The Colorado men’s golf team is in Salt Lake City and ready to dive into one of the sport’s more unusual team tests: the Big 12 Match Play Championships.
The three-day event runs this week at Salt Lake Country Club, and it brings every conference member into the same match-play format. Colorado coach Roy Edwards called it a different kind of competition, one that strips the game down to its most direct form.
"This is really a unique event. Match play is the purest form of head-to-head competition in golf and we don't play it much until you get to the final eight at the NCAA Finals," CU head coach Roy Edwards said.
"We like the fact that it is just simply about the team. And for the team to win a match each individual guy needs to focus on his match and do whatever he can to earn us a point.
"It's a very unique event in the country as we're the only conference that does a fall match play championship."
Salt Lake Country Club sits near the mouth of Parley's Canyon in the Wasatch Mountain foothills, and the setting is expected to add its own layer of difficulty. The course measures 7,209 yards and plays to par 72, with elevation changes ranging from 4,600 to 4,800 feet.
The front nine works across sloped terrain and ridges, while the back nine falls toward Parley’s Creek before climbing again. Hole 10 is the showpiece, dropping from a bluff some 75 to 100 feet to the green.
"The Country Club is one of the premier golf courses and clubs in the western United States," Edwards noted. "It is going to be a great match place site and they will do a wonderful job hosting the tournament. It looks like we're going to be battling some weather, which is exactly what you would expect in the Rocky Mountains in October."
That weather may be part of the story all week. Rain is in the forecast for all three days, and temperatures are expected to top out in the upper 50s.
Colorado will send six players into the field: seniors Brandon Knight and Ty Holbrook, juniors Parker Paxton and Asher Whitaker, sophomore Tyler Long and freshman Colt Farrow. Five players compete in each match, and coaches can change the lineup from round to round.
The Buffs didn’t have an event here last year, but Holbrook and Knight were part of the 2024 format and each went 2-2. Knight arrives with the deepest match-play résumé on the roster after becoming the first Buff to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S.
Amateur in August, advancing to the final eight from a field of 312. Paxton also brings a strong match-play background as a three-time Wyoming Match Play champion.
Play begins Monday with shotgun starts at 8:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The same schedule follows Tuesday for rounds three and four, before the fifth and final round starts at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday.
The teams were seeded using their current Scoreboard rankings and split into four pools. Colorado is the No. 7 seed in Pool B and opens against No.
10 Kansas State before meeting No. 15 Houston on Monday.
The Buffs then face No. 2 Texas Tech Tuesday morning.
After pool play, bracket play begins based on standings, and Colorado would then cross over into Pool C to meet its comparable team there - No. 3 Arizona State, No.
6 BYU, No. 11 Utah or No.
14 Iowa State - later that afternoon, with place matches closing out the event.
CU’s alumni were also turning in results elsewhere. Dylan McDermott ('25) tied for third in the Cardinal Classic on the G Tour with an 8-under par 65-68-69-202.
Jeremy Paul ('17) finished 67th in the Open de España presented by Madrid on the DP World Tour at 2-over par 70-73-73-70-286. And at the CGA's Senior Amateur Championship, two former Buffs finished 1-2: Steve Ivan ('84) won his fourth title after a playoff win over Charlie Luther ('90), with both posting even-par 210s at Fox Hill Club in Longmont; Mike Glaesel ('90) tied for 25th.
Former Buff player and coach Les Fowler ('48) also won the event four times.
Pat Grady ('09) added another CU note last month, winning the Trans-Miss Mid-Masters Amateur at Lakewood Country Club with a 5-under par 69-67-72-208, one of only two players to finish under par.
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