The Pioneer men’s golf team placed 10th at the 40th Annual Arizona State Thunderbird Invitational after posting a final-round 294 in Tempe, Ariz., on Saturday, finishing 28-over par. Denver concluded the competition with a three-round total of 880 after recording 290 the first round and 296 in the second round on Friday.
“Going in, I expected most of the guys to play well,” said head coach Eric Hoos. “It didn’t help we got that snow storm on Tuesday and cold weather Monday; that kind of limited our practice, but the guys have been playing better this spring, and I hoped for a good time.”
The team, which stood just four points behind Oklahoma after two rounds, was led by sophomore Oskar Arvidsson. By the end of the night, Arvidsson, who tied for 26th at 4-over par, carded a first round 68 and a second-round 77, rounding it all off with a 72 in the final round on Saturday. This performance mirrored the exact opposite of Arvidsson’s display the previous Saturday, where he carded a lesser first round (71) and then jumped up the second round (67) to end up 3-below par by the end of the shootout.
“The performance was okay. After the first round, Arvidsson was on very solid ground. For all of them, there was some good improvement and definitely some things to build upon,” said Hoos.
Following Arvidsson, senior Troy Anderson had been tied for 34th with 5-over par after the second round, his previous strokes being 77 in the first and 70 in the second round. Going into the third round on Saturday, however, Anderson shot a 74, which prevented him from maintaining his edge from the previous round and making his final position to be tied for 38th, 8-over par for the tournament.
Freshman Victor Doka finished 17 over-par, tying for 77th, despite being tied with sophomore Chun-Ji Kim for 48th at 7-over par one round earlier. Kim tied for 48th after posting a final 73 (73-76-73-222), finishing 9-over par.
Kim was followed by sophomore Ole Ramsnes, who finished 12-over par and placed 61st overall with a steady performance, placing a tight grouping (74-76-75-225) for the tournament.
“You know, this is a young team. I think at different times, guys were all playing well,” said Hoos. “Some of those scores I don’t think show exactly how well they were playing it.”
No. 6 California finished 17-under par as a team, making them the 2012 Thunderbird Invitational champions. Individually, Derek Ernst (UNLV) won the tournament, finishing 9-under par with 68 strokes in the final round, 69 and 67 previously, giving him a 204 total.
One point down from Denver at the end of the second round, Arizona, ranked No. 49 by Golf Week, came close to knocking the Pioneers even farther away from single digits. Denver managed to hang on to their position, however, with their final scores bringing the team into the finish with a solid 294. Arizona finished 30-over par, leaving them in 11th place.
“We’re still making a few mistakes out there that we need to work on, but they’re improving,” said Hoos.
Moving forward, the Pioneers will compete in Santa Cruz, Calif., for the 66th Western Intercollegiate this weekend, beginning Saturday.
