Women's Golf Finishes 10th in New Mexico Invitational

Sunday, September 20

Albuquerque, N.M.

All Day

Colorado

Round Three

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

Women's Golf Finishes 10th in New Mexico Invitational

September 20, 2009 | Women's Golf

By: Allie Musso, Assistant SID

ALBUQUERQUE - The University of Colorado women's golf team made a strong team comeback in the final two rounds here at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, and wrapped up the tournament with a 10th place finish.

"Our team made a pretty amazing comeback yesterday in the second round and they certainly kept it going today," said head coach Anne Kelly. "I'm really proud of them for stepping up like that and the thing that I like the most is that they're still not satisfied with how they played today. That really shows the amount of heart this team has and they're really getting ready to start doing good things."

Pepperdine, ranked 14th in the country, led wire to wire and closed the weekend out with a tournament-low 284 (-8) in the final round and cruised to a seven-stroke victory over No. 24 New Mexico. Pepperdine finished with an 859 total, while New Mexico was the only other team to dip under par with a 10-under 866. UNLV (883) and TCU (883) tied for third, with Oregon (885) close behind to round out the top-five teams.

"This was a really great field," added Kelly. "There are a lot of top teams here and making the kind of comeback they made the last two rounds, in this top-notch field, really shows how they played with a lot of heart and guts and I'm proud of them. But, we still have a lot of work to do."

CU sophomore Emily Talley just barely missed the top-20 as she carded a 1-over 74 in the final round, giving her a team-low 223 total, good for 22nd individually. Talley continues to demonstrate consistency the past two tournaments, finishing the day with a very clean scorecard, playing 13 holes to par, with two birdies and just a trio of bogeys.

"I think that we just needed to get over that bump of our first round and we showed our ability to come back," said Talley. "I think that kind of movement will get us motivated for the next few tournaments. We went from being in last place to the middle of the pack and that's a huge difference in a field like this."

Senior Christine Kim matched Talley's third-round score and finished just three strokes behind her teammate, as she turned in a 77-75-74-226 scorecard. Kim, who was as low as 2-under in her final round, showed steady improvement and wrapped up the weekend with a 35th place finish.

Fellow senior Dominique Pytlewski, who was even through 16 holes in round three, struggled on her final two holes with a pair of bogeys and carded a third-round score of 75. Pytlewski posted a 227 total, and finished tied for 45th.

Sophomore transfer Meaghan Kari (79-76-74-229) and red-shirt freshman Taylor Doyle (77-80-87-244) rounded out the scoring for the Buffaloes. Kari, who finished tied for 54th, shot her best round of the weekend in the final round and she was one pace to finish 1-under before an unfortunate double-bogey carded towards the end of her round.

Senior Julie Kim, who played as an individual for Colorado, laid claim to a 79-78-77-234 scorecard, good for 76th individually.

"We've played three tournaments in a two-week stretch, which is a lot of golf," said Kelly. "I think we have a good plan of what we need to work on now as we prepare for our home tournament."

Colorado showed significant improvement on the weekend and finished just 27-over par, with 18 of those over-par strokes recorded in the first round alone. The Buffs will now have almost two weeks off before they return to tournament action at their home course, Colorado National Golf Club, where CU will play host to its own Heather Farr/CU Memorial on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 5-6.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

T22 Emily Talley 78-71-74-223

T35 Christine Kim 77-75-74-226

T45 Dominique Pytlewski 78-74-75-227

T54 Meaghan Kari 79-76-74-229

T94 Taylor Doyle 77-80-87-244

T76 Julie Kim (I) 79-78-77-234

TEAM STANDINGS

1 Pepperdine 288-287-284 -859

2 New Mexico 294-286-286 -866

T3 UNLV 291-292-300 -883

T3 TCU 291-291-301 -883