Women's Golf in Second at SJSU Spartan Invite

Monday, March 5

San Jose, Calif.

All Day

Colorado

Rounds One/Two

March 05, 2007 | Women's Golf

By: Lindsay Lew, Associate SID

SAN JOSE, Calif. ? The University of Colorado women's golf team stormed out of the gate in the first round of play here Monday, then slipped a bit in the second round but have held on to second place at the San Jose State Spartan Invitational.

The Buffs led after one round with their first round total of 291, which was the second best single round score in school history. They were joined at the top of the leaderboard by hosts San Jose State. The Spartans then got better in round two with a 290, giving them a two round total of 581. Colorado faltered to a 301 in the second round and are 11 shots back of SJSU with a score of 592. In third is the University of California (595), followed by UC Irvine (598) and Hawai'i (602).

“Overall our short games were much, much better today than they have been this spring,” said CU head coach Anne Kelly. “They worked on their bunker play when we got here and it paid off today. I saw some good up and downs out of the bunker so that was encouraging to see their practice pay off. I'm little disappointed being 11 shots back. It was a hurdle that we overcame playing a more solid second round than we have lately, but we're not satisfied because we'd like to give San Jose State a run for their money.”

Colorado was led by sophomore Lindsay Caljouw and freshman Dominique Pytlewski, both of whom shot 147 through the first two rounds. Caljouw was tied for second place after one round after carding a two-under par 70, but had a tough start to her second round that led to her shooting a four-over 76 in the afternoon round. The 70 ties Caljouw's best collegiate round and it is also her best score of this year.

“Caljouw played really well in the first round,” said Kelly. “She was solid and hit a lot of greens. She made three or four birdies with good putts. She had a bad start to her second round, going birdie, bogey, par, double, double, and she was able to bring it back very well. I give her a lot of credit for that.”

Pytlewski was two-over in the morning with a 74, but she improved by a pair of strokes in her second round to shoot an even par 72. A week ago in Fresno she was the leader after one round with a 72, and she again ties her collegiate low round with her score today.

“The weather has been amazing and the course is in great shape,” said Pytlewski. “I made a lot more birdies than I normally do, so that really helped out. I was sticking it close a lot, especially on the second round. I missed five birdie chances in the second round that I had in the first place because of my iron play. I hit a fair amount of fairways and my short game was really good in the second round. I didn't miss hit the ball a lot and when I did I wouldn't really penalize myself for it because my short game was on. I wish I made a few more birdie putts but I gave myself the opportunities. Same game plan as the last tournament and leaving the woods in the bag and that's working for me.”

Just behind Caljouw and Pytlewski was freshman Julie Kim, who shot even par 72 in the morning round, her best round of the spring season thus far. Kim, along with Pytlewski and Christine Kim, form the sixth-ranked freshman class in the nation according to the Golfstat ratings. Julie Kim then shot 76 in the afternoon to give her a two-round total of 148.

In the fourth position was junior Lindsay Senger, who shot a 75 in the morning, her best score since October in New Mexico. She followed that up in the afternoon with a 77. Senger is part of the scoring team for the first time this spring and responded with two solid scores to keep the Buffs in the hunt with a 152 total. Rounding out the team was Christine Kim, who stumbled in the first round with an 81 but responded with a four stroke improvement to 77 for a total of 158.

“Christine brought it back on her second round and that was great improvement for her,” said Kelly. “Julie played solid. She had a few errant shots and a few three putts but she played well. I think we made 24 birdies as a team. Senger played well. She had a couple hiccups coming in on some putts that didn't fall but she birdied her 15th and 16th hole coming in. She was swinging well and hit it well today.”

Teams will tee off at 9 a.m. on Tuesday in the final round in a shotgun start, with CU paired with SJSU and Cal. Kelly hopes the Buffs can now rally and score well again in the third and final round of play by sticking to their game plan.

“Tomorrow the game plan is once again to focus on the process and not worrying about the outcome, making good decisions, making good swings and shots,” said Kelly. If we do that, we can let the results take care of themselves. If we eliminated a few mistakes we'd be in a better position tomorrow. It will take great play but we can make a run at San Jose State.”

San Jose State Spartan Invitational Tournament

Colorado

T4 Lindsay Caljouw....................... 70-76?147

T4. Dominique Pytlewski................... 74-72?147

T8. Julie Kim............................. 72-76?148

T28. Lindsay Senger ........................ 75-77?152

T53. Christine Kim......................... 81 -77?158

Team Scores

1. San Jose State........................ 291-290?581

2. Colorado.............................. 291-301?592

3. California............................ 298-297?595

4. UC ? Irvine........................... 297-301?598