Big rally in final round nets CSU men their third consecutive team title to start the season; host CU runner-up at Simpson Invite, with Justin Biwer falling in playoff for individual crown but continuing his torrid play
By Gary Baines – 10/1/2024
ERIE — Win streaks — either ongoing or potential — were on the line on Tuesday as the top two men’s NCAA Division I golf teams from Colorado battled it out at Colorado National Golf Club.
For the second time in three years, Colorado State was attempting to win three straight team titles to start a season. The University of Colorado, coming off an impressive victory at the University of New Mexico’s Tucker Intercollegiate, was trying to claim two consecutive outright major team championships in a single season for the first time ever. (For the record, the Buffs came close in 2011, winning the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational and losing in a team playoff in their next event, the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational.)
On Tuesday at the 14th Simpson Invite that CU has hosted, it was the CSU men who extended their victory streak, while the Buffs placed runner-up at their own tournament for the third consecutive year.
Colorado State has opened the Jack Kennedy head coaching era with three consecutive team victories, just as the Rams did two years ago in the first season under then-coach Michael Wilson. Both times, all the wins came in Colorado.
“It’s really special,” Kennedy said. “I just joked with (assistant coach Luke Vivolo). He’s going to be coaching tomorrow. I’m going to go retire after going 3-0.”
This year, the third straight victory was one that took shape thanks to a big final-round comeback. The Rams entered the final 18 at Colorado National trailing leader CU by nine strokes and St. Mary’s (Calif.) by four. But the best team score on Tuesday — by six strokes, an 18-under-par 270 total — vaulted CSU by both St. Mary’s and the Buffs, with the result being a four-stroke victory. CU, 5 under for the final day, ended up second and St. Mary’s third, another stroke back.
CSU senior Christoph Bleier gets a fist bump from coach Jack Kennedy on Tuesday. Bleier tied for fifth place individually to help lead the Rams.
“It was just absolutely a special round of golf,” Kennedy said. “All five guys played amazing. When all five guys in college golf play well, you tend to shoot scores like that. When you’re throwing out a 2 under par (score as the worst of the five), that’s kind of unheard-of in college golf. The guys played great. We just really had hot putters all day today. We put ourselves in good positions, but made a lot of putts.”
The Rams’ three-round team total — 36 under par, shot under lift, clean and place conditions in the fairways — tied for the second-lowest in tournament history.
As for other Colorado-based teams, the University of Denver finished 10th out of 19 schools, while Northern Colorado was 12th, Air Force 16th and Colorado School of Mines 18th.
CU’s Justin Biwer has finished no lower than fourth in his last three college tournaments.
Meanwhile, CU senior Justin Biwer came ever so closed to notching his first individual victory as a college player. He tied for first in regulation out of the 104-man field — which technically will go down as a victory for college ranking purposes — but he lost out in a playoff as Dylan Teeter of Texas-El Paso and Aidan Lee made pars on the extra hole (No. 18 at Colorado National) while Biwer picked up when he couldn’t make better than double bogey.
Biwer pulled his tee shot — with a 2-iron — into the left fairway bunker, close to the lip. With the ball also well below his feet, he was in a precarious spot, and her approach went into the pond that guard the front of the green. He ended up on the fringe in 4 and ran his bogey attempt by the hole. Both Teeter (2-putt from 3 feet) and Lee (2-putt from 5 feet) shared the playoff victory.
Meanwhile, Biwer posted his third straight top-4 individual finish, and in the last three Simpson Invites he’s gone third, second and playoff loss.
“I just put it in a bad spot (in the playoff) and couldn’t do anything with that. t sucks to not really get it done, but at the same time I did what I was supposed to do (in regulation),” said Biwer, who went 67-68-68 to check in at 13 under par. “I had one bogey all week (on the par-5 12th in the first round) and shot 68 or lower every round. I was getting up and down from just about everywhere all week, which is the reason I had just one bogey.
“It sucks more from a team perspective honestly because we had it through two rounds (leading by five). We’ve never won this tournament since I’ve been here and that’s now three straight second-place finishes. It was great to get the win at New Mexico (last week), but obviously this is the home event. We should be winning this tournament.
“We just didn’t have it today and CSU played well. Unfortunately it’s them.”
In its first four tournaments of the season, the Buffs own team finishes of first, two seconds and a third.
“You finish second in a 19-team field you’re usually pretty happy,” CU coach Roy Edwards said. “You don’t have a chance to win golf tournaments very often; it’s hard to win them. That part is disappointing. We definitely didn’t play our best today. That was pretty clear. To beat a team that’s as good as CSU and some of the other teams that are here, we needed to raise the level a little bit.
“We have an incredible team. … The disappointment of today is an opportunity to really look forward and get better. This team has always responded really well to that. I’m excited about that looking forward. We’ve got an awesome group of guys. You see it 1 to 9; I think our worst guy finished at even par (for the tournament). We feel really good going forward.”
In addition to Biwer’s showing, the Buffs placed Ty Holbrook, competing only as an individual this week, in fifth place at 10 under par after he posted a 66 on Tuesday.
CSU freshman Ralf Kivi has placed fifth in his last two events.
As for CSU, the team victory comes after the Rams previously prevailed at their own Ram Masters Invitational and Air Force’s Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational.
CSU put two players in the top five as senior Christoph Bleier from Austria and freshman Ralf Kivi of Estonia shared fifth place with Holbrook at 10 under par overall. Bleier closed with a bogey-free 65 — “It was the easiest 7 under I’ve had in a long time,” he said — while Kivi carded a 69. It was Kivi’s second straight top-5 showing of his young college career.
“We all had a great day obviously,” Bleier said. “It’s hard to win a team event, especially when we’re playing against CU on its home course. I’m glad we all could have a day and beat CU.
“We have a great team — and a deep team — this year. I love all the guys and they all have great games.”
Rounding out the winning team for the Rams were Coloradan Matthew Wilkinson and Jake Rodgers (tied for 18th place) and freshman Roy Willemsen from The Netherlands (32nd place). Wilkinson, the 2024 CGA Match Play champion, was coming off his first individual victory as a college player, at the Falcon Invitational.
Having just been hired by CSU two months ago, Kennedy has little background with the CU-CSU rivalry. But he’s learning, with his Rams having gotten the better of the Buffs twice in the last couple of weeks.
“Again my phone is littered with text messages from all of our CSU supporters,” Kennedy said. “This means a lot to them. I’m quickly learning that. It’s also fun to beat somebody on their home course. There’s nothing better in college athletics than to go into somebody’s home place and beat them. All credit to our guys; they were amazing all week.”
At least based on early results, both CSU and CU should be formidable this season. Of course, there’s a long way to go, but with three team wins for the Rams and four top-3s for the Buffs (including a victory), things look promising for both squads.
“It sucks we couldn’t get it done as a team, but we’ll have plenty more chances,” Biwer said of CU. “We’re definitely playing the best we have since I’ve been here. It’s exciting to say the least.”
For all the scores from the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com