Colorado State University Athletics
Preview: CSU plays first spring tournament in the National Invitational Tournament, Feb. 27-28
2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
(Complete Release and Stats in PDF Format)
Next on the Tee: To open the spring part of the 2016-17 schedule, the Colorado State men’s golf team will head back to Arizona for the National Invitational Tournament, Feb. 27-28. The two-day tournament, hosted by the University of Arizona, will be played at OMNI Tucson National Resort’s Catalina Course, site of the 2017 Mountain West Championship, in Tucson, Ariz. Live scoring will be available at www.BirdieFire.com.
Handicapping the Field: There are 16 teams in the field for the National Invitational Tournament, one of the top fields of the year for CSU with 11 teams in the top 100. Joining the #62 Rams, according to Golfweek, will be host Arizona (#76), UNLV (#16), Arizona State (#27), BYU (#41), UTEP (#48), Iowa State (#58), Notre Dame (#86), Nevada (#90), San Francisco (#92), Wyoming (#98), Santa Clara (#131), Utah (#134), Princeton (#137), New Mexico State (#160) and San Jose State (#163).
Lineup for the National Invitational Tournament: The Rams are in a standard play five, count four event this week. For CSU, the lineup for the team will be:
1. Blake Cannon
2. Jake Staiano
3. Max Oelfke
4. Jimmy Makloski
5. AJ Ott
Last Year at the NIT: The Colorado State men’s golf team rallied in the final 18 holes to shoot its best score of the tournament and improve to place sixth at the 2016 National Invitational Tournament, Feb. 28-March 1.
In eighth place after the first two rounds, the Rams rallied for their best round of the event, posting a 5-under 283 to finish at 5-under 859. Featuring 13 teams in the top 150 nationally according to Golfstat, the Rams finished 13 shots behind tournament champion Santa Clara at 18-under 846. Of the returners, sophomore Colton Yates and junior ­­­Jimmy Makloski had top-20 finishes, as the pair tied for 16th at 2-under 214.
Last Time on the Tee: Colorado State concluded its fall portion of the 2016-17 season with a 12th-place finish at the first round of the 2016 Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational, Oct. 30-Nov. 1.
For the third straight day, the Rams made birdies in the first several holes but could not match it in the final nine holes of the tournament and finished with a 6-over 294 for the day and a 54-hole score of 15-over 879. No. 25 Mississippi led from start-to-finish, posting a 33-under 831 for a 22-shot victory over runner-up Sam Houston State at 11-under 853. Junior Max Oelfke was the top finisher for CSU, tying for 26th at 1-over 217, while senior Blake Cannon was two shots back at 3-over 219 in a tie for 33rd. (complete recap on page 5)
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 in the fall, Newton’s teams moved to a 57.7 percent winning record in his five years according to Golfstat. This moved him past Mark Crabtree (1994-99) on the list at 57.0 percent and both coaches now have five career CSU team tournament titles.
Top 10 Finishes Common for Rams: Individually, Colorado State combined for 13 top-10 and 21 total top-20 finishes in 11 tournaments in 2015-16. This year has started off strong for CSU in the first five tournaments as the Rams have combined for seven top-10 and 11 top-20 placings so far.
Cannon Making History: With his back-to-back individual titles at the Ram Masters Invitational and Tucker Intercollegiate, senior Blake Cannon joined a very elite list of CSU golfers. He is one of just seven Rams in program history with multiple wins in a season and nine players to have two or more tournament victories in a season.
Program Adds Four for Next Season: The Colorado State men’s golf program has inked four players to National Letters of Intent, head coach Christian Newton announced today. Joining the Rams for the 2017-18 academic year will be Jack Ainscough (England), Andrew Lafferty (Alpharetta, Ga./Marist HS), Cullen Plousha (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad HS) and Parathakorn “Poon” Suyasri (Thailand).
Academic Success: The Colorado State men’s golf program was recognized by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) as a 2016 All-Academic Team. Honored for the second consecutive year, the Rams were one of 114 DI programs honored for having a team GPA of 3.0 or better last season. In addition, recent graduate Dominic Kieffer and current senior Jimmy Makloski were selected in July by the GCAA as a Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar, becoming the 19th and 20th CSU golfers all-time to earn the accolade.
Additionally, the squad posted better than a 3.2 grade point average for the fall term, making the seventh straight semester that the program has accomplished that feat.
Next Up: Colorado State will head to Chula Vista, Calif. to play in the Lamkin Grips SD Classic, March 14-15. The two-day, 54-hole tournament is being played at the San Diego Country Club and is being co-hosted by San Diego State and the University of San Diego.
Players Mentioned
