DII top-ranked Colorado Christian men’s golf team sweeps team titles in all 5 of its fall tournaments as CCU’s Adam Duncan claims second individual victory of season
By Gary Baines – 10/26/2024
There aren’t many teams in college golf that go into the mid-season break having experienced nothing but victory. However, after Saturday, the Colorado Christian men’s squad can rightfully make that claim.
The Cougars, the defending national champions in NCAA Div. II, have shown no signs of slowing down during the fall portion of this season’s schedule. They had to rally in the final round, but they came back on Saturday to claim their fifth team title in as many tournaments in the fall portion of the 2024-25 season.
CCU went 12 under par in the final round to finish at 28 under and prevail by 12 in the Southwest Airlines HPU Shark Shootout in Kona, Hawaii. In fact, the Cougars swept the team and individual titles in Hawaii tournaments for the second time this week. This time around, senior Adam Duncan from Bakersfield, Calif., did the individual honors, going 64-66 for a three-stroke victory over teammate Sangha Park. Saturday’s 66 for Duncan came despite two double bogeys as he carded nine birdies.
It was Duncan’s second individual win of the season. Teammate Sungyeop Cho also has two individual victories (or co-victories) in the fall, while Xavier Bighaus and Park have one each.
The Cougars, top-ranked among DII men, have now earned team titles in nine of their last 11 tournaments, dating back to April 1 of last season. And that run includes their victory in the national championship, which made them the first Colorado-based college program to claim a national team championship in golf.
CCU’s margins of victory in its five tournaments this season have been 57 strokes, 3, 26, 17 and 12. The Cougars trailed Cal State East Bay by three strokes after Friday’s first round but posted the best final-round score out of the 19-team field to win by a hefty margin.
Also having a strong showing in Kona was DII 17th-ranked Colorado Mesa, which placed fourth, 20 strokes behind CCU.
For all the scores from the Kona tournament, CLICK HERE.
After the break, Colorado Christian’s next tournament is set for Feb. 24-26 — the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert, Calif., which will feature Division I teams such as the University of Colorado and the University of Wyoming.
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