Jones' Day Has Him Wanting to Come Back for More

BERTHOUD, Colo. – A gorgeous fall afternoon spent on a difficult course isn't the worst way to spend a day. Even better when your game blends in perfectly with the surroundings.

An eagle circling high above the 15^th green and one on your scorecard. It was the type of round which makes a golfer want to come back for more, and thankfully for Colorado State's men's program, Connor Jones has decided that's exactly what he wants to pursue.

Not just the third and final day of the DU TPC Colorado Invitational, played at TPC Colorado at Heron Lakes, but a super senior season to follow. Currently ranked 15^th in the country by GolfStat, he leads the tournament field after a blistering 6-under 66 to take a four-stroke lead into Wednesday's closing round.

Well, all that and the opportunity to beef up your game and dinner plate.

"I'm super excited. We have a great squad here, and you can't beat college golf," said Jones, a product of Mountain Range High School. "You're playing nice courses, traveling with your buddies and getting double steak at Chipotle. It's a good life, so it's hard to pass up another year playing college golf."

Jones' round was the second-best in the field on the day, pushing him into the lead with a two-round total of 136. He is four shots in front of BYU's Carson Lundell, who was 8-under with a 64. The Rams' top three players – Jones, Davis Bryant and Christoph Bleier – paced the way shooting 9-under themselves, with the No. 16 Rams' 11-under as a team the best round of the two days and 10 strokes better than Monday's showing. At 564, they were able to double their advantage to eight strokes over the No. 39 Cougars, who sit at 572.

Jones will be gunning for his second individual title of the season and the Rams their third team title in as many tournaments when the final round goes off with a shotgun start at 9:30 a.m.

He set his day in motion with an eagle on the par-5 fifth hole, then followed it up with a birdie on six. The lone blemish on his round was a bogey on eight, but he closed out the back nine with four birdies to take control of the individual leaderboard and help establish Colorado State as the clear leader in the team standings.

He is enjoying a phenomenal start to this season, but so is the team. Every golfer on the team who has shot a competitive round is averaging below par on the season, and the competition first-year coach Michael Wilson craved to create he's seeing.

Jones hasn't won a team-qualifying round yet this fall.

"I mean, I want to win every time, but these guys are good, and it's hard to be on top of your game all the time, but they push me to be better every day," Jones said. "I'm playing well, but there's still a lot of things I could do better. The season, I mean, we have a great team so it's fun. I feel everybody is playing well and it's kind of contagious when one person plays well, and another person plays well too. Its' a good atmosphere for everybody."

Wilson wasn't aware about Jones ordering double steak, but he's on record he can have it for the next two years. Being able to keep a local kid of his caliber is a boon for the program.

"It's great. He's one of the best players in the country, and he's a Colorado guy who wants to come back and play one more year, so absolutely," Wilson said. "He and Davis both, they push each other and it's interesting. I think Connor's got that competitive spirit where he's trying things in qualifying. He's in an experimental phase, but he still wants to win and play well. When I see him out here in tournaments, I think there's a different place where he can go mentally where he's totally locked in and focused on what he needs to do."

Bryant, who is ranked 12^th by Golfstat, sits in a tie for third after shooting a 2-under 70 on the day, and Bleier is tied for seventh with his 3-under day, pushing him up 13 spots on the leaderboard. Jay Pabin finished even on the day and sits 1-over for the tournament as he sits in a tie for 13^th.

Bleier started his day on No. 4 and was 1-under after his first nine holes but advanced his position with back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15. After his lone bogey, he birdied his second-to-final hole. He too has found the competition within the squad to be motivating.

"I think right now everybody is playing really well. Connor and Davis are playing terrific, and everybody else is just playing solid," Bleier said. "Everyone has a low round in them, and that makes it a lot of fun. I can feel it. In qualifying, it's always very tight and also in tournaments. Everybody is playing well."

Not every day is the same. The TPC course is like a home away from home for the squad, so they have a pretty good idea of where trouble lies and how to avoid the pitfalls. Some days feel really good, others can be a grind. For Bleier, Tuesday was a departure from the latter and what his previous rounds have felt like at times.

"I'm not hitting it as well as I did at the Fort Collins Country Club, but that just might be a phase," he said. "I've been scrambling around pretty good, and my putter is pretty good right now and my short game is decent. I didn't have to scramble today. I had a couple of really good up-and-downs and I played solid."

All of it is perspective. Jones, for instance, felt he struggled at first. Why? Because he had a couple of birdie opportunities the first four holes which didn't fall. Eventually, they started to drop, and he just kept rolling along.

To him, it's been a slow build. Coming off a strong junior season, he was the low amateur at the Inspirato Colorado Open, setting the amateur scoring record in the process. Earlier in the summer, he'd won the Colorado Golf Association Match Play title.

"I think it's a culmination of a lot of different things all coming together. I had a good summer, and it's given me some confidence coming into this season," Jones said. "I feel like I'm playing the best I ever have, but there's still a lot to work on, a lot to get better at."

And for another season, he'll continue to do so at Colorado State.

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