CU men’s golf team struggles on day 3, but ends season with top-25 showing at NCAA nationals for 2nd time in 3 years; former Buff women’s golfer Robyn Choi notches best LPGA Tour finish in more than 5 years
By Gary Baines – 5/25/2025
The good news for the University of Colorado men’s golf team is that it posted a top-25 finish in the NCAA national championship for the second time in three years. The bad news is that the Buffs’ season ended a day or more earlier than they would have liked.
CU was hoping to survive the first team cut at the Division I nationals at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. After Sunday’s third round, the field was cut from 30 teams to 15, and the Buffs were inside the number going into round 3 as they were tied for 12th place.
But CU matching the highest team score on Sunday — 21 over par — dropped the Buffs down to 23rd place, at 32 over par overall. Though they had set themselves up for a better showing with their performance the first two days, they’ve placed 21st and 23rd at nationals in the last three seasons.
“Nothing much to really say other than it was a super disappointing day,” coach Roy Edwards told CUBuffs.com. “We just didn’t have it as a team for the first time in a couple of seasons. Maybe we held on to the wheel too tight. I’m not sure. But a very hard golf course we had a tough time with.
“We knew with a good round today we would have a chance to make match play and have the program’s highest-ever NCAA finish. That’s what we were truly expecting. We felt we were capable of it, but it didn’t happen and is an extremely tough way to finish one of the greatest seasons in our history. But we need to celebrate our incredible seniors and our returning players need to use today as a lesson to improve.”
Indeed, despite the poor final round, the Buffs had one of the best seasons in team history. Not only did they qualify a full team to nationals for the second time in three years, but they were remarkably consistent for much of the season. All told, they posted nine top-3 team finishes — one victory, six runner-ups and two third places.
Wrapping up their distinguished college golf careers on Sunday were seniors Justin Biwer and Dylan McDermott, both of whom were recently named to the 26-player All-West Region team by the Golf Coaches Association of America. Though both struggled considerably down the stretch on Sunday — McDemott finishing with a 79 and Biwer with an 82, both seasons highs by quite a bit — they’ve had standout careers for the Buffs. In fact, both came into nationals with a sub-70 season average. They each recorded five top-10 individual finishes this season, with Biwer tying for first (which counts as a win) in the CU Mark Simpson Invitational, though he lost in a playoff.
Despite Sunday’s rounds, Biwer and McDermott own the lowest two career scoring averages in CU history — Biwer at 70.95 and McDermott at 71.1.
“Though Justin and Dylan finished their careers on a disappointing note, in no way should it diminish their outstanding careers at Colorado,” Edwards said. “They established themselves from the beginning as talented freshmen who only got better, had many tremendous, successful moments, and both put a full-out assault on many of our records. They will both go down as two of the greatest players — and young men — in our program’s history.”
Another senior was a sub at nationals — but did not play: Jack Holland.
Junior Hunter Swanson from Superior also had a strong season, with four top-10s. On Sunday, Swanson closed with a 1-over-par 73 to lead the Buffs in the final round and tie McDermott for best CU showing overall (77th place). Sophomore Brandon Knight checked with a 76 on Sunday, followed by McDermott (79), sophomore Ty Holbrook (81) and Biwer (82).
This week marked the second time in the last three years Swanson, McDermott and Biwer competed at the NCAA nationals. To put that into perspective, the only other CU player in the last 30 years to compete at least twice in NCAA nationals was Matt Zions, who played in the event in 1999 and 2002.
At nationals, 30 teams and six individuals played stroke-play rounds Friday, Saturday and Sunday, after which the field was cut to the top 15 schools, along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team. The individual champion will be determined after Monday’s fourth round, and the top eight teams after 72 holes will advance to the medal-match play quarterfinals.
For all the results from the men’s DI nationals, CLICK HERE.
— Strong LPGA Showing for Ex-Buff Robyn Choi: Speaking of CU golf — but on the women’s side — former Buff golfer Robyn Choi posted her best finish on the LPGA Tour in more than five years as the Australian tied for ninth place on Sunday in the Mexico Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba in Playa Del Carmen.
Choi carded scores of 74-72-69-70 for a 3-under-par total, which left her nine strokes behind champion Chisato Iwai of Japan. Choi earned $45,995 for the showing.
Choi’s only better LPGA Tour performance came at the 2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open — co-sanctioned by the LPGA, the Australian Ladies Professional Golf, and the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia — where she tied for sixth place. In Choi’s only other LPGA Tour start of 2025, she placed 20th at the Black Desert Championship in southwest Utah in early May.
For all the scores from the LPGA Tour start in Mexico, 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