Sophomore pre-journalism major Taylor Doyle tees off on the first hole at the Colorado National Golf Club Saturday morning. The women's golf team is practicing for a tournament they are hosting Monday and Tuesday. (CU Independent/Lee Pruitt)
Anticipation is in the air for the Colorado Buffaloes women’s golf team.
The Buffs will host the 12th annual Heather Farr/CU Memorial Invitational on Monday and Tuesday. The event is named after Heather Farr — the childhood friend of CU head coach Anne Kelly, whose life and career was cut short due to breast cancer. The event coincides with Breast Care Awareness Month.
This will also be the first tournament on their new course. The Colorado National Golf Club in Erie is a par-72, 6,352-yards course. Some players said they can’t wait to test their new digs.
“I’m so excited we’re hosting at our new course,” said sophomore Emily Talley, CU’s low scorer this season. “We can show how hard we’ve worked.”
This is one of two tournaments hosted by CU, but the only one held in Colorado. While the fact that the Buffs are hosting might increase the pressure, CU head coach Anne Kelly said she isn’t sweating it too much.
“We approach each tournament with the same attitude,” Kelly said.
Last year, the team took third place overall and in 2007, they won the tournament. Kelly believes their hard work and preparation will help them do well this year against the 19 other teams in the event.
As far as the players, their enthusiasm is palpable. They also feel the pressure but are extremely excited to play on their new home course.
“There’s definitely a lot of pressure on coming through, but we’ve set our expectations high,” Talley said. “It’s such a big deal. I can’t wait!”
Seniors Christine Kim, Dominique Pytlewski and Julie Kim, as well as Talley and sophomore Meaghan Kari, will compete in the tournament.
Pytlewski said she shares the excitement and hopes the team will do its best by showing all of its hard work.
Kelly said the team will approach this tournament keeping in mind the uniqueness of golf.
“We can’t control other teams,” Kelly said. “We can’t hit them harder. We can’t control how the weather affects our game. We can, however, control our attitude.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Marlee Horn at Marlee.Horn@colorado.edu.
