Men's Golf Wraps Up Fall at Saint Mary's Invitational

Tournament: Saint Mary's Invitational
Date: November 5-7, 2018
Host: Saint Mary's College
Location: Pebble Beach, Calif.
Course: Poppy Hills Golf Club
Course Par/Yardage: Par 71 / 7,002 yds
Host Web Site: https://smcgaels.com
Live Scoring: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=16443
Tournament Field (18): Colorado State, Saint Mary's, Arizona, BYU, Fresno State, Nevada, Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Southern Cal, Toledo, UCF, UNC Wilmington, Utah, Washington State

Next on the Tee: The Colorado State men's golf team will travel to California for the 2018 Saint Mary's Invitational, Nov. 5-7. The three-day, 54-hole tournament, hosted by Saint Mary's College, is being played at the nationally-renowned Poppy Hills Golf Club in Pebble Beach, Calif.
       Last year, the Rams placed third in the event, a finish that helped propel them to a NCAA Regional berth.

Handicapping the Field: One of the toughest fields of the year for CSU, 15 of the 18 teams in the field for the Saint Mary's Invitational are ranked in the top 100 according to Golfweek, including two in the top 10. In the field along with the No. 62 Rams are host Saint Mary's (#86), Arizona (#89), BYU (#23), Fresno State (#170), Nevada (#33), Oregon (#57), Oregon State (#78), Pepperdine (#8), San Diego State (#66), San Francisco (#63), Santa Clara (#77), Southern Cal (#5), Toledo (#179), UCF (#48), UNC Wilmington (#82), Utah (#53), Washington State (#126).
       In this week's field, 13 teams were represented in postseason competition last year, with 12 (CSU, Saint Mary's, Arizona, BYU, Nevada, Oregon, Pepperdine, San Diego State, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Southern Cal, UCF, UNC Wilmington) sending teams and one (Utah) with an individual. Three of them (Saint Mary's, Arizona and UCF) were in the Kissimmee Regional with the Rams.
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Lineup for the Saint Mary's Invitational: The Rams are in the play-five, count-four event this week at the Saint Mary's Invitational. For CSU, the lineup will feature:
1.    Oscar Teiffel
2.    Davis Bryant
3.    Jake Staiano
4.    AJ Ott
5.    Jack Ainscough

Last Time Out: Colorado State men's golf led from wire-to-wire in earning their second tournament victory of the year as the Rams won the 2018 Paintbrush Invitational presented by Inspirato, Oct. 8-9. The two-day, 54-hole tournament, hosted by Denver University, is being played at Colorado Golf Club (Par 72 – 7,465 yards) in Parker, Colo.
       Playing with temperatures in the mid-30s with regular snow that even stopped play for almost an hour, the Rams never let the lead get away in shooting a 1-over 289 for the day and finishing at 6-over 870, eight shots ahead of Oregon in second. The 1-over team score was the third best on the day as two of their main pursuers after 36 holes (Colorado and Loyola Marymount) faltered. The Ducks were runner-up at 14-over 878 after an even-par final round, with Northern Colorado in third at 19-over 883. Colorado and Loyola Marymount tied for fourth at 23-over 887.
       Playing in his first tournament in the lineup, freshman Oscar Teiffel took home medalist honors at 10-under 206 following a 5-under 67, the low round of the day by three shots in the brutal conditions. Teiffel had six birdies and just one bogey in the tough conditions and shot all three rounds (70-69-67) under par. Only eight players finished under par for the event, with Teiffel winning by three shots over second-round leader Riley Elmes of Loyola Marymount.
       This was a team effort as the Rams had three other top-20 finishers and all five scoring team members finish in the top 40. Junior AJ Ott had his best round of the event with a 2-under 70 in the final round to finish ninth at 1-over 217. Freshman Davis Bryant tied for 17th at 5-over 221. Senior Jake Staiano tied for 32nd at 11-over 227, with sophomore Cullen Plousha finishing tied for 39th at 13-over 229.
       Playing individually, redshirt-freshman Andrew Lafferty tied for 25th at 8-over 224 with a final-round 1-over 73. Freshman Akedanai Ponghathaikul tied for 30th at 10-over 226 with sophomore Jack Ainscough finishing in a tie for 47th at 15-over 231.
(complete results and recap on page 6)

