The University of Colorado men’s golf team leads after the first round of the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate, held Monday in Palm Desert, California. The Buffaloes posted a 12-under-par team score of 276, placing them three shots ahead of Sacramento State and four ahead of Maryland.
This performance marks a significant turnaround from the previous week when Colorado finished 21st at The Prestige at PGA West under challenging weather conditions. With improved weather—temperatures reaching 82 degrees and minimal wind—the Buffaloes managed to improve their score by 27 strokes compared to last week’s event.
Sophomore Parker Paxton is tied for the individual lead after carding a 5-under-par 67. He recorded seven birdies, tying for the most in the field, and played his final 14 holes at six under par following two early bogeys. “Parker had a really nice round. He managed his game nicely and so did several of the other guys,” said head coach Roy Edwards. “Always good to be in the lead at any point, especially in a big field like this one.”
First-year graduate transfer Jackson Rivera shot a 3-under-par 69 and is tied for seventh place individually. Juniors Brandon Knight and Ty Holbrook both finished with rounds of 70, tying them for 14th place.
Three Buffaloes are competing as individuals: freshman Tyler Long (71), sophomore Michael Fang (73), and freshman Casey Kosney (73). All eight players on Colorado’s roster are participating in this tournament.
Head coach Roy Edwards commented on the team’s improvement since last week: “We’ve got to continue to keep playing how we are capable, and things will work out in the end. We were disappointed not to be able to play (in the cancelled third round last week) as we wanted to get back out there and compete, believing we had another opportunity to move up the leaderboard (CU had moved from 21st to 16th). But this is our opportunity to do that with the quick turnaround with competing here.”
Colorado’s strong showing included leading all teams with five-under on par-4s and recording more birdies than any other team on Monday with a total of twenty-four. Twelve teams in the field finished under par after day one.
The second round will take place Tuesday morning with Colorado paired alongside Sacramento State and Maryland.
