Buffaloes Ninth After Two Rounds Of PING/ASU Invitational

Saturday, March 24

Tempe, Ariz.

All Day

Colorado

Second Round

Robyn Choi carded her second career round in the 60s

Buffaloes Ninth After Two Rounds Of PING/ASU Invitational

March 24, 2018 | Women's Golf

Round 2 Results

Choi Just Two Strokes Out Of First At -3

By: Troy Andre, Associate SID

TEMPE, Ariz. – Colorado matched its first-day stroke total in Saturday's second round of the 2018 PING/ASU Invitational, but unfortunately that didn't equate to upward movement in the tournament's standings.

The No. 18 ranked Buffaloes carded a 7-over, 295, for the second-straight day on Arizona State's Karsten Golf Course, but slipped from sixth to ninth place after 36 holes (295-295—590).

Sophomore Robyn Choi shot a 3-under par 69 to lead Colorado and is tied for sixth overall with a two-day score of 141 (-3). She logged one of six rounds in the 60's on the day and sits only two strokes behind the tournament leader, Emma Broze of Oklahoma State.

No. 17 Oklahoma State is the leader after round two at 7-under par (569). The Cowgirls were 5-under for the day to take a three-stroke lead over No. 16 Washington (-4). TCU and Arizona are tied for third at 1-under.

Choi recorded her second career round in the 60s with a fantastic back nine. After playing even on the front, she had four birdies on the back. Similar to Friday's first round, Choi birdied three straight holes, touching all three par designations, only this time she went from long to short, knocking off a stroke at the 498-yard par-5 No. 10, before doing the same at the par-4 No. 11 and par-3 No. 12.

Battling a sore back, Choi played even from that point on, logging four consecutive pars before finishing with a birdie on the par-5 No. 17 and a bogey on the par-4 No. 18.

"Robyn played very solid," head coach Anne Kelly said. "She is showing her determination by playing through her back issues."

Freshman Elle Otten shook off the nerves of a tough first day, an 11-over par 83, to register the best round of her young career. Playing in just her fifth collegiate round, Otten shot an even-par 72, giving her Colorado's second-best score of the day. Otten fought off an early bogey with three consecutive birdies on the par-4 No. 4, par-5 No. 5 and par-3, No. 6. She started the back nine with a bogey, but put together six-straight pars and then capped it off with her fourth birdie of the day on No. 17. She is in 65^th place with a two-day total of 155.

"(Elle) made tremendous improvement in her mental approach to the round today," Kelly said. "She didn't let any nerves get to her and really played a solid round of golf."

Senior Brittany Fan finished her second round with a 4-over 76, and is tied for 34^th overall (148). She played even through the first five holes, but struggled on consecutive par-3's at No. 6 and No. 7 which left her at 3-over. Fan closed out the front nine with a birdie on the par-4 No. 9, but couldn't pick up any momentum from there, playing the back nine at 2-over par.

Sophomore Kirsty Hodgkins shot a 6-over 78 to put her in a tie for 36^th place after two rounds (149). Hodgkins had a pair of birdies on the front, both on par-4's at No. 2 and No. 9. She had a rough go down the stretch. Still at 1-over for the round after her third birdie of the day on No. 13, Hodgkins dropped four strokes on her final four holes to finish the day at 6-over.

Junior Gillian Vance, playing as an individual, turned in her best round of the spring shooting a 1-over 73. Vance had a terrific front nine – which was actually her back nine as she started the day at No. 10. She played the front at 2-under, shooting back-to-back birdies on the par-4 No. 4 and par-5 No. 5. She climbed up nine spots on the overall leaderboard, sitting in a three-way tie for 47^th with a 7-over 151.

Freshman Alisha Lau finished with a 7-over par 79, improving on her first round score by a stroke. Lau started strong with a birdie on the 350-yard par-4 No. 1 and played the front nine with a respectable 1-over. She struggled in the second half of her round though at 6-over on the back. Lau did manage a birdie on the 537-yard par-5 No. 17, the longest hole on the course. She enters Sunday's final round in a tie for 74^th place, at 15-over, 159.

"Tough day for the Buffs but on the bright side Elle and Gillian really came through with good rounds which was great to see," Kelly said. "Kristy, Brittany and Alisha unfortunately had a rough day, which was very frustrating for them and us as a team."

"The good news is that when they all come together it will be fun to see how well we can score. We will be ready to go tomorrow and hopefully move up in the standings."

NOTEWORTHY: Choi tops the tournament field on par-3's shooting 2-under through eight total holes. Her 69 trails only the 65 she shot in the second round of the Coeur D'Alene Collegiate in the fall in her young Buffs career…Otten improved her first round score by 11 strokes, the best one-day improvement for the Buffaloes this season. It matches Fan for the best one-round improvement this year. Fan shot a 78 in the final round of the Bruin Wave Invitational and came back one week later to open the Meadow Club Collegiate with a 67…Colorado is tied with Arizona for third on the par-3's this week playing at 11-over.

NEXT UP: Colorado will match up with Georgia and UNLV for Sunday's final round with the first groups set to tee off at 8:30 a.m. Mountain.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
T6.	Robyn Choi	72-69—141
T34.	Brittany Fan	72-76—148
T36.	Kirsty Hodgkins	71-78—149
T47.	*Gillian Vance	78-73—151
65.	Elle Otten	83-72—155
T74.	Alisha Lau	80-79—159
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
1.	Emma Broze, Oklahoma State	72-67—139
T2.	Greta Bruner, TCU	69-71—140
T2.	Wenyung Keh, Washington	73-67—140
T2.	Bianca Pagdanganan, Arizona	67-73—140
T2.	YuSang Hou, Arizona	68-72—140
TEAM SCORES
Rank	Team	Score
1.	Oklahoma State	286-283—569
2.	Washington	284-289—573
T3.	Arizona	285-290—575
T3.	TCU	289-286—575
5.	Oregon	297-281—578
6.	Arizona State	298-282—580
7.	Georgia	285-297—582
8.	UNLV	297-291—588
9.	Colorado	295-295—590
10.	Washington State	297-295—592
11.	Denver	302-298—600
12.	Fresno State	300-301—601
13.	New Mexico	305-299—604
14.	Iowa	304-303—607