Colorado State Men Shake Off Rust in Spring Debut

No. 21 CSU finishes 8th at National Invitational Tournament

By Drew Kort

After almost four months away from competitive play, the Colorado State University men returned to the course in Tucson, Arizona, to compete in the National Invitational Tournament. The event was held at OMNI Tucson National’s 7,200-yard, par-72 Catalina Course.

CSU entered the 54-hole competition as the highest ranked squad in the field at No. 21 in the country, per Golfstat. Four other teams in the top 50 teed it up alongside the Rams.

A 6-under-par opening loop put Colorado State in seventh position, and they were only four shots out of second place on a bunched-up leaderboard. Four of CSU’s five players were at even par or better after round one with sophomore AJ Ott (Fort Collins), junior Jake Staiano (Cherry Hills Village) and freshman Parathakorn Suyasri (Chonburi, Thailand) heading the charge. They all shot 2-under-par 70s.

Ott and Suyasri followed up their solid round-one performances with a pair of impressive 4-under 68s. At 6 under par, the duo was T15 with 18 holes to play. They were five shots behind the leaders. As a team, the Rams were in sixth place.

Ott made an early final-round charge with a birdie and an eagle in his first four holes, but was unable to keep his momentum going. He shot a 1-over-par 73 to finish at 5 under par and in a tie for 19th on the individual leaderboard. Suyasri also stumbled in his final loop with a 3-over-par 75. He was without a birdie until his final two holes of the round.

As a unit, the team shot an overall score of 855 and 9 under par. This was good enough for an eighth-place finish out of 16 teams.

As the highest ranked team in the field, a middle-of-the-pack result is not what the team had hoped for. This could likely be attributed to the lack opportunities the team was able to capitalize on. They ranked 12th out of 16 teams in total birdies.

UNLV won the team title at 50 under par, 12 strokes clear of second place finisher Arizona State. Individually, the honors went to Shintaro Ban of UNLV. He carded a three-round total of 16 under par.

Look for the guys to improve at the Lamkin Grips SD Classic in Chula Vista, California, March 12-13.

Click here for tournament stats and scores.

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