Monday, September 12
ALBUQUERQUE,
All Day
Colorado
vs
First Two Rounds
Senior Esther Lee is 14-under par and holds a 6-stroke lead heading into Tuesday.
Lee Ties NCAA Record, Buffs In Fourth At New Mexico Invite
September 12, 2016 | Women's Golf
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Senior Esther Lee tied an NCAA record after shooting a 61 here Monday in the first round of New Mexico's Branch Law/Dick McGuire Invitational as the University of Colorado women's golf team sits in fourth place overall in its opening event of the 2016-17 season before play was suspended in round two due to inclement weather. Lee leads the tournament at 14-under par with seven holes to play in the second round.
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WHAT HAPPENED: Collectively, the Buffaloes shot 281 in the opening round, which is tied for the fifth-lowest 18-hole team score all-time. Colorado leads the field in par-5 scoring at 11-under and is tied for second with 31 total birdies. CU, ranked No. 22 heading into the event is 6-under par with its golfers having between five and seven holes to finish on Tuesday.
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TOURNAMENT FIELD: Nine of the 16 teams competing are ranked in Golfweek's top 25, including three in the top 10. Ninth-ranked Oklahoma State leads the tournament at 12-under par and owns a two-stroke lead over No. 11 Arizona State who sits at 10-under. Baylor is third at 8-under par, two strokes ahead of Colorado at 6-under. No. 8 Northwestern and 25th-ranked Iowa State round out the top five at 2-under par.
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ESTHER LEE (61): Lee started her first round from the 17th hole and reeled off three straight birdies on the par 72, 6,317-yard New Mexico Championship Golf Course. The Los Alamitos, Calif. native went on to tally a program record 11 total birdies during a single round along with seven pars against zero bogeys. She shot 4-under on the front side and posted a school record 7-under par, 29 on the back nine holes. Lee is in the middle of a second-straight bogey-free round as she has completed 11 holes in round two with three birdies and eight pars before being called off the course. The third-year Buff's 61 in the first round tied Stanford alumna Mariah Stackhouse's 2013 NCAA scoring record and her 11-under par performance set an NCAA record in relation to par. Stackhouse went 10-under with her 61 on a par 71.
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BRITTANY FAN (71): Fan posted a solid 1-under par 71 in the first round and is 1-over par with six holes to play on the back side. Like Lee, Fan started her day with a trio of birdies and followed with two straight pars. She bogeyed her sixth and eighth holes to put her at 1-under par and settled down to par eight of her final 10 holes, closing at 1-under. Fan has completed 12 holes in the second round, recording six pars, two birdies, one bogey and a double. She is tied for 24th place.
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KIRSTY HODGKINS (72): Making her collegiate debut, Hodgkins posted the third-best individual score for the Buffs in round one with an even-par 72. Her first 18 holes consisted of four birdies and 10 pars against four bogeys. The freshman from Queensland, Australia was 1-over heading into the last three holes and she put together a strong finish with three pars and a birdie. Hodgkins is 2-over for the tournament and has five holes to finish in round two. She is tied for 41st in the standings.
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GILLIAN VANCE (77): After completing 29 of the first 36 holes, Vance is 10-over par for the tournament and tied for 79th overall. She is playing a bit under the weather and shot plus-5 in the first round with 11 pars, one birdie and seven bogeys and is 5-over with seven holes to play in the second round.
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TORI GLENN (77): Glenn, playing in her first tournament where her score will count toward the team total, carded a 77 or 5-over par in the first round and is 6-over for the event. The redshirt junior has put together a solid second round thus far, shooting 1-over with 10 pars and one birdie against two bogeys. Glenn is tied for 64th and will have five holes to play before the final round gets underway.
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LAURYN KEATING (77): Keating is playing as an individual and her score will not be included in the overall team score. She is tied for 84th after shooting a 77 in round one and is 7-over with five holes to go in the second round.
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TOP INDIVIDUALS: Lee holds a six shot lead going into the final day of competition. Arizona State's Monica Vaughn is second at 8-under par. Sirene Blair of San Diego State and Krystal Quihuis from Arizona are tied for third, both with 7-under par scorecards. Arizona's Natalia Forero, playing as an individual is in fifth place shooting 6-under.
