Rella, Buffs Fifth At Dixie

Monday, April 4

St. George, Utah

All Day

Colorado

All Rounds

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

April 05, 2005 | Women's Golf

By: CUBuffs.com

ST. GEORGE, Utah ? Senior Allison Rella closed out the last regular season tournament of her career by shooting par to finish fifth as the University of Colorado women's golf team shaved 25 strokes from its first to second round 310 and with a two-round total 645 the Buffs improved one place to also finish fifth at the BYU Dixie Classic on the Entrada at Snow Canyon Golf Course here Tuesday.

The weather was much improved over Monday's first round that saw team scores average 50-over. Tuesday's average team score improved by 21 strokes for a 317 score while the players' average rounds went from 86.2 to 81 today.

Colorado's turnaround is the third highest in program history, trailing a 31-stroke improvement during the Kansas Sunflower Invitational (395-364) in 1994 and a 34-stroke effort during the 2001 Big 12 Championship (346-312).

Rella's finish ties a career best and her final round 72 tied a season low round for the senior, “This course played so hard. It was the last round of the regular season, so I was mentally very strong. I didn't hit my driver very well, but my putting was great today...I didn't have any three putts and I had four birdies, so I had a really solid short game...the best its ever been.”

While Rella shot par, Jess Ellis had the round of the day, as her first (96) to second (79) round 17 stroke improvement, moved the freshman up 11 places to finish 62nd, the strongest comeback by a Buff this season. Ellis opened 1-under, and continued to shoot par on three and birdie 7 to close out the front nine just 4-over. She shot par on 11 through 14, then closed out 17 and 18 par for her fourth lowest round of the season.

Hannah Hoch parred six holes on the front nine to finish 2-over and had bogeyed just two more before she bogeyed 16 and doubled 17 for a final 6-over effort on the day that was a five stroke improvement over Monday's round. Her 19th place finish is her ninth top-20 effort of the season, 15th of her career.

The team's low score after Monday, Jessie Malcolm finished with a share of 27th place with an 82-81-163 scorecard, the best finish of her three-year career. Maria Persson-Gulda rounded out CU's scoring, as she bettered Monday by seven strokes to card a final loop 81 to inch up from 51st to 49th place with a two-round total 169 in part to shooting par on six straight holes in the middle of her second round.

Playing as an individual, Lindsay Senger shot par on six of her opening nine holes, but it was the three triples over the remaining course of the round that she couldn't recover from and though she improved six strokes, fell two spots on the leaderboard to finish 70th with a 93-87-180 scorecard.

The Buffs will have the next 17 days to gear up for the ninth annual Big 12 Championships, held this year at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin, April 22-24. Head coach Anne Kelly is hoping that today's momentum will hold another two weeks.

“We've been traveling hard for five weeks, so we'll get back to Boulder, get rested and caught up on school. We'll concentrate on areas of our game that need worked on, which is different things for different people with the common denominator being our short game. Our chipping and putting will make us or break us in Austin.”

BYU DIXIE CLASSIC

Entrada at Snow Canyon (St. George, Utah)