Golfers In 16th After Day One Of PING/ASU Invite

TEMPE ? The University of Colorado women's golf team got off to a rocky start in the prestigious PING/ASU Invitational and are currently in 16th place after an opening round 310 here Friday.

Leading the tournament is 12th-ranked Purdue (293), followed by No. 2 Arizona State (294), No. 1 UCLA (297), No. 4 USC (297) and No. 5 Oklahoma State (297). New Mexico's Jodi Ewart and USC's Jennifer Song lead the individual field after carding a two-under 70 in round one.

“This is definitely, by far, the best field of the year and the best field that we've probably ever played in,” said head coach Anne Kelly. “I think that everyone is just frustrated. I'm frustrated for them because I know how hard they're trying and we just keep making 2-3 little mental mistakes per player, per round which is just hurting our score. The wind picked up on the back nine and continued to blow hard which made it tough for everyone in the field and definitely made the course play more difficult.”

Juniors Julie Kim and Christine Kim led the way for the Buffaloes in the first round with five-over 77's. Before an unfortunate triple-bogey on her final hole of the day, Julie Kim was two-over and on her way to a top-20 finish after round one. After 18 holes, the two are currently tied for 45th individually.

“I had trouble trying not to think about the field and put any expectations and pressure on myself just because it was so much stronger,” said Julie Kim. “I tried to think that it was just another tournament and focus more on every shot at that moment like we've talked about as a team. It was getting really windy towards the end and I shot into the water on 18. Other than that I was hitting really well today, and when it got windier I was trying to hang in there but it didn't work on the last hole.”

“Julie was playing really solid today and I don't think that she had very many birdies,” said Kelly. “It's tough to compete in this field when you don't make any birdies to make up for the mistakes.”

Sophomore Stephanie Simich and freshman Emily Talley follow the Kim's by a stroke and are tied for 56th after they each carded a first-round score of 78. Simich, only one of two Buffs to card a birdie on the day, played a rather strong opening round but a couple of little mistakes landed her pushed her back in the individual standings.

Junior Dominique Pytlewski rounded out the scoring for the Buffaloes and is currently tied for 81st.

“The mistakes that we were making were simple, mental, lack of focus mistakes,” added Kelly. “You're going to make bogeys out here but you have to take advantage of the opportunities for birdies.

“We're very close. It's definitely great for us to play against these top-ranked teams because it shows you the standard of where we need to be. It's not that they swing better or strike the ball better, but they make fewer mistakes and take advantage of the birdie opportunities when they're there. I am not mad or frustrated at them, but just frustrated for all of us because I think we're a lot better than how we're playing right now.”

Play will continue in the PING/ASU Invitational on Saturday with another 18 holes, with teams teeing off at 8 a.m. The final round will get underway at 8 a.m. Sunday morning. Fans can follow the action on www.golfstat.com.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T45 Christine Kim 77

T45 Julie Kim 77

T56 Stephanie Simich 78

T56 Emily Talley 78

T81 Dominique Pytlewski 81

TEAM STANDINGS

1 Purdue (12) 293

2 Arizona State (2) 294

T3 UCLA (1) 297

T3 Southern California (4) 297

T3 Oklahoma State (5) 297