CSU golfer and Westminster resident Connor Jones closes out his stellar college career; former CGA Player of the Year posted 5 individual college victories in all
By Gary Baines – 5/15/2024
After five seasons, one transfer and five individual victories, Connor Jones of Westminster wrapped up his college career on Wednesday.
The 2022 men’s CGA Player of the Year bowed out when his Colorado State team failed to advance to the NCAA Division I national championships. CSU needed to place in the top five at the West Lafayette (Ind.) Regional to move on, but finished 10th.
Jones ended up 27th individually on Wednesday as a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 14th hole dropped him significantly down the scoreboard. He posted a 2-over-par total for three rounds (73-71-74).
But the Mountain Range High School graduate had an impressive college career — one of the better ones for a Coloradan in men’s DI golf in recent years — with one individual victory at the University of Denver, then four more in three seasons after transferring to CSU. In fact, despite only playing three years at CSU, only one player in program history has finished with more individual wins — Martin Laird, with six victories from 2000-04. Of course, Laird has gone on to win four times on the PGA Tour.
This season, Jones started out with an individual victory in CSU’s Ram Masters Invitational and finished with six top-10 finishes. He sits No. 108 nationally in men’s DI, according to Scoreboard, and No. 140 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
Among Jones’ impressive performances in non-college events in recent years were a runner-up in a playoff at the 2022 Trans-Miss, a round-of-32 showing at the 2023 U.S. Amateur, a third place overall at the 2022 Inspirato Colorado Open and a sweep of the major CGA championship titles in 2022.
Elsewhere in men’s NCAA DI regionals …
— Ohio State’s Neal Shipley, who finished runner-up in the 2023 U.S. Amateur that Cherry Hills Country Club hosted, advanced to nationals along with his OSU teammates, by virtue of placing fourth as a team at the Baton Rouge Regional. Shipley, low amateur in the Masters last month, shot 70-71-72 to tie for ninth individually at the regional.
— University of Colorado junior Justin Biwer, competing in his third straight regional, finished 71st as an individual in the Austin (Texas) Regional after struggling to a final-round 85. He ended up 19 over par (73-74-85).
For all the scores from the men’s DI NCAA regionals, 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