Close Call

CSU’s Rasmus Hjelm finishes college career-best second against stacked field on national TV at Western Intercollegiate

By Gary Baines – 4/13/2022

Rasmus Hjelm was thrown into the deep end of college golf on Wednesday. 

The Colorado State University sophomore from Sweden was leading an extremely formidable college field in an event that was being nationally televised by the Golf Channel. Among those in contention were the second- , ninth-, 11th- and 15th-ranked players in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (Texas’ Pierceson Coody and Cole Hammer, Washington’s RJ Manke and Pepperdine’s Dylan Menante, respectively).

Hjelm, who had never finished better than 20th individually in a college tournament, took a three-stroke lead into Wednesday’s final round of the 75th Western Intercollegiate in Santa Cruz, Calif. But after a double double on his 14th hole (No. 5 at Pasatiempo) dropped him three out of the lead, Hjelm crept back within one before tying for second place in the 92-man field.

With bogeys on his final two holes, Hjelm notched by far his best college showing, ending up three strokes behind Menante, the champion. Tying Hjelm for second were Coody and BYU’s Carson Lundell.

Hjelm went 70-69-73 at the formidable Pasatiempo layout to end up at 2-over 212 overall. He made two birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey on Wednesday.

In the team competition, CSU tied for eighth out of 14 schools.

For the scores from the Western Intercollegiate, 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. He was voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2021. Email: ColoradoGolfJournal@mac.com)