Colorado
Round One
Golfers In 19th After First Day Of Regionals
May 07, 2009 | Women's Golf
TEMPE, Ariz. ? With its first-ever NCAA round completed and the initial nerves out of their system, the University of Colorado women's golf team is currently in 19th place after day one of the NCAA Western Regionals here Thursday.
No. 1 Arizona State had the best day of any team on its home course, posting a 15-under par 273 team score to enter round two with a 15-stroke lead over No. 22 Arizona, No. 45 Texas and No. 39 Texas A&M, who are all tied for second place with round one team scores of 288.
Colorado, ranked No. 44, posted a 21-over par team score of 309 and finished the day in 19th place. Temperatures as hot as 107 degrees made the already tough 6,230-yard, par-72 Karsten Golf Course that much more difficult.
“I think nerves really came into play here today in the first round,” said head coach Anne Kelly. “A couple of them didn't get out to a great start either due to nerves or not being able to deal with the heat very well. Either way I was a good experience for the team.”
The top-eight teams out of 21 competing here in the Western Regional will join eight from both the Central and the East regionals to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals.
Freshman Emily Talley led the way for Colorado in the first round, as she shot a 3-over 75. Talley recorded a team-high three birdies on the day and will enter round two tied for 54th place individually.
“I felt like I was striking the ball well today, but I missed some birdie opportunities that could have definitely helped me a lot,” said Talley. “It's hard going into a tournament when you see the first fleet of teams coming off the course with scorecards practically all in the 60's. It shows the caliber of teams that we're facing and what we need to be shooting to compete with them.”
Junior Christine Kim also played a solid first round for the Buffaloes, recording a 4-over 76 on day one and sits in a tie for 67th place. Kim, who started out with a double on her second hole, rebounded with two birdies over the next four holes and managed to play her front nine at 1-over. Despite a lack of birdies on her back nine, Kim still managed to finish strong on her back nine and played a team-high 11 holes to par.
Fellow junior Julie Kim followed right behind and finished with a 5-over par 77 scorecard, good for an 80th place tie individually. Sophomore Stephanie Simich and junior Dominique Pytlewski rounded out the scoring for the Buffs.
“(Emily) Talley played a pretty solid round of golf today,” added Kelly. “She had a couple disappointing bogeys but she really hung in there. Christine (Kim) and Stephanie (Simich) both got off to tough starts today, but rebounded well on the back nine and Christine parred the last few holes which were playing very tough.”
Southern California's Belen Mozo, ranked tenth in the country, carded a 6-under 66 to take the individual lead, as she owns just a 1-stroke lead over UC Irvine's Jane Chin, who is currently ranked No. 1 individually in the nation.
The second round is scheduled for Friday and while the temperatures are expected to be the same, Colorado will be looking move up in the standings and set things up for a top-eight finish, with its sights set on advancing to the NCAA Finals. The Buffs will tee off at 8 a.m. MDT and live results can be found at www.golfstat.com.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
T54 Emily Talley 75
T67 Christine Kim 76
T81 Julie Kim 77
T99 Stephanie Simich 81
108 Dominique Pytlewski 89
TEAM STANDINGS
1 Arizona State 273
T2 Arizona 288
T2 Texas 288
T2 Texas A&M 288
T5 Arkansas 289
T5 TCU 289
T5 UC Irvine 289
T5 USC 289
9 California 291
T10 San Francisco 294
T10 Pepperdine 294
12 LSU 295
T13 San Jose State 299
T13 UNLV 299
T13 Northern Ariz. 299
T13 Long Beach St. 299
T13 Oregon 299
T13 Baylor 299
19 Colorado 309
20 Oral Roberts 312
21 Texas A&M-CC 315
TOP-FOUR INDIVIDUALS
1 Belen Mozo, USC 66
T2 Jane Chin, UC Irvine 67
T2 Carlota Ciganda, Arizona State 67
T4 Allison Goodman, California 68
T4 Juliana Murcia, Arizona State 68
Players Mentioned
