Buffs Finish Ninth, Wallace Fourth, At Big 12s

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Junior Jess Wallace shot even par in the final round and set a few CU records along the way while the No. 31 University of Colorado women's golf improved one spot to finish ninth on the final day of the 2011 Big 12 Championships here Sunday at the Club at Old Hawthorne.

The Buffaloes shot a final day 16-over par 304 to finish with a three-day total of 39-over par 903. The event, featuring seven of the top 50 teams in the nation, saw No. 20 Texas win with a three-day total of 8-over par 872. No. 27 Texas A&M took second just three strokes back at 11-over par 875 while host Missouri took third at 16-over par 880. No. 15 Iowa State took fourth at 18-over par 882 and No. 28 Oklahoma rounded out the top five at 24-over par 888. Two of the other three teams ahead of the Buffaloes (No. 46 Texas Tech and No. 48 Oklahoma State) are also ranked in the top 50.

“Overall, this definitely wasn't our best event,” CU coach Anne Kelly said. “But we don't want to take that away from what we've done this year. You'll have a bad round or tournament here or there, we just need to move forward now.”

Wallace led the way for the Buffaloes, as the highest ranked player (No. 30 by golfstat) in the Big 12 finished with an even par 72 in the final round and a 54-hole score of 1-under par 215 to finish tied for fourth. She bested the previous 54-hole record for a conference championship by seven strokes and she became the first CU golfer to finish under par at the Big 12 Championships. The 54-hole score bested teammate Emily Talley's 222 that she shot last season and her fourth place finish matches Sarah Bellinger's accomplishments in 1999.

“Jess played well, and could've shot even lower but some of her putts didn't fall,” Kelly said. “Tied for fourth at the Big 12 Championships is really good, she continued her terrific season.”

Wallace started off well in her final round with a birdie on her second hole and then went to 2-under par six holes later before getting bogeys on two of her following three holes. She pared the last eight holes of the day to remain at even par. All three of her rounds (1-over par 73, 2-under par 70 and even par 72, respectively) rank in the top eight in CU history for conference championship.

“I started on the middle of the back nine and was hitting it well to start my round,” Wallace said. “I got a few birdies but then it got worse as the day wore on and by the end I was scrambling a little bit but able to hold on to par.”

Talley struggled with a final round 6-over par 78 to finish 8-over par 224 and tied for 23rd. It's her first finish outside the top 20 this season and halted her string of consecutive top 20 finishes at 15, a CU new record by nine events. She played even par for the first five holes and then had two double bogeys in a span of three holes, including the par 4 fourth, which she had birdied the first two rounds. Playing at 4-over par, she played even over the next six holes and then got two bogeys on the final four holes to finish at 6-over par.

Freshman Jenny Coleman rebounded to shoot a 1-over par 73 in the final round and finished at 14-over par 230. She moved up 10 spots in the final round to finish tied for 43rd. She started off well with a birdie on her first hole and then bogeyed three of her next four holes after making the turn back to the first tee. She rebounded with two birdies to close out the front nine and get back to even par and then played the last seven holes at 1-over with six pars and a bogey.

“Jenny played better today,” Kelly said. “It was nice to see her make a comeback.”

Freshman Kristin Coleman finished with a final round 9-over par 81 while sophomore Taylor Doyle finished the final round at 11-over par 83. Both finished tied for 54th with 54-hole totals of 22-over par 238. Doyle ran into some trouble on the front nine as she doubled bogeyed the fourth hole and then got an eight on the par 4 fifth hole. Playing those two holes at 6-over, she played the other 16 at 5-over including two birdies.

Texas' Madison Pressel took home individual medalist honors, shooting a final round 1-under par 71 to finish 8-under par 208 in the three rounds and win by five strokes. Josephine Janson from Oklahoma State and Texas A&M's Katerine Ruzickova tied for second at 3-under par 213 while Wallace and Iowa State's Victoria Stefansen, who shot a final round 68, matching the best round of the day, both finished tied for fourth at 1-under par 215.

The weather didn't affