University of Northern Colorado Athletics
University of Northern Colorado
Big Sky Championship
@UNC_MensGolf Caps Season With Second Place Finish at Big Sky Championship
4/30/2017 5:35:00 PM | Men's Golf
FINAL RESULTS
BOULDER CITY, Nev. – It was a birdie bonanza for Northern Colorado Men's Golf in the final day of the Big Sky Championship. UNC holed a collective 18 birdies and one eagle to card a tournament-low round of 280, finishing second place overall with an 889 (306, 303, 280).
Best Swings:
Three Bears came into the clubhouse under-par on Sunday. Sophomore's Josh Matz, Li Chen and true freshman, Coby Welch highlighted the day for UNC.
Matz had the best round on the afternoon for the team with a 68 (-4), the second lowest round of the Championship by any golfer.
The sophomore wrote down eight pars and one birdie on the front nine and made the turn one-under. The excellent play continued for Matz with three more birdies on holes 11, 13 and 16. The bogey-free round ended with back-to-back pars on 17 and 18.
Matz moved up one spot in the final day to place sixth overall, his best finish on his career at the Big Sky Championship with a three-round total of 219 (72, 79, 68 = +3).
Welch tied for the next best round of the afternoon with Chen, both walked off the course with a 70 (-2), with Welch coming up just one stroke shy of winning the individual title.
Welch battled all afternoon with Sacramento State's Aaron Beverly, Robert Parden and Hartford's Elias Gross for a chance at the title.
The freshman got hot early, securing four consecutive birdies on the front nine to move to four-under with four to play. A double on hole 8 chopped his round three total in half as Welch made the turn at two-under-par.
He stayed at two-under for the remainder of the round going on streak of nine straight pars to end the round under-par and the tournament even.
Welch was just one shot back of the Hornets' Beverly heading to the 18th, but Welch could not muster a birdie to force a playoff, finishing with a 216 (74, 72, 70 = E) and tying for second on the leaderboard.
The finish was the second-best in the Division I era at any Conference Championship. Former golfer, Ben Krueger won the 2014 America Sky Championship as an individual, as well as helping UNC to the team title.
Chen also got the better of the Par 72, Boulder Creek Country Club in the final round. Chen, much like Welch, got birdies on the card early. The sophomore carded back-to-back birdies on holes 4 and 5 and then dropped another one just two holes later on the 8th to sit three-under-par with one hole remaining on the front nine. Chen ended up with a bogey on hole 9 and then another one on hole 11 to knock his round up to one-under.
Two more birdies on 13 and 14 got Chen back to where he was at three-under, but a bogey, just his third of the day on the final hole solidified the 70.
Chen moved up nine spots in the last day of the tournament to place tied for 19th with a 231 (83, 78, 70 = +15). Last season he placed 15th at the Championship.
Junior, Sam Marley had a roller coaster round three, but still managed to come out of it with a 72 (E), and UNC's final score that counted toward the team round.
Marley opened with a bogeyed to open his day, but then marked eagle on the Par 5, 2nd hole to move from one-over to one-under after two. The eagle was the second of the tournament for the junior.
Marley bogeyed four more times on the front nine and added a birdie on hole 6 and hit the back half of the course at two-over.
The back nine was all Marley's however. He sank two birdies, along with seven pars to end the round even.
Marley ended his third Big Sky Championship with a 235 (81, 82, 72 = +19), tying for 27th, a five-spot jump on the leaderboard. The finish was the second-best of his career as he finished tied for 25th his freshman season.
Fellow junior, Andrew Romano rounded out the day with a 75 (+3). Romano recorded two birdies throughout his round, but had five bogeys to go along with them. He made the turn at two-over and played the back nine one-over with a birdie, two bogeys and six pars.
He finished tied for 15th, his best career-finish at the Championship, with a 228 (79, 74, 75 = + 12).
Sacramento State rode its big lead after round two to a first place finish and the conference title. The Hornets shot another round of 285 (-3) to finish with an 874 (304, 285, 285 = +10), winning by 15 strokes. Sac State's Beverly was also crowned the individual champion with a three-day score of 215 (-1).
Team Results:
When the windy conditions of Boulder City finally died down, the Bears took full advantage, shooting the best round of the tournament by any team with a 280 (-8), bringing their Championship total to an 889 (306, 302, 280 = +25) to place second.
In Their Words:
Head Coach, Roger Prenzlow
"The guys all played hard, made great decisions and executed shots very well! It was a pleasure and showed how good this team is, and keeps getting. Everyone returns next year, so we need everyone to have a great summer and come back in the fall ready to have a great 2017-18 season."
"Coby [Welch] was great all year, Josh [Matz] will keep improving as he works at his game in earnest. Sam [Welch], Li [Chen] and Andrew [Romano] are an integral part of this team and as with everyone, need to improve for us to accomplish big things for this program."
Up Next:
That ends the 2016-17 season for the men's golf program. The team will be back next fall to kick off the 2017-18 campaign as UNC returns its entire roster.Â
Players Mentioned
