CSU right back in action at the PING Cougar Classic Friday and Saturday

Tournament: PING Cougar Classic
Dates: April 19-20, 2019
Host: Brigham Young University
Location: Provo, Utah
Course: Riverside Country Club
Course Par/Yardage: Par 72 / 7,142 yds
Host Web Site: https://byucougars.com/home/m-golf
Live Scoring: http://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=16479
Tournament Field (15): Colorado State, BYU, Air Force, Boise State, Denver, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northern Colorado, Saint Mary's (CA), San Diego, Southern Utah, Utah State, Utah Valley, Washington, Wyoming

Next on the Tee: Colorado State is right back in action, playing in the PING Cougar Classic, April 19-20. The two-day, 54-hole tournament, hosted by Brigham Young University, will be played at Riverside Country Club (Par 72 - 7,142 yards) in Provo, Utah.

Handicapping the Field: CSU heads to Provo as a part of a 15-team field. In the field along with the No. 46 Rams are host BYU, Air Force, Boise State, Denver, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northern Colorado, Saint Mary's (CA), San Diego, Southern Utah, Utah State, Utah Valley, Washington and Wyoming.
       In this event's field, six teams were represented in NCAA postseason competition last year, with four (CSU, BYU, Northern Colorado, Saint Mary's (CA)) sending teams and two (Washington and Denver) with individuals.

Lineup for the PING Cougar Classic: The Rams are in the traditional play-five, count-four event this week at the PING Cougar Classic. For CSU, the lineup will be:
1.     Jake Staiano
2.    Oscar Teiffel
3.    Parathakorn Suyasri
4.    Davis Bryant
5.    AJ Ott
Ind. Jack Ainscough

Last Time Out: Colorado State put together its best round of the tournament and moved up to finish in a tie for sixth at the 73rd Western Intercollegiate presented by Topgolf. The three-day, 54-hole event, hosted by San Jose State and televised on Golf Channel, was played at Pasatiempo Golf Club (Par 70 – 6, 615 yards) in Santa Cruz, Calif.
       In the unique play-six, count-five format, the No. 46 Rams put together a late charge in the final nine holes of the tournament, with the counting players going 3-under in that span to post a 1-under 349 and finish at 15-over 1065 in a tie with No. 39 Oregon. CSU had one of five under-par team scores in the last round. No. 16 Stanford won the team title at 10-under 1040, six shots ahead of No. 11 California at 4-under 1046. Host San Jose State was third at 1-over 1051, with No. 6 Southern Cal fourth one shot back at 2-over 1052. No. 19 Pepperdine rounded out the top five teams at 10-over 1060.
       Individually, CSU was led by senior Jake Staiano and junior AJ Ott, who each posted a top-10 finish against this highly-competitive field, as the duo tied for ninth at 2-under 208. Staiano had a team tournament-best 4-under 66, including a 5-under 30 on his final nine of the day, while Ott was one shot back at 3-under 67 with four birdies to just one bogey on the day. Sophomore Parathakorn Suyasri was next in a tie for 26th at 4-over 214, while fellow sophomore Jack Ainscough tied for 33rd at 5-over 215 following a final-round 1-over 71. Freshman Davis Bryant finished at 13-over 223, tying for 63rd, with freshman Oscar Teiffel finishing 72nd at 16-over 226. Stanford's Isaiah Salinda, ranked 68th nationally, and San Jose State's Sean Yu tied for medalist honors, with Salinda winning the five-hole playoff for the award.
(complete results and recap on page8)

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 five top-five placings on the season. They are currently ranked No. 46 according to Golfstat and No. 46 by 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 second in the Mountain West behind UNLV.
       Within the region, CSU holds a 62-25-1 head-to-head record with an 14-11-1 record against Pac-12 schools and 13-7 versus the Mountain West, which currently has seven teams ranked in the top 75 nationally according to Golfstat (#34 UNLV, #46 CSU, #49 Nevada, #53 San Jose State, #68 New Mexico, #69 San Diego State and #75 Boise State).
       Over the last year-and-a-half, CSU has a 29-30-1 record against the Pac-12 and 5-0 versus Big Ten schools.

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 60.6 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.

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, as of April 17, are:
Player                       Golfweek                Golfstat
Davis Bryant              376                         238
Jake Staiano             193                          206
Oscar Teiffel              295                         281
Parathakorn Suyasri 202                         363
AJ Ott                        326                         462
Jack Ainscough         643                         791
Cullen Plousha          878                          745

Freshman Ranking for CSU: The freshman combination of Oscar Teiffel and Davis Bryant are making an impact for CSU. The duo is ranked seventh nationally, according to Golfstat, on their contribution to the team this season.

Putting Together Top-20s This Season: CSU has some very good outings in the 2018-19 season, showing in the rankings. As a group, the Rams have one win, seven top-five, 14 top-10 and 27 top-20 individual finishes in nine team tournaments and four individual-only events.
       Freshman Oscar Teiffel has one tournament title, 3 top 10s and 5 top-15 placings, while fellow freshman Davis Bryant has one top 10 and five top-20 finishes events. Junior AJ Ott has three top-10 results, sophomore Parathakorn Suyasri with one top 10 and three top-20s, including a runner-up finish and senior Jake Staiano with two top-10 and three top-20s.
       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 72.32 in 112 competitive rounds ranks fourth all-time in average and tied for sixth versus par at +0.90.
Sophomore Parathakorn Suyasri is now ninth at 72.76 strokes per round and 11th at +1.37 versus par in 55 rounds played.
Staiano has an all-time win percentage of 71.2 percent, currently sixth in CSU annals.
Staiano also ranks on the eagles made chart with 15, currently tied for fourth and just recently cracked the top 15 in career birdies, now 10th with 375.

On the World Stage: Six Rams on the current roster are ranked among the top 1200 players in the current World Amateur Golf Rankings, as of April 16. The rankings are based on their average performance in selected counting events over the past two calendar years.
Player                                     WAGR
AJ Ott                                      348
Jake Staiano                            534
Parathakorn Suyasri                611
Davis Bryant                             738
Jack Ainscough                        1021
Oscar Teiffel                             1106
Akedanai Ponghathaikul          1402
       Additionally, Suyasri competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur championship in Singapore, which ended Oct. 7, 2018. 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 the first to have 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.
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         t-13th
Western Intercollegiate/PING Cougar Parathakorn Suyasri         t-26th

Ram on Tour: Former Colorado State standout Martin Laird, a PGA tour veteran, had a solid 2018 season on the tour, 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 seven of 12 official cuts. For his career, he has now surpassed $16.95 million in official PGA Tour winnings and made the cut in two-thirds of his 273 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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