CSU returns to the course March 18-19 at the National Invitational Tournament

Tournament: National Invitational Tournament
Dates: March 18-19, 2019
Host: University of Arizona
Location: Tucson, Ariz.
Course: Omni Tucson National Resort Catalina Course
Course Par/Yardage: Par 72 / 7,262 yds
Host Web Site: https://arizonawildcats.com
Live Scoring: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=15808
Tournament Field (16): Colorado State, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Iowa State, New Mexico, North Texas, Oklahoma, San Diego, San Diego State, UNLV, USC, Utah, UTEP, Washington State, Wyoming

Next on the Tee: The Colorado State men's golf team returns to the course Mon.-Tue., March 18-19, for the National Invitational Tournament. The event will be played at Omni Tucson National Resort Catalina Course in Tucson, Ariz., also the site of the 2019 Mountain West Men's Golf Championship.

Handicapping the Field: There are 16 teams in the field for the National Invitational Tournament. In the field along with the Rams are host Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Iowa State, New Mexico, North Texas, Oklahoma, San Diego, San Diego State, UNLV, USC, Utah, UTEP, Washington State and Wyoming. Of those teams, 13 teams are ranked in the top 102 nationally.
       In this week's field, 12 teams were represented in NCAA postseason competition last year, with nine (CSU, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Iowa State, Oklahoma, San Diego State, UNLV, USC) sending teams and three (North Texas, Utah, UTEP) with individuals. Arizona State, Iowa State, Oklahoma and UNLV all advanced to the NCAA Championship.
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Lineup for the National Invitational Tournament: The Rams are in the play-five, count-four event this week at the National Invitational Tournament. For CSU, the lineup will feature:
1.    Oscar Teiffel
2.    Davis Bryant
3.    Jake Staiano
4.    Parathakorn Suyasri
5.    AJ Ott
Ind.: Jack Ainscough, Cullen Plousha

Last Time Out: Colorado State finished 11th at the 2019 Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic, March 11-12.
       In a tough field featuring 10 teams represented in the 2018 NCAA Regionals, the No. 50 Rams started on the back nine in the final round and shot their best round of the tournament at 4-over 292. However, it wasn't enough to move up in the standings, as the squad finished at 23-over 887. No. 5 Arizona State won at 10-under 854, one shot ahead of No. 8 Texas at 9-under 855. No. 49 Saint Mary's was third at 4-under 860, with No. 34 North Carolina fourth at 3-under 861. Co-host San Diego State completed the top five teams at 8-over 872.
       Sophomore Parathakorn Suyasri was the top Ram, tying fo 20th at 3-over 219 following a team-best 2-under 70 in the final round. Senior Jake Staiano was next finishing at 5-over 221 following a final round 2-over 74. Freshman Davis Bryant was next at 8-over 224, tied for 45th, while fellow freshman Oscar Teiffel was one shot back at 9-over 225 in a tie for 50th. Junior AJ Ott was the final Ram, tied for 75th at 15-over 231. Mason Andersen of Arizona State won a three-way playoff to take home the medalist honors at 6-under 210.
(complete results and recap on page 7)

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.
       This year, the Rams have two victories and four top-five placings on the season. They are currently ranked No. 52 according to Golfstat and Golfweek. Utilizing Golfstat which is the way teams are determined for NCAA Regional at-large berths, CSU is the top-ranked Division I golf team in the state and third in the Mountain West behind UNLV and Nevada.
       Within the region, CSU holds a 46-18 head-to-head record with an 8-6 record against Pac-12 schools and 8-6 versus the Mountain West, which currently has six teams ranked in the top 70 nationally according to Golfweek (#35 UNLV, #48 Nevada, #52 CSU, #60 San Diego State, #64 San Jose State, #65 New Mexico and #69 Boise State).
       Over the last year-and-a-half, CSU has a 23-25 record against the Pac-12 and 5-0 versus Big Ten schools.

National TV Coverage: The Rams are now gonig to be part of national coverage of college golf during the regular season. Recently, the Golf Channel announced it would show three live hours daily of the Western Intercollegiate, as the tournament shifted from two days to a three-day format on April 15-17. CSU returns to the nationally-renowned event that features 10 of the 13 teams ranked in the top 70 currently. Last year, CSU finished eighth in the 15-team field that had 11 teams advance to NCAA Regionals along with two other schools sending individuals.

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 60.3 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 nine career CSU team tournament titles to Crabtree's five.

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              213                          236
Davis Bryant              313                          182
Jake Staiano             262                         316
AJ Ott                        336                         427
Parathakorn Suyasri 256                         540
Cullen Plousha          612                          798
Jack Ainscough         772                          964

Putting Together Top-20s This Season: CSU has some very good outings in the early part of the 2018-19 season, showing in the rankings. As a group, the Rams have one win, four top-five, eight top-10 and 16 top-20 individual finishes in seven team tournaments and two individual-only events.
       Freshman Oscar Teiffel has one tournament title, 3 top 10s and 4 top-15 placings, while fellow freshman Davis Bryant has one top 10 and five top-20 finishes in the first five events. Junior AJ Ott has two top-10 results, with senior Jake Staiano and sophomore Parathakorn Suyasri each with one top 10 and two top-20s, the latter a runner-up finish. Redshirt-freshman Andrew Lafferty and true freshman Akedanai Ponghathaikul each had record a top-20 result this fall.
       In comparison for 2017-18, the Rams had six top-five, 14 top-10 and 27 top-20 individual finishes. Current junior AJ Ott, graduated senior Max Oelfke and current senior Jake Staiano each had four top-16 placings.

Other Fall Highlights: Here's a quick list of highlights from this fall's action for the Rams:
The Rams defended their team title at the Ram Masters Invitational, winning the event for the fifth consecutive year
Colorado State had four players in the top nine individuals at the Ram Masters Invitational
CSU won the Paintbrush Invitational, its second win of the season.
Oscar Teiffel became the first Ram ever to earn medalist honors in his first tournament in the lineup when he won the Paintbrush Invitational
Teiffel's individual tournament win at the Paintbrush Invitational was the 41st for a CSU player since 1996-97, according to Golfstat
Head Coach Christian Newton has had his Rams win at least one tournament title the last five years, tying current Kansas coach and former Ram leader Jamie Bermel for the most consecutive seasons with a team win.
The Paintbrush Invitational win was the second team win of the season, marking the fourth time in the last five years that a Newton-led squad has won two tournaments in a season
The Rams finished the fall with a 52-22 (.703) head-to-head record against a very challenging schedule, far above the minimum .500 record for consideration for the NCAA Regional consideration. Last year, CSU finished at 116-51 (.695).

Ott Named CGA Player of the Year: Colorado State men's golf continues to make its impact on the state's golf scene, as junior AJ Ott has been named the Colorado Golf Association Les Fowler Player of the Year as the state's top amateur golfer, the organization announced. He is the second straight CSU golfer to earn the award as current Ram senior Jake Staiano took home the award last season.
       Ott had a solid amateur season, winning the 118th CGA Match Play event and qualifying for his second straight U.S. Amateur. At the match play event, Ott shot a 6-under 65 to finish second in the qualifying round and then won six straight matches, including one of the most lopsided finishes in the 36-hole final, defeating Ross Macdonald 9 and 8 to earn the victory. In U.S. Amateur qualifying at Fort Collins Country Club, Ott fired rounds of 68-65 to finish second and earn a berth in the national championship.
       Elsewhere this year, Ott placed 19th in the CoBank Colorado Open -- third among amateurs -- and 10th in the CGA Amateur. In college events in 2018, He finished fifth in the Mountain West Conference Championship and ninth in both the Ram Masters Invitational and the Paintbrush Invitational, earning All-Mountain West honors and leading CSU to its first NCAA Regional appearance since 2012.
       The CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year honor is the second statewide POY award for Ott, who was the 2016 Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado's Boys Player of the Year.

On the CSU Career Chart: The current roster has a player that has etched his name on the CSU record book (since 1993-94) with his performances so far in his career.
Senior Jake Staiano continues to be among the best to have played at CSU so far in his career. His scoring average of 72.47 in 106 competitive rounds ranks fifth all-time in average and seventh versus par at +0.98.
Staiano has an all-time win percentage of 70.2 percent, currently seventh in CSU annals.
Staiano also ranks on the eagles made chart with 14, currently fifth and just recently cracked the top 15 in career birdies, now 12th with 347.

On the World Stage: Five Rams on the current roster are ranked among the top 1200 players in the current World Amateur Golf Rankings, as of March 15. The rankings are based on their average performance in selected counting events over the past two calendar years.
Player                                     WAGR
AJ Ott                                      298
Jake Staiano                            489
Parathakorn Suyasri                578
Davis Bryant                             712
Jack Ainscough                        1140
Akedanai Ponghathaikul          1375
Oscar Teiffel                             1612
       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.

Memorial Bag Established: CSU is honoring former golfer and late U.S. Army veteran James "Jerry" Jackson with a memorial golf bag, head coach Christian Newton announced.
       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 the first week's Capital Carpet Collegiate at Georgia Tech, Sept. 7-9. Four different Rams have carried the bag during the season so far, with Staiano having had it twice and freshman Oscar Teiffel becoming the first player to carry it in back-to-back events when he was on the bag for the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate to start the spring schedule.
       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                     t-12th
Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate          Oscar Teiffel*                    t-52nd
Lamkin San Diego Classic                   Davis Bryant                     t-45th
National Invitational Tournament        Parathakorn Suyasri

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.
       He posted his first top-10 of the 2019 season with a tie for seventh at the Sanderson Farms Championship at the end of October and then tied for 14th at the ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf. This season he has made six of nineofficial cuts. For his career, he has now surpassed $16.92 million in official PGA Tour winnings and made the cut in two-thirds of his 271 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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