Nebraska Claims Title at MountainView Collegiate

Sunday, March 25

Tucson, Ariz.

All Day

Colorado

Round Three

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

March 25, 2007 | Women's Golf

By: Lindsay Lew, Associate SID

CATALINA, Ariz. ? The University of Nebraska held on for a four-shot victory here in the final round of the MountainView Collegiate on Sunday afternoon. Nebraska's three round total of 266 bested Northwestern's 270 to win the ninth annual event.

NU led from wire to wire with their 287-285-294-866 total, while the Wildcats of Northwestern moved from fourth after the first round to second place with their 294-288-288-870. Indiana was third with an 873, followed by Missouri and Kansas tying for fourth shooting 874.

In the individual race, Indiana's Elaine Harris was a two shot winner over Oklahoma individual Kendall Dye. The pair were tied after the first round with a score of 139, but Harris prevailed with a 70, her third straight under par round of the tournament and a record-tying 209. Dye shot 71 to give her a 210 and a scorecard playoff gave her second place. Also shooting 210 were Katie Kempter of Denver and Liliana Alvarez of Northwestern.

It was not the moving day that the host Colorado Buffaloes were hoping for, as a great start had the Buffs as low as two-under as a team for the round through 11 holes, but they faltered down the stretch and finished with a team total of 296 and an 890 for the tournament and an 11th place finish.

The shining star for the Buffaloes was freshman Julie Kim, who shot 72-72-71-215 for seventh place. It marks her best collegiate effort in the scoring column and is her second-straight top 10 finish. Her score of 215 is one off the school scoring record set by teammate Lindsay Senger earlier this year (214) at the Ptarmigan Ram Invitational.

“Today nothing was really working for me I was hitting it really bad. My driver was either right or left every single hole but my putting was really good. I got up and down a lot and I was hanging in there. (Assistant coach) Brent (Franklin) said to wait for the birdies to come and I was waiting for birdies and it came on the back nine. On number 15, my third hole, I was in the hazard off the tee and I had a 30 footer to save par and I made it so that was like, ?Okay, something is working for me I can hang in there.'”

Next in the standings was Senger, who took 32nd after shooting a final round 72 and a three round total of 222 for the tournament. She was joined by Lindsay Caljouw, who started the day at even par but shot 78 for her final round and also a total of 222.

“I think I'm focusing more on one shot at a time instead of trying to shoot a score from my first shot of the day I just focus shot by shot and be patient with the day because every round is fairly long so I finally got it to happen again. I struck the ball really well today and I got up and down everytime I missed the green. I struggled with my putter. I had probably seven or eight birdie putts and I didn't make even one of them. This next week I will be spending numerous hours on the putting green.”

Freshmen Dominique Pytlewski and Christine Kim tied for 77th place in the standings. Pytlewski had her best round of the weekend with a 75, while Kim shot 78 on the day. They finished with a three round total of 234.

Colorado had two individuals competing on the weekend. Senior Hannah Hoch fired a final round 75 to finish with a 223 total and a tie for 41st. Classmate Lindsay Koth finished in a tie for 75th with a total of 232.

The Buffaloes will return to action on Monday, April 2 at the BYU Dixie Classic in St. George, Utah. That will be their final event before the Big 12 Championships in Waco, Texas.