Memorial Bag Established: CSU will honor former golfer and late U.S. Army veteran James "Jerry" Jackson with a memorial golf bag, head coach Christian Newton announced today.
       Jackson served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, eventually passing away from lasting effects from exposure to Agent Orange from his service. After his passing, a group established the Friends of Jackson Endowed Scholarship for a golf student-athlete pursuing a degree in the College of Agriculture, as he played golf for the Rams during his collegiate career.
       "It's very important to me that our players understand the sacrifices that were made by our veterans that affords us our day to day liberties," Newton said. "We are all so fortunate to reside in this country. That fact that we can honor a veteran, alum, and former player will make it that much more meaningful."
       The bag will be carried by the top CSU finisher from the previous tournament during the 2018-19 season. Senior Jake Staiano earned the honor after winning the qualifying event for this week's Capital Carpet Collegiate at Georgia Tech, Sept. 7-9.
       Donations can be made to enhance the endowment through the Ram Club by contacting Jay McMillin at 970.491.7346 or jay.mcmillin@colostate.edu.

Tournament                                       Player Carrying                Finish
Carpet Capital Collegiate                    Jake Staiano                    t-27th
Ram Masters Invitational                     Davis Bryant                     t-6th
William H. Tucker Intercollegiate         Parathakorn Suyasri         t-80th
Paintbrush Invitational                         Jake Staiano                    t-32nd
Saint Mary's Invitational                      Oscar Teiffel

Individual National Rankings: Colorado State's success on the course is due to the entire lineup, as several golfers are ranked significantly in the key NCAA Division I metrics. The Rams' rankings currently are:
Player                       Golfweek                Golfstat
Oscar Teiffel              173                          272
Davis Bryant              267                         205
Jake Staiano             314                          220
AJ Ott                        436                         486
Parathakorn Suyasri 654                         696
Cullen Plousha          790                         736

On the World Stage: Five Rams on the current roster are ranked among the top 1100 players in the current World Amateur Golf Rankings, as of Oct. 30. The rankings are based on their average performance in selected counting events over the past two calendar years.
Player                                     WAGR
AJ Ott                                      294
Jake Staiano                            466
Parathakorn Suyasri                716
Davis Bryant                             887
Jack Ainscough                        1166
Akedanai Ponghathaikul          1431
Oscar Teiffel                             1959
       Additionally, Suyasri competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur championship in Singapore, which ended Oct. 7. Suyasri tied for 40th, including a 2-under 68 in the third round.

Last Year at Saint Mary's: 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. Justin Suh of Southern California, ranked No. 1 in the country according to Golfweek, won medalist honors at 13-under 200, five shots ahead of a trio in second at 8-under 205.

On the CSU Career Chart: The current roster etched their names on the CSU record book (since 1993-94) with their performances last season along with one of the graduates.
Senior Jake Staiano continues to be among the best to have played at CSU so far in his career. His scoring average of 72.34 in 96 competitive rounds ranks fourth all-time in average and sixth versus par at +0.88.
He is one of six players in CSU history to have 50 percent or more of his collegiate rounds played at par or better (currently 51 of 96 - 53.1 percent). Last season, he had 20 of his 33 rounds at par or better, (60.6 percent) just cracking the top 15 in school history.
Staiano has an all-time win percentage of 71.4 percent, currently sixth in CSU annals, while recent graduate Max Oelfke ranked 13th in the category at 63.5 percent.
Staiano also ranks on the eagles made chart with 12, tying for seventh and just cracked the top 15 in career birdies, now at 15th with 321.

Making A Mark Nationally: The Rams made their presence known on the national scene last year. With four top-five finishes in the fall and solid placings in the top spring events, CSU finished the season ranked No. 41 in the nation according to the Golfweek ratings & No. 45 according to Golfstat's ratings.

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 six-plus years according to Golfstat. Newton moved ahead of Mark Crabtree (1994-99) on the list at 57.0 percent and Newton has eight career CSU team tournament titles to Crabtree's five.

Ram on Tour: Former Colorado State standout Martin Laird, a PGA tour veteran, had a solid 2018 season on the tour, currently with $1,017,580 in earnings and currently 115th in the FedEx Cup. He made the cut in 14 of 22 events played with three top 10s and seven top 25s, with the best finish a tie for seventh at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a 17-under 271. In 2018, his efforts during the regular season earned him a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs for the ninth time.
       Recently, he posted his first top-10 of the 2019 season with a tie for seventh at the Sanderson Farms Championship. For his career, he has now surpassed $16.79 million in winnings and made the cut in more than two-thirds of his 263 PGA Tour starts in his 11-plus years on the top golf tour. Laird was inducted into the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame last fall.

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