W-Golf Finishes 13th At Spartan Invite

SALINAS, Calif. ? In their toughest field on the 2004-05 schedule, the University of Colorado women's golf team continued to struggle here Wednesday at the Spartan Invitational, firing a third and final round 305 to finish 13th with a 319-299-305-923 on the Corral de Tierra Country Club course here Wednesday.

“This was the toughest field that we'll face all year, so you can't start with the kind of first round that we did. We really shot ourselves in the foot, but came back with a much improved second round,” said head coach Anne Kelly.

Defending national champion and sixth-ranked UCLA held on to its second round lead to win their second straight Spartan Invitational with a 16-over par 868, a two stroke lead over fifth-ranked Washington in the 15-team field. UC-Irvine (878) leapfrogged both Cal and UNLV to take over third place.

Cal's Sofie Andersson also maintained her lead in the individual race after Tuesday's first two rounds, and shot a 7-under 68-67-71-206 for a five stroke win over UNLV's Elena Kurokawa (67-73-71-211). UCLA's Susie Mathews carded an even par 75-70-68-213.

Senior Allison Rella continued to play the leadership role, carding a team tournament and personal season low 1-over par 72 in Wednesday's final loop. With a three-round 226 total and a 31st place finish, Rella is CU's low tournament score for just the second time this season and first since the Heather Farr Memorial in October.

“Alli played a very solid round of golf today,” complimented Kelly. “Hannah played a smart, consistent round, but couldn't buy a putt while Maria's game continues to get better.”

Sophomore Hannah Hoch carded a final round 76, as did teammate Maria Persson-Gulda. Hoch closed out the 54 hole challenge with a 230 and share of 43rd place, while Persson-Gulda inched up three places on the final leaderboard to 45th one stroke behind at 231.

“Jess was the victim of a bad stretch,” explained Kelly. Jess Ellis couldn't overcome a double on 2 and bogeyed the next five holes before closing out strong by hitting par on 8 and 9. She finished in 57th place with a three-round 237 while Jessie Malcolm's final loop 83 dropped her from 63rd after Tuesday's second round to 68th Wednesday with a 244 scorecard.

“We need to learn how to overcome our nerves, or fears, or whatever gets us, and we did that in yesterday's second round. We need to learn that if you have one bad hole that's okay, but to have a string of bad holes isn't. Every tournament you learn something,” added Kelly.

The Buffs will have less than a week to regroup as they return to the left coast a week from today for the Anteater Invitational on the Coto DeCaza Golf Course in Irvine, Calif.

SJSU SPARTAN INVITATIONAL

Corral de Tierra CC (Salinas, Calif.)

TEAM SCORES

1 UCLA ................... 298-281-289 868

2 Washington............ 293-287-290- 870

3 UC ? Irvine............. 295-293-290- 878

4 UNLV..................... 292-294-298- 884

4 California............... 294-291-299- 884

6 New Mexico State... 301-305-293- 899

6 Brigham Young...... 299-305-295- 899

8 San Francisco........ 307-299-300- 906

9 Colorado State....... 308-302-299- 909

10 Fresno State.......... 303-305-304- 912

11 Hawaii................... 304-307-304- 915

12 San Jose State....... 311-299-308- 918

13 COLORADO.......... 319-299-305- 923

14 Santa Clara............ 323-328-316- 967

15 CSU-Monterey Bay 332-335-338- 1005

COLORADO PLAYERS

t31. Allison Rella........... 79-75-72- 226

t43. Hannah Hoch......... 79-75-76- 230

t45. Maria Persson-Gulda83-72-76- 231

57. Jessica Ellis........... 78-78-81- 237

68. Jessie Malcolm 84-77-83- 244

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jess Ellis

Hannah Hoch

Jessie Malcolm

Maria Persson-Gulda

Allison Rella

Colorado University Athletics