams shot 13-under 271 in the final round of the Saint Mary's Invitational, tying the best under-par round of the season (-13), is the second lowest 18-hole score of the year for the squad and ties for the ninth-lowest single round total in school history.
At Saint Mary's, Colorado State defeated 11 teams ranked in the top 103 according to Golfweek's rating system, which had the Rams ranked #18 entering the event. The only teams to finish ahead of the Rams were #30 Southern Cal and #14 Stanford.
In winning the Ram Masters Invitational, CSU shot a 12-under 268 in the opening round. That score is tied for the sixth lowest 18-hole total in program history.
Colorado State has a head-to-head mark of 62-7 (.899) on the season, far above the minimum .500 record for consideration for a NCAA Regional bid.

Individual National Rankings: Colorado State's success on the course is due to the entire lineup, as all five golfers are ranked significantly in the key NCAA Division I metrics. The Rams current rankings are:
Player   Golfweek   Golfstat
AJ Ott   107   94
Max Oelfke   155   151
Jake Staiano   181   159
Colton Yates   198   185
Parathakorn Suyarsi   230   179

On the World Stage: All five Rams that played in the lineup in the fall are ranked among the top 3000 players in the current World Amateur Golf Rankings. The rankings are based on their average performance in selected counting events over the past two calendar years.
Player   WAGR
Jake Staiano   233
Max Oelfke   406
Parathakorn Suyarsi   538
Colton Yates   729
AJ Ott   2533*
(*just entered in last month of fall season)
On the CSU Career Chart: The current roster is etching their names on the CSU record book (since 1993-94).
Junior Jake Staiano continues to be among the best to have played at CSU so far in his career. His scoring average of 72.17 in 63 competitive rounds ranks second all-time.
Staiano has an all-time win percentage of 74.1 percent, currently third in CSU annals and ahead of PGA Tour member and former Ram Martin Laird in fifth at 73.2 percent. Senior Max Oelfke ranks 14th in the category at 62.7 precent.
Oelfke has shown his ability to post quite a few under-par holes in his career. He ranks second in career eagles with 18 in 105 rounds played. He also has 342 career birdies (an average of better than three per round), which ranks 12th.
Staiano also ranks on the eagles made chart with 10, tied for ninth.

Putting Together Top-10s This Season: In the early going, CSU is playing extremely solid golf, showing in the rankings. Sophomore AJ Ott has three top-16 placings, while senior Colton Yates and Max Oelfke each have two top-10 finishes so far on the year. Junior Jake Staiano and freshman Parathakorn Suyasri finished fifth and tied for eighth, respectively, at the Ram Masters Invitational, with Staiano having recorded three top-20s in four events. Suyasri also finished in a tie for 8th at Saint Mary's, Yates tying for 14th and Ott tying for 20th. That gives the Rams three top-five, nine top-10 and 14 top-20 individual finishes so far this year.

Showing the Growth: Under head coach Christian Newton, CSU continues to show growth on the national stage, as the Rams play a high-level schedule each year. With the performance so far this season, Newton's teams moved to a 60.0 percent winning record in his five-plus years according to Golfstat. Newton moved ahead of Mark Crabtree (1994-99) on the list at 57.0 percent and Newton has six career CSU team tournament titles to Crabtree's five.

Last Time on the Tee: Colorado State men's golf posted a solid 13-under score for the day and moved up two spots to finish third at the 2017 Saint Mary's Invitational, Nov. 8. The three-day, 54-hole tournament, hosted by Saint Mary's College (Calif.), was played at the famed Poppy Hills Golf Club (Par 71 – 7,002 yards) in Pebble Beach, Calif.
   The Rams started the final day in fifth and made a major move early on, as the team, among the four counting scores, posted 10 birdies to no bogeys on the front nine. As CSU turned to the more challenging front, the squad continued to battle and added to its total, finishing at 13-under 271 for the day to post a 12-under 840 for the tournament. Southern Cal won the team title at 28-under 824 with a final round 15-under 269. Stanford was runner-up at 22-under 830, followed by Colorado State, BYU in fourth at 9-under 843 and San Francisco in fifth at 5-under 847. CSU defeated three Mountain West rivals in the event – San Diego State (7th), Nevada (8th) and Fresno State (13th).
   Freshman Parathakorn Suyasri led a trio of Rams in the top 20, as he shot a 3-under 68 in the last round to tie for eighth at 5-under 208. Senior Colton Yates posted the low round of the tournament for the Rams, a 5-under 66 in the final round, to tie for 14th at 4-under 209. Sophomore AJ Ott was next in a tie for 20th at 1-under 212 following a 3-under 68 in the final 18. Senior Max Oelfke and junior Jake Staiano tied for 43rd at 4-over 217, with Staiano shooting a 2-under 69 in today's action and Oelfke recording a 2-over 73. (complete recap on page 5)

Staiano Named Top Colorado Amateur: Colorado State junior Jake Staiano has been named the Les Fowler Player of the Year by the Colorado Golf Association, the organization announced Nov. 20.
   "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."
   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.
   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.

Record Setting Event at Ram Masters: CSU had its name all over the Ram Masters Invitational record book during the 2017 event. As a team, the Rams set new records for lowest single-round score (-12, 268 in opening round), lowest 36-hole score (-12, 548) and lowest 54-hole score (-17, 823) in the tournament's history. The Rams' third round of 5-under 275 is also the fourth lowest in the tournament's annals. Individually, AJ Ott's 4-under 206 is tied for the sixth-lowest 54-hole score, while Jake Staiano's 3-under 207 is tied for ninth. Staiano's 4-under 66 in the first round is tied for the 10th lowest single-round score.

Ott Racks Up First Career Top-5 Finish, Starting Strong: Sophomore AJ Ott posted his first collegiate top-5 and second top-10 finish of the year with a fourth at the Ram Masters Invitational, Sept. 18-19. The Fort Collins native previously tied for 10th at the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational for his first collegiate career top 10. In his four tournaments, he has tied for 10th, finished fourth, tied for 16th and tied for 20th, surpassing junior Jake Staiano with three top-20s in the opening part of season.

Rams Successful In Summer Months: CSU was well represented in numerous U.S. and international tournaments this summer. Three Rams competed in the U.S. Amateur, as Jake Staiano, AJ Ott and Poon Suyasri all advanced to the premiere amateur event. Max Oelfke captured the German Amateur and Luxembourg Amateur titles in his summer play. Additionally, Suyasri qualified for and made the cut at the Asian Tour's Thailand Open.

Rams on Tour: Former Colorado State standout Martin Laird, a PGA tour veteran, has had a solid 2018 season so far on the tour, currently with $278,061 in earnings and currently 99th in the FedEx Cup. He has made the cut in three of six events played with one top 10 and two top 25s, with the best finish a tie for ninth in the Waste Management Phoenix Open at 13-under. In 2017, his efforts during the regular season earned him a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs for the eighth time. For his career, he has now surpassed the $15.91 million in winnings and made the cut in more than two-thirds of his PGA Tour starts in his 10-plus years on the top golf tour. Laird was inducted into the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame this fall.

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