Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Round Three
Golfers Finish 15th In PING/ASU Invite
April 05, 2009 | Women's Golf
TEMPE ? The University of Colorado women's golf team managed to moved up a notch into a 15th place finish here Sunday in the PING/ASU Invitational, the final tune-up before the Big 12 Conference Championships at the end of the month.
No. 5 Oklahoma State made a late jump into first place as the Cowgirls put a tournament low one-over 289 score up in the final round to come from seven strokes down in defeating No. 12 Purdue and host school Arizona State. Purdue finished with an 882 score, one behind OSU, as both defeated second-ranked ASU (886).
Colorado, the No. 42 team in the latest rankings, shot its best round of the prestigious tournament with a 307 Sunday, which moved the Buffaloes into a 15th place finish with a 931 total. There were 17 teams in the field, including seven in the top-15 and 15 in the top-50, one of the strongest collegiate fields of the year.
Junior Dominique Pytlewski shook off a brief slump after the first two rounds and fired a one-under 71 for a 231 total and finished in a tie for 44th place individually. She had a team-best four birdies in her final round, the most by any Buff in the 15 rounds played here. Unable to record a single birdie in her first two rounds, Pytlewski took control of her game in round three, shaving off 10 strokes and jumping up 46 spots in the standings after her opening round.
“Yesterday after the round I worked with (Asst. Coach) Brent a little bit and hit flop shots and that really helped with my chipping and helped me a lot with my swing. I realized that I needed to keep a little more open coming back and that made me hit higher shots coming up to the green. I hit a lot better and closer today and I actually made putts. My short game was night and day better than yesterday. I started the day off with a birdie, my first of the tournament, so I immediately felt like it was going to be a good day.”
Freshman Emily Talley, CU's leader after day two, followed Pytlewski by a stroke and tied for 53rd after carding a 78 in round three. Talley was two-over after nine holes, but a string of bogeys on the back nine set her back a few strokes and kept her from making a bigger jump in the individual standings.
“Once again Domi showed how competitive she is and she played a really great round today,” said Kelly. “Both Talley and Christine (Kim) were playing pretty well but they both had a couple of bad holes that hurt them. Christine had a triple on one hole but held pretty steady throughout the round and definitely made a good comeback today.”
The trio of Julie Kim (81?236), Christine Kim (77?243), and Stephanie Simich (89?248) rounded out the action for the Buffaloes here Sunday.
“We actually got off to a pretty good start today,” said head coach Anne Kelly. “We had a couple of players under par for a majority of the round. It's definitely a difficult golf course and this experience will hopefully help prepare us for the Big 12 Tournament.”
“We really wanted to do well in this tournament, but at the same time we knew that it wasn't going to be easy,” added Pytlewski. “We just wanted to be able to take something from this experience and learn from playing on a course that was in such great condition with fast greens, much like what we're expecting at Big 12's. It was definitely good practice and preparation for us.”
CU will now have a little over two weeks to prepare for the Big 12 Conference Tournament, which will be held in Lubbock, Texas on April 23-25.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
T44 Dominique Pytlewski 81-79-71?231
T53 Emily Talley 78-76-78?232
T68 Julie Kim 77-78-81?236
T78 Christine Kim 77-89-77?243
T86 Stephanie Simich 78-81-89?248
TEAM STANDINGS
1 Oklahoma State (5) 297-295-289?881
2 Purdue (12) 293-297-292?882
3 Arizona State (2) 294-291-301?886
4 Southern California (4) 297-296-298?891
5 New Mexico (28) 298-303-292?893
6 UCLA (1) 297-300-300?897
7 Arizona (27) 299-303-296?898
8 Pepperdine (14) 303-302-302?907
9 Denver (20) 301-306-303?910
T10 Vanderbilt (15) 306-307-304?917
T10 Stanford (25) 302-308-307?917
12 Tulsa 305-313-301?919
13 California (17) 308-307-307?922
14 Texas A&M (39) 311-306-309?926
15 Colorado (42) 310-314-307?931
16 UCF 308-319-309?936
17 Oregon (36) 300-322-319?941
