The University of Denver men’s golf team finished their regular season with a ninth place tie at the Ping Cougar Classic in Utah.
Denver now awaits a possible berth in the NCAA Regional tournament May 20-22. Overall, Denver shot rounds of 287-292-293 for an eight-over-par 872, leaving them tied with Wyoming.
Sophomore James Love was the Pioneers’ best golfer, shooting rounds of 69-75-73 and finishing in a four-way tie for 26th place at 247, only one stroke over par. Sophomore Charlie Soule had the next best finish for the Pioneers. He shot a final-round even-par 72 and finished tied for 30th place.
Senior Jimmy Cunningham ended with a tie for 35th place shooting a three-over par score of 219. Freshman Colter Kautzmann finished tied for 48th place, while junior Barrett Jarosch finished tied for 53rd.
DU’s in -state rivals from Colorado State University won the tournament with the University of Texas – El Paso and Bosie State University rounding out the top three.
Mathew Kodama from Hawaii won the tournament shooting rounds of 70-67-79, beating Martin Laird from CSU and Ron Harvey from BYU in a plaoff.
The ninth place finish in Utah came after the Pioneers shot a final-round five-over par 293.
Prior to the Cougar Classic, the men’s team shot a final-round 12-over par 300 and finished in eighth place at the Sun Belt Conference Championships at the Bluewater Bay Resort, FLA. Denver shot a 54-hole total of 906 which was 42-over par, finishing 42 strokes behind New Mexico State, which won the SBC Championships. North Texas grabbed second place at 18-over-par with a final score of 882.
Love moved up four spots from the previous two days, shooting a one-under par 71 and finishing in a tie for 11th place.
Love played the best golf for Denver, finishing six strokes back of Gareth Maybin, tournament champion from South Alabama. Love was just out of the running for All-Sun Belt Conference, which goes to the top-five finishers.
Next for the Pioneers was Soule, who moved from a tie at 29th to a tie for 18th with a 54-hole score of 224, which was eight-over-par.
Cunningham finished tied at 29th with a 13-over-par final score of 229 and both Kautzmann and senior Jake Kubie finished in a tie for 40th after shooting a 236.
Jarosch and Cunningham were both named to the All-Sun Belt team.
Jarosch and Cunningham were also the only two Pioneer golfers to ever be named the Sun Belt Golfer of the Month. Jarosch took the award in March and Cunningham won it in October.
Earlier in the season, Cunningham led the Pioneers to a fourth place finish at the Falcon-Antigua Invitational and a third place finish at the Ron Moore Invitational. Cunningham also helped the Pioneers finish in fifth place at the 41st Fresno Lexus Golf Classic with a seven-under-par 209.
Love led the Pioneers to a first place finish at the Wolf Pack Classic, shooting an eight-under-par 208. Cunningham led at the Barona Collegiate Cup with a 14-under-par final score of 202, which the Pioneers ended tied for 10th.
Jarosch led the Pioneers to a second place finish at the Rice Intercollegiate with a 1-under-par, 215. Both Jarosch and Cunningham were top finishers at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate, where Denver finished in a tie for ninth place. Jarosch, Cunningham and Love also finished near the top at the Carter Plantation Intercollegiate and Steve Kerr Invitational, where the Pioneers finished eighth and fifth, respectively.
“I think I made a really good choice coming here,” said Jarosch. “I really like the coach, and I am very comfortable with golf and school.”
