Colorado University Athletics
W-Golf Struggles At Big 12s
April 21, 2003 | Women's Golf
Columbia, Mo. - After an initial round 332, the Colorado women's golf team is in 12th at the seventh annual Big 12 Championships, but a closer look at the tournament wide team and individual scores shows that the rest of the field suffered a similar first day fate on the 6,008-yard Country Club of Missouri course here Monday.
Host Missouri is leading the annual with a 16-over-par team score of 304 and three strokes separate the Tigers from Texas (307) and another two from two-time defending champion Oklahoma State (309). Nebraska (311) is in fourth, followed by Kansas State (312) and Oklahoma (314). Oklahoma State's Christi Cano sits atop the individual leader board with a 1-over 73. Mindy Bullard of Missouri and Nebraska's Sarah Sasse, the top player in the league heading into these championships with a 73.81 strokes per average, are tied for second with a first round 74.
Today's scores marked the first time since the 1997 championship in Lawrence, Kan., that not one opening round team score dipped below the 300 mark and just the fourth time in the history of the tournament that the individual leader hasn't carded par or better following the first loop.
"All of the scores were fairly high today," said head coach Anne Kelly. "The scores aren't bad, they're just not what a league of this caliber is accustomed to seeing. And we're no different. We had to count a couple of high scores that we weren't expecting today. "
Buff sophomore Allison Rella was Kelly's low score Monday with an 8-over-par 80, as she carded three double-bogies and had a hard time getting her driver in the right position according to Kelly. She is sitting in one of the largest log-jams of the first round as she is in an eight-way share of 25th following her lowest score in nine tournament rounds.
Three-year league championship veteran Erin Kerr "didn't hit her irons very well" and three-putted four holes, and without a birdie on her scorecard to make up the difference, is in the tournament's second eight-way share, in 32rd after a first round 81.
In her first postseason tournament, freshman Maria Persson Gulda struggled, and couldn't recover from, a few bad holes and shot an 84, her second highest round of the season, highest of the spring.
A stroke separates Joey Stetser (87), who rounded out CU's scorecard, and Jolene Fellhauer (88) as Stetser is in 56th place and Fellhauer alone in 58th.
The championships' second round tees off at 8 a.m. Tuesday off #1 and #10. The Buffs will be playing with Iowa State and Texas Tech, which shot 326 and 329 and are in 10th and 11th after today's rounds, respectively.
"We're pretty frustrated and have to find a way to make a comeback," concluded Kelly.
BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP (Columbia, Mo.) TEAM SCORES 1. Missouri 304 2. Texas 307 3. Oklahoma State 309 4. Nebraska 311 5. Kansas State 312 6. Oklahoma 314 7. Baylor 321 7. Texas A&M 321 9. Kansas 325 10. Iowa State 326 11. Texas Tech 329 12. COLORADO 332 COLORADO PLAYERS t-25. Allison Rella 80 t-33. Erin Kerr 81 t-48. Maria Persson Gulda 84 t-56. Joey Stetser 87 t-58. Jolene Fellhauer 88
