Rams To Play Denver in Dual Match, Travel To Oregon For Duck Invitational

Tournament: Oregon Duck Invitational
Date: March 26-27, 2018
Host: University of Oregon
Location: Eugene, Ore.
Course: Eugene Country Club
Course Par/Yardage: Par 71 / 7,020 yards
Host Web Site: http://www.goducks.com
Live Scoring: http://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=13986
Tournament Field (16): Colorado State, Oregon, Arizona, Boise State, Denver, Fresno State, Iowa, Liberty, Loyola Marymount, Oregon State, Pacific, Saint Mary's, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Seattle, UAB

Next on the Tee: The Colorado State men's golf team will continue its 2017-18 season with a dual match before its next tournament, playing Denver at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash., March 23. The Rams then compete at the Oregon Duck Invitational, March 26-27. The nationally-renowned two-day, 54-hole tournament, hosted by the University of Oregon, will be played at Eugene Country Club (Par 71- 7,020 yards) in Eugene, Ore.
   The Rams will tee off in the first two rounds, beginning with an 8:30 a.m. PDT shotgun start and opening on holes 1-4 with playing partners Oregon, Saint Mary's (Calif.) and Arizona.

Handicapping the Field: There are 16 teams in the field for the Oregon Duck Invitational, with all but one ranked in the top 155 nationally according to Golfweek. Along with the Rams, currently ranked No. 37, are host Oregon (#42), Arizona (#28), Saint Mary's (Calif.) (#48), Santa Clara (#51), Liberty (#53), Iowa (#63), UAB (#87), Boise State (#89), Oregon State (#91), Fresno State (#108), Loyola Marymount (#113), San Jose State (#115), Denver (#121), Pacific (#154) and Seattle (#192).

Lineup for the Denver Dual: The Rams are taking on the Pioneers in a one-day, match play competition. For CSU, the lineup will be:
1.   AJ Ott
2.   Jack Ainscough
3.   Jake Staiano
4.   Max Oelfke
5.   Parathakorn Suyasri

Lineup for the Oregon Duck Invitational: The Rams are in a standard play five, count four event this week.For this tournament, the Rams will have their first lineup adjustment of the year. For CSU, the lineup will be:
1.   AJ Ott
2.   Jake Staiano
3.   Max Oelfke
4.   Parathakorn Suyasri
5.   Jack Ainscough

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   146   165
Parathakorn Suyarsi   224   301
Max Oelfke   249   254
Jake Staiano   250   238
Jack Ainscough   288   192
Colton Yates   318   327

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   285
Max Oelfke   438
Parathakorn Suyasri   601
Colton Yates   758
AJ Ott   1698*
Jack Ainscough   1844
(*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 72.26 in 69 competitive rounds ranks fifth all-time.
Staiano has an all-time win percentage of 72.2 percent, currently sixth in CSU annals and just behind PGA Tour member and former Ram Martin Laird in fourth at 73.2 percent and Nigel Spence in fifth at 72.8 percent. Senior Max Oelfke ranks 14th in the category at 61.7 percent.
Oelfke has shown his ability to post quite a few under-par holes in his career. He is tied for first in career eagles with 21 in 111 rounds played. He also has 360 career birdies (an average of better than three per round), which ranks 11th.
Staiano also ranks on the eagles made chart with 10, tied for ninth.

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 six tournaments, he has tied for 10th, finished fourth, tied for 16th and tied for 20th twice, surpassing junior Jake Staiano with three top-20s this season. Ott leads the team with a 71.28 strokes per round average (-0.22) and has counted his score towards the team total 97.2 percent of the season (17.5 of 18 rounds).

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 eighth at Saint Mary's, Yates tying for 14th and Ott tying for 20th. That gives the Rams three top-five, 10 top-10 and 16 top-20 individual finishes so far this year.

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 among teams receiving votes this week in the Golf Coaches Association of America Poll. They are also ranked No. 37 in the nation according to the Golfweek ratings & No. 38 according to Golfstat's ratings.

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 (at the time of the event) 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 currently has a head-to-head mark of 74-25 (.747) on the season, far above the minimum .500 record for consideration for a NCAA Regional bid.

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 59.3 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 struggled throughout the round and slid to finish 12th at the 2018 Lamkin San Diego Classic, March 12-13. Featuring all 16 teams ranked in the top 150 according to Golfweek, the two-day, 54-hole tournament, hosted by the University of San Diego and San Diego State University, was played at San Diego Country Club (Par 72 – 7,033 yards) in Chula Vista, Calif.

The Rams entered the day in sixth but were unable to get it going as they shot a 16-over 304 in the final round to finish at 18-over 882 for the event. Top-ranked Oklahoma State ran away with the team title at 44-under 820, 32 shots ahead of runner-up Texas Tech at 12-under 852. Arizona was third as the only other team to finish under par at 4-under 860. North Carolina and Mississippi tied for fourth at 1-over 865.

CSU's team effort was led by junior Jake Staiano, who tied for 40th at 4-over 220. Senior Max Oelfke was one shot back at 5-over 221 after a 1-over 73 in the final round to tie for 44th. Sophomore AJ Ott tied for 56th at 7-over 223, while senior Colton Yates tied for 69th at 10-over 226. Freshman Parathakorn Suyasri was the final team player at 13-over 229, tied for 77th. Playing as an individual, freshman Jack Ainscough posted a top-10 finish, placing ninth at 5-under 211 following a 5-under 67 in the final round.
(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.

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.

Ram 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 $517,380 in earnings and currently 91st in the FedEx Cup. He has made the cut in five of nine events played with two top 10s and three top 25s, with the best finish a tie for ninth at back-to-back tournaments in the Waste Management Phoenix Open at 13-under (Feb. 4) and Genesis Open at 7-under (Feb. 18). 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 $16.15 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 past fall.

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