Buffs Slip To 10th At Big 12 Championships

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 31 University of Colorado women's golf team improved its first round score by five strokes but slipped one spot and sits in 10th place through 36-holes after Saturday's second round here at the 2011 Big 12 Championships at the Club at Old Hawthorne.

In a see-saw day that saw the Buffs surge as high as fourth around the mid-point of the day, CU struggled a in the second half and finished with a 9-over par 297 and have a two-round total of 23-over par 599. No. 20 Texas leads the way and shot a 1-under par 287 for a two-round total of 7-over par 583. No. 15 Iowa State had the best second day, shooting a 3-under par 285 and is just two strokes behind the Longhorns at 9-over par 585. No. 27 Texas A&M and host Missouri are tied for fourth at 12-over par 588 while No. 46 Texas Tech rounds out the top five at 14-over par 588.

“Overall, we are just disappointed with our performance as a team,” Kelly said. “At this point, we are just hoping we can play well tomorrow and finish on a strong note and then hopefully prepare for the post season and regionals.”

The Buffs, who started on the No. 10 hole, were shooting around even par as a team through the majority of the first half of the round and at one point were in fourth place according to the live scoring. At or near the mid-point of the round, Junior Jess Wallace was 4-under par, junior Emily Talley was 1-under par, sophomore Taylor Doyle was 1-over par while both Jenny and Kristin Coleman sat at 3-over par.

“There are more scoring opportunities on the back nine, which we started off on today,” Kelly said. “We started off well and moved up the leader board and then we got a few double and triple bogeys that hurt us. One thing we talked about after today was if you get into trouble, try to get out of it with a bogey instead of pushing to make par and opening yourself up for worse.”

Wallace ended up shooting a 2-under par 70, matching the school record originally set by Allison Rella in 2004 for the best 18-hole score at a conference tournament in CU history. She is currently 1-under par 143 through two rounds, setting a new CU record by four strokes for best 36-hole score at a conference tournament, besting the 147 that Talley shot last year. She is in a six-way tie for second place.

“Jess had a really good front nine,” Kelly said. “And she didn't play bad on her back nine, she played well throughout, a 70 is a great score. I'm sure she thinks it should be better, but it was a solid round.”

Starting on the 10th hole, Wallace was as low as 4-under par through 10 holes before she bogeyed two holes in a span of four before playing even over the final three holes of the round. It marks her 10th round under par this season, breaking a tie with Talley this season for the most such rounds in a season at CU in program history. She also shot a 3-under 33 on her front nine, the back nine of the course, which is a CU record at a conference tournament and sixth best known score in any tournament for 9-holes.

“We started on the back nine, I came out and I came out and was hitting the ball how I wanted, just throwing darts,” Wallace said. “I had maybe had one putt outside 15 feet for birdie. I had some good birdies and could've made a few more, not that I was upset or anything.”

Talley shot 2-over par 74 and sits at 2-over par 146 and is tied for 10th. In the first round, she became the first player at CU to shoot more than one round at or under par at the conference tournament and her 146 through 36 holes is the second-best performance in school history behind Wallace's 143 and one ahead of the record she set last season of 147.

Talley hovered around par throughout her round, getting a birdie on her first hole and then getting five pars before a bogey on her seventh hole of the day, but she rebounded with a birdie on the next hole to remain at 1-under. After two bogeys in the first three holes after making the turn, she got a birdie to get back to even par, where she remained until bogeying the final two holes of the round.

Doyle shaved five strokes off her first round score, shooting a 3-over par 75 in the second round and moved from a tie for 57th to a tie for 48th at 11-over par 155. Doyle matched her best round score of the spring, which she also shot in the first round at the Buffs' MountainView Collegiate.

“Taylor did a lot better today, and that was with a double,” Kelly said. “Overall she played a lot better and I'm happy for her.”

Doyle got a quick birdie on her second hole of the day and used it to hover around par and after 10 holes she was 1-over. She had a double bogey on the Par 3 second hole, her 11th and responded to hold that score the rest of the round with one bogey and one birdie.

Jenny and Kristin Coleman swapped first round scores and both sit tied for 53rd at 13-over par 157. Jenny went 7-over par Saturday after shooting 6-over par on Friday while Kristin improved her round by a stroke, shooting 6-over in the second round after a 7-over performance in the first round.

Minus a triple-bogey on the par 4 14th, her five hole of the day, Kristin Coleman had a solid round with three birdies and six bogeys in the other 17 holes of her round. She was 2-over after 10 holes and had five bogeys and a birdie over her last eight holes to finish at 6-over.

Jenny Coleman had one birdie and one bogey through five holes before suffering a triple bogey of her own, on the Par 5 15th. She got a birdie two holes later but a bogey and double bogey in the next three holes put her at 5-over. She rebounded to par five of the last seven holes with two bogeys to finish at 7-over.

“Jenny and Kristin and all of us really are getting much needed experience in a big tournament, a big setting,” Kelly said. “There will be more good teams at a regional, but this is good experience being a little different kind of pressure. Everybody's working hard, hopefully we can finish this on a strong note and hopefully prepare for post season play.”

Texas' Madison Pressel leads the way and has a six-stroke lead for individual medalist entering the final round. She is at 7-under par after shooting a 6-under 66 in the second round. After her, there is a six-way tie for second place with no school represented by more than one golfer under par. Wallace is tied with Nebraska's Mary Kate Bird, Texas Tech's Deborah DeVilla, Baylor's Jaclyn Jansen, Texas A&M's Katerina Ruzickova and Iowa State's Prima Thammaraks at 1-under par.

The final Big 12 Championships that the Buffs will compete in prior to joining the Pac-12 next season will tee off in a shotgun start at 7 a.m. MT Sunday. The change in format of the final round is due another round of inclement weather expected to hit the area.

“Tomorrow we just need to go out and shoot the low round of the day,” Wallace said. “That's really the best way to look at it, if we do that we will move up, there is still a log jam of schools right above us. We know that have what it takes to shoot the low round of the entire tournament, we just have to go out and prove it.”

BUFFALOES INDIVIDUALS

Rk.	Team	Score
t-2.	Jessica Wallace	73-70—143
t-10.	Emily Talley	72-74—146
t-48.	Taylor Doyle	80-75—155
t-53.	Jenny Coleman	78-79—157
t-53.	Kristin Coleman	79-78—157

TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS

Rk.	Team	Score
1.	Madison Pressel, Texas	71-66—137
t-2.	Mary Kate Bird, Nebraska	74-69—143
t-2.	Deborad DeVilla, Texas Tech	71-72—143
t-2.	Jaclyn Jensen, Baylor	72-71—143
t-2.	Katerina Ruzickova, Texas A&M	71-72—143
t-2.	Prima Thammarraks, Iowa State	74-69—143
t-2.	Jess Wallace, Colorado	73-70-143

TEAM SCORES

Rk.	Team	Score
1.	Texas	296-287—583
2.	Iowa State	300-285—585
t-3.	Texas A&M	298-290—588
t-3.	Missouri	297-291—588
5.	Texas Tech	294-296—590
6.	Oklahoma	298-293—591
t-7.	Nebraska	297-298—595
t-7.	Baylor	301-294—595
9.	Oklahoma State	302-294—596
10.	Colorado	302-297—599
11.	Kansas	302-305—607
12.	Kansas State	309-303—612