The University of Colorado women’s golf team finished tied for fifth at the inaugural Pacific Coast Intercollegiate on the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay.
Co-host and No. 37 Oregon won by shooting the best team score in any of the three rounds with a 2-over par 290 to finish 27-over par 891, just one stroke ahead of No. 27 Texas A&M, which held a five stroke advantage over the Ducks entering the day. No. 17 UC Davis moved from sixth to a tie for third at 41-over par 905, an identical score to Long Beach State. The Buffs and No. 40 Northwestern finish tied for fifth at 43-over par 907, just a shot ahead of seventh place Texas Tech (908).
“I think what hurt us was the second round,” CU Head Coach Anne Kelly said. “We had the toughest conditions and happened to be on the toughest part of the course right when the wind was the strongest in that round. Today wasn’t a bad day, we just didn’t have enough birdies. We are out there competing hard, we just didn’t get it done today.”
The Buffs close out the regular season finishing in the top five in all ten regular season events. The previous best was six top -five team finishes in 2004-05. With two other seasons seeing the Buffs compile four top-5 finishes, CU essentially more than doubled the best team finishes from all but one season in CU history.
Junior Jess Wallace and freshman Kristin Coleman both shot 2-over par 74 to pace the Buffaloes in the final round. Wallace finished tied for sixth with a three round total of 7-over par 223. She was sitting at 3-over par for seven straight holes before she was able to get a birdie late in her round. Kristin Coleman had four bogeys and a pair of birdies and moved from a tie for 50th to a tie for 35th with her 2-over round, giving her a three-round total of 16-over par 232.
“I was proud of Kristin today,” Kelly said. “She made a nice comeback and had a solid round of golf. I’m happy with how she came through.”
Junior Emily Talley struggled a bit in her final round, finishing 6-over par 78 and moving from third entering the day to tied for 13th with a three-round total of 9-over par 225. Freshman Jenny Coleman shot a final round 5-over par 77 to hold on for a top 20 finish, taking 19th at 11-over par 227. Sophomore Taylor Doyle finished 8-over par 80 in the final round and 27-over par 243 to finish tied for 63rd.
“We had five and only counted four, so that’s tough, it’s hard to beat anybody when you don’t make birdies,” Kelly said.
Each of the four Buffs’ scorers in each round shot at least one round of 2-over par or better in the three rounds. Talley was 2-over in the first round and 1-over in the second while Wallace was even par in the first round and 2-over in the third. Kristin Coleman shot 2-over in the third round and Jenny Coleman was 1-under par in the first round.
“They’re all a little frustrated,” Kelly said. “It’s hard in golf to make something happen. You have to be determined and go out there, it’s all in the preparation, what you do before the tournament. We’re doing a lot of things well, yesterday our short game showed a lot of improvement. Now our task is to make more birdies and getting comfortable playing under par, that’s what we’ve been talking about and there’s things in practice we can do to help that process.”
The Buffs now head into the post season with a lot to accomplish. First up is the Buffs’ final Big 12 Championship, which will be held in Columbia, Mo., where the Buffs finished second in the fall with a lot of Big 12 competition in attendance. Throughout the season, the Buffs have compiled a 20-5-1 record head to head against Big 12 competition at other tournaments.
“Our main goal is the post season,” Kelly said. “We will look back at all that we have accomplished this season later. We learned a lot this week and figured out some things we’re doing well and others we can improve on, so we will work at it and see what we can do in the post season.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Marlee Horn at Marlee.horn@colorado.edu.
