Buffaloes Open PING/ASU Invitational In Sixth

TEMPE, Ariz. – Colorado is in sixth place after the first round of the 2018 PING/ASU Invitational at Arizona State's Karsten Golf Course.

The No. 18 ranked Buffaloes carded a 7-over, 295, on the par-72, 6,337-yard course, with three golfers in the top 14, finishing within one stroke of each other.

Sophomore Kirsty Hodgkins had the Buffaloes' low round shooting a 1-under 71 and is just four strokes off the lead. Senior Brittany Fan and Sophomore Robyn Choi each shot an even 72.

No. 16 Washington is the leader after the first round shooting a 4-under 284. No. 50 Georgia and No. 15 Arizona are tied for second, one stroke back, while No. 17 Oklahoma State is two back at 286. Arizona's Bianca Pagdanganan was the leader in the clubhouse with a 5-under 67.

"We had three good scorers but struggled in the fourth and fifth position today," head coach Anne Kelly said. "A little disappointed in the overall score, but Robyn, Brittany and Kirsty really pulled the bus today that's for sure."

Hodgkins had her best round of the spring and is tied for ninth on the individual leaderboard. She started strong, shooting 3-under over the first six holes. Hodgkins birdied the first two of four straight par-4's to begin course and then logged a third birdie on the 470-yard par-5 No. 6. After finishing the front at 2-under, she bogeyed the second-longest hole on the course, the 498-yard par-5 No. 10, but responded immediately with her fourth birdie of the round on the par-4 No. 11.

Hodgkins closed out her round with six pars over her final seven holes for her eighth subpar round of the season.

"Kirsty struggled in the last tourney, but she and (assistant coach Brent Franklin) clicked onto something in her swing and worked really hard with that. She stuck with it today; committed to it," Kelly said. "She played some good golf today."

Choi was even through the first nine and fell into a little trouble on the 410-yard 11^th, recording a double-bogey. She responded quickly with three straight birdies. Showing some versatility in her game, Choi birdied the par-3 No. 12, par-4 No. 13 and par-5 No. 14 in succession. Choi dropped a stroke with a bogey on No. 15 but held her spot, tied for 14^th overall, by playing even over the final three.

"Robyn was really in quite a bit of (back) pain, but (down the stretch) it loosed up a little bit for her," Kelly said. "She's been working on her wedges and on the par-5 she birdied she had a nice tight wedge in and another on the par-4. She's put a lot of work into and it has paid off."

Fan birdied the par-4 No. 1 and stayed at 1-under over her first five holes. She bogeyed the par-3 No. 6, but countered with a birdie on the par-3 No. 7.

She equaled that feat two holes later. After dropping a stroke on the par-4 No. 9, she gained it right back with a birdie on the par-5 No. 10. Fan, Colorado's last player on the course, picked up a final stroke with her fourth birdie of the afternoon on the par-4 No. 18, to join Choi and seven others in 14^th place.

"Brittany continues to hit the ball really long and strong," Kelly said. "She didn't take advantage of the par-5's like she can do because of her length. Hopefully she'll get back going again tomorrow."

Junior Gillian Vance, playing as an individual, actually had Colorado's fourth-best round, carding a 6-over 78 and sits in a tie for 56^th overall. Starting on the back at No. 10, she played her first nine at 5-over, including a double-bogey 5 on the 157-yard No. 16. Vance turned it around on the front though, playing even over her final eight holes highlighted by a birdie-2 on the 155-yard No. 7.

Freshman Alisha Lau carded an 8-over par 80, putting her in a tie for 71^st through 18 holes. It was looking good early for Lau, playing the first seven holes at 1-under. She made her lone birdie of the round with a 4 on the 470-yard No. 5. But Lau had trouble on the turn, dropping to 6-over through 11. She finished on a high note, closing out with five pars over the final seven holes including three straight to end the round.

Freshman Elle Otten, playing in just her second collegiate tournament, shot an 11-over 83 and is tied for 80th after the first day.

As a team, Buffaloes had a strong start to the round and flirted with the lead as their four scorers were a collective 3-under through the first seven holes. Colorado ran into some trouble at the turn though, with those same four golfers playing holes No. 8 through No. 11 at 8-over. The Buffaloes held solid down the stretch, playing the last three holes at 1-under.

Strong starts and fading finishes was certainly a theme to the tournament's first round. Georgia was double-digits under par early before falling back to the pack. The Buffaloes were in the eighth spot when their round finished, but moved up after others faded down the stretch.

"The course dried out (down the stretch)," Kelly said. "It played hard and fast and the greens are firm which does make it a challenge. We got off to a pretty good start, unfortunately Alisha had a rough No. 9 hole in the water and then had an improper drop and took a penalty, so that through her day off a little bit."

"(Alisha and Elle) both just tired way too hard, which is common in freshmen. We talk about taking it one shot at a time and I know just looking at Elle today she was going a million miles an hour. They need to trust their game a little more, take it one shot a time, not thinking ahead about the outcome, and what it means for the team."

NOTEWORTHY: Hodgkins' 71 was her lowest round since logging a 69 in the final round of Washington's Edean Ihlanfeldt Invite back in October. It was her eighth sub-par round of the season, tying Choi for the team lead. Colorado matched Arizona as the second-best team in the field on par-3's in the first round playing those four holes at plus-4. Georgia was first at 2-over. The Buffaloes struggled on the par-5's, shooting 2-over; ranking 13^th out of 14 teams. Fan continued her recent string of impressive play at a combined 4-under over her last three rounds. Choi tied for the first round lead on par-3's as she was one of five golfers to play those four holes at 1-under on the afternoon. Holes No. 8 and 9, were ranked the toughest par-4's in the first round where the Buffaloes four scorers shot a combined 5-over par.

NEXT UP: Colorado will match up with Oklahoma State and TCU for Saturday's second round with the first groups set to tee off at 9:45 a.m. Mountain.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
T9.	Kirsty Hodgkins	71
T14.	Robyn Choi	72
T14.	Brittany Fan	72
T56.	*Gillian Vance	78
T71.	Alisha Lau	80
T80.	Elle Otten	83
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
1.	Bianca Pagdanganan, Arizona	67
T2.	YuSang Hou, Arizona	68
T2.	Sarah Rhee, Washington	68
T4.	Greta Bruner, TCU	69
T4.	Paul Neira Garcia, Georgia	69
TEAM SCORES
Rank	Team	Score
1.	Washington	284
T2.	Georgia	285
T2.	Arizona	285
4	Oklahoma State	286
5.	TCU	289
6.	Colorado	295
T7.	UNLV	297
T7.	Oregon	297
T7.	Washington State	297
10.	Arizona State	298
11.	Fresno State	300
12.	Denver	302
13.	Iowa	304
14.	New Mexico	305

*Played as an Individual

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Players Mentioned

Robyn Choi

Brittany Fan

Kirsty Hodgkins

Alisha Lau

Elle Otten

Gillian Vance