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NOTEWORTHY: In addition to her NCAA records, Lee also set quite a few school records on Monday. Her 61 is the lowest 18-hole score in school history, besting her the previous mark of 64 she set in 2015. Lee's 11-under par scorecard is the most strokes ever recorded in the CU record book, again breaking her own record of 8-under par she set at the 2015 East & West Match Play Challenge. She tied a program record for most holes in a single round played at or under par with 18 (11 birdies and 7 pars) and her 11 birdies in the opening round is also a program best mark, three better than the previous record held by three golfers.
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QUOTABLE: Head coach Anne Kelly: "We really did get off to a very solid start. Esther was just having one of those days where she was making everything. She was in the zone and on a roll, really played quite well. It's just so fun to see her so happy. To have a day like that it's fun to see her that excited about it."
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Senior Esther Lee: "I can't remember the last time I had that much fun playing a round of golf because everything was so easy and I just was having so much fun."
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"After I dropped the first putt that was over 15-feet, it just felt like the greens were telling me where to putt. It honestly felt so good, hitting putts and having the feeling they were going to go in. It rained on Sunday so the greens were a little bit softer, which meant I could attack a lot more pins because I could use the spin to stop the ball."
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"I think the record is a huge deal. It means that it will stand forever until someone breaks it or not. It's something I'm really proud of. There are so many talented golfers playing in the Pac-12 Conference and this tournament so knowing that you've achieved something that they haven't is a really good feeling."
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"It's my senior year and I was nervous to start playing because it's my last year and I want to play my best and leave the best impression I can. I had all this pressure on myself to be the best and do all of these great things because I'm a senior. It definitely makes it more exciting to know it's my last first tournament. Getting off to such a great start can only mean that I move on and can play even better in the other tournaments this season."
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"With this strong start to the season for our team, it's going to give a lot of confidence to everyone on the team and we can show that we are good and can compete with the best."
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NEXT UP: Second round play will resume at 7:30 a.m. MT on Tuesday immediately followed by the third and final round. Live scoring is available at BirdieFire.com.
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WHAT HAPPENED: Collectively, the Buffaloes shot 281 in the opening round, which is tied for the fifth-lowest 18-hole team score all-time. Colorado leads the field in par-5 scoring at 11-under and is tied for second with 31 total birdies. CU, ranked No. 22 heading into the event is 6-under par with its golfers having between five and seven holes to finish on Tuesday.
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TOURNAMENT FIELD: Nine of the 16 teams competing are ranked in Golfweek's top 25, including three in the top 10. Ninth-ranked Oklahoma State leads the tournament at 12-under par and owns a two-stroke lead over No. 11 Arizona State who sits at 10-under. Baylor is third at 8-under par, two strokes ahead of Colorado at 6-under. No. 8 Northwestern and 25th-ranked Iowa State round out the top five at 2-under par.
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ESTHER LEE (61): Lee started her first round from the 17th hole and reeled off three straight birdies on the par 72, 6,317-yard New Mexico Championship Golf Course. The Los Alamitos, Calif. native went on to tally a program record 11 total birdies during a single round along with seven pars against zero bogeys. She shot 4-under on the front side and posted a school record 7-under par, 29 on the back nine holes. Lee is in the middle of a second-straight bogey-free round as she has completed 11 holes in round two with three birdies and eight pars before being called off the course. The third-year Buff's 61 in the first round tied Stanford alumna Mariah Stackhouse's 2013 NCAA scoring record and her 11-under par performance set an NCAA record in relation to par. Stackhouse went 10-under with her 61 on a par 71.
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BRITTANY FAN (71): Fan posted a solid 1-under par 71 in the first round and is 1-over par with six holes to play on the back side. Like Lee, Fan started her day with a trio of birdies and followed with two straight pars. She bogeyed her sixth and eighth holes to put her at 1-under par and settled down to par eight of her final 10 holes, closing at 1-under. Fan has completed 12 holes in the second round, recording six pars, two birdies, one bogey and a double. She is tied for 24th place.
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KIRSTY HODGKINS (72): Making her collegiate debut, Hodgkins posted the third-best individual score for the Buffs in round one with an even-par 72. Her first 18 holes consisted of four birdies and 10 pars against four bogeys. The freshman from Queensland, Australia was 1-over heading into the last three holes and she put together a strong finish with three pars and a birdie. Hodgkins is 2-over for the tournament and has five holes to finish in round two. She is tied for 41st in the standings.
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GILLIAN VANCE (77): After completing 29 of the first 36 holes, Vance is 10-over par for the tournament and tied for 79th overall. She is playing a bit under the weather and shot plus-5 in the first round with 11 pars, one birdie and seven bogeys and is 5-over with seven holes to play in the second round.
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TORI GLENN (77): Glenn, playing in her first tournament where her score will count toward the team total, carded a 77 or 5-over par in the first round and is 6-over for the event. The redshirt junior has put together a solid second round thus far, shooting 1-over with 10 pars and one birdie against two bogeys. Glenn is tied for 64th and will have five holes to play before the final round gets underway.
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LAURYN KEATING (77): Keating is playing as an individual and her score will not be included in the overall team score. She is tied for 84th after shooting a 77 in round one and is 7-over with five holes to go in the second round.
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TOP INDIVIDUALS: Lee holds a six shot lead going into the final day of competition. Arizona State's Monica Vaughn is second at 8-under par. Sirene Blair of San Diego State and Krystal Quihuis from Arizona are tied for third, both with 7-under par scorecards. Arizona's Natalia Forero, playing as an individual is in fifth place shooting 6-under.
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NOTEWORTHY: In addition to her NCAA records, Lee also set quite a few school records on Monday. Her 61 is the lowest 18-hole score in school history, besting her the previous mark of 64 she set in 2015. Lee's 11-under par scorecard is the most strokes ever recorded in the CU record book, again breaking her own record of 8-under par she set at the 2015 East & West Match Play Challenge. She tied a program record for most holes in a single round played at or under par with 18 (11 birdies and 7 pars) and her 11 birdies in the opening round is also a program best mark, three better than the previous record held by three golfers.
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QUOTABLE: Head coach Anne Kelly: "We really did get off to a very solid start. Esther was just having one of those days where she was making everything. She was in the zone and on a roll, really played quite well. It's just so fun to see her so happy. To have a day like that it's fun to see her that excited about it."
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Senior Esther Lee: "I can't remember the last time I had that much fun playing a round of golf because everything was so easy and I just was having so much fun."
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"After I dropped the first putt that was over 15-feet, it just felt like the greens were telling me where to putt. It honestly felt so good, hitting putts and having the feeling they were going to go in. It rained on Sunday so the greens were a little bit softer, which meant I could attack a lot more pins because I could use the spin to stop the ball."
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"I think the record is a huge deal. It means that it will stand forever until someone breaks it or not. It's something I'm really proud of. There are so many talented golfers playing in the Pac-12 Conference and this tournament so knowing that you've achieved something that they haven't is a really good feeling."
Â
"It's my senior year and I was nervous to start playing because it's my last year and I want to play my best and leave the best impression I can. I had all this pressure on myself to be the best and do all of these great things because I'm a senior. It definitely makes it more exciting to know it's my last first tournament. Getting off to such a great start can only mean that I move on and can play even better in the other tournaments this season."
Â
"With this strong start to the season for our team, it's going to give a lot of confidence to everyone on the team and we can show that we are good and can compete with the best."
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NEXT UP: Second round play will resume at 7:30 a.m. MT on Tuesday immediately followed by the third and final round. Live scoring is available at BirdieFire.com.
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| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS | ||
| Rank | Name | Score |
| 1. | Esther Lee | 61 |
| T24. | Brittany Fan | 71 |
| T40. | Kirsty Hodgkins | 72 |
| T64. | Tori Glenn | 77 |
| T79. | Gillian Vance | 77 |
| T84. | *Lauryn Keating | 77 |
| TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS | ||
| Rank | Name | Score |
| 1. | Esther Lee, Colorado | 61 |
| 2. | Monica Vaughn, Arizona State | 67 |
| T3. | Sirene Blair, San Diego State | 69 |
| T3. | Krystal Quihus, Arizona | 68 |
| 5. | *Natalia Forero, Arizona | 68 |
| TEAM SCORES | ||
| Rank | Team | Score |
| 1. | Oklahoma State | 274 |
| 2. | Arizona State | 284 |
| 3. | Baylor | 282 |
| 4. | COLORADO | 281 |
| T5. | Northwestern | 287 |
| T5. | Iowa State | 290 |
| 7. | Oklahoma | 290 |
| 8. | Arizona | 290 |
| 9. | California | 290 |
| 10. | New Mexico | 299 |
| 11. | San Diego State | 296 |
| 12. | Pepperdine | 296 |
| 13. | UNLV | 301 |
| 14. | Denver | 301 |
| 15. | Washington State | 301 |
| 16. | UC Davis | 302 |
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Players Mentioned
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