Nebraska Leads CU's MountainView Collegiate After Two Rounds

Saturday, March 24

Tucson, Ariz.

All Day

Colorado

Rounds One/Two

Women's Golf Sixth at Fresno State Invite

Nebraska Leads CU's MountainView Collegiate After Two Rounds

March 24, 2007 | Women's Golf

By: Lindsay Lew, Associate SID

CATALINA, Ariz. ? The University of Nebraska leads the University of Colorado MountainView Collegiate after two rounds of play with a scorching total of 572 on a sunny and temperate day here Saturday.

Nebraska led after the first round after shooting a blistering 287, giving them a four shot lead over Iowa State (291) and five shots over Baylor (292). Northwestern was in fourth (294) followed by a three way tie for fifth between Colorado, Denver and Wisconsin (295).

The Huskers kept up their pace in the second round, shooting 285. They hold a 10 shot lead over Northwestern (582), followed by Baylor (583), Indiana (584) and Iowa State rounding out the top five (585). Just 12 shots separate second through 12th place in the tournament, with four shots between the second and fourth place teams. Nebraska's 572 smashed the school 36-hole record by 10 strokes on Saturday. The previous NU best was 582 (297-285) at the 1998 Chip-N Club Invitational in Lincoln (Sept. 14). The 285 matched the school record for 18-hole team score, accomplished on two previous occasions, most recently at the Marilyn Smith/Sunflower Invitational in 2005.

In the individual standings, two golfers are tied for first. Elaine Harris of Indiana leads with a total of 139 after her 70-69 scores, and she is joined by Oklahoma individual Kendall Dye, who went 71-68 for 139. Following them closely is Liliana Alvarez of Northwestern (72-68-140) and a three-way tie for fourth between Ashley Bauer of Michigan, Allison Martin of Baylor and Katie Kempter of Denver, all with three-under 141.

The day didn't go as planned for the host team Colorado, as the Buffs went from fifth place after the first round to 12th after the second round. The Buffs opened with a solid 295, but dropped four more strokes to a 299 in the second for a total of 594.

“We need to do better tomorrow” said head coach Anne Kelly. “We had some great scores today so I'm excited about that, but this is golf and days like these happen and we're determined to go out and make a big comeback tomorrow. I think basically we have a tendency to try too hard, so tomorrow we need to find that zone where we are determined and focused on what we're doing but not thinking about the end result and focusing on the shot at hand.”

Julie Kim (72-72) and Lindsay Caljouw (70-74) paced the Buffaloes as both are tied for 10th place with an even par 144.

“My putting went well for me today,” said Kim, whose mother and brother are visiting from British Columbia to watch her play. “I had a lot of up and downs and I'm happy about that. The course is pretty tough because it's narrow, but the greens are easy to control and that's why my putting was effective. Tomorrow we just have to make pars and not get greedy. If you get greedy here you can miss right or left and get into trouble. So tomorrow I'm going to do more of the same.”

“My driver was amazing all day today and my putting was serviceable,” said Caljouw. “My first round was a pretty boring 70. I had two birdies and a bogey on each side and I didn't really get on a roll. So I decided to make it a little more fun and knocked out three straight birdies on five six and seven and then the wheels came off for a bit. I got a little scared. On the back I just got back to par golf and coasted in from there. Pretty much I have a clean slate. I'm even after two and go out and play one shot at a time and play smart. But I've got more birdies in the bag for tomorrow.”

From there the Buffs saw some drop off, as Lindsay Senger shot 74-76-150 to tie for 51st place and Christine Kim was tied for 80th after her 79-77-156 day. Freshman Dominique Pytlewski struggled to a 81-78-159 and 87th place.

CU also had two individuals competing, both of whom put up respectable efforts. Senior Hannah Hoch is in a tie for 35th after a 73-75-148 effort, while Koth is in a tie for 51st with a 78-72-150.

“I hit the ball great today and if my short game were a little better I would have scored lower,” said Hoch. “The course is in good shape even with the recent rain we got, and it's ready for some good low scores tomorrow.”

The teams will tee off in a shotgun start at 8 a.m. in the third and final round of the MountainView Collegiate. For pairings and results, please visit www.cubuffs.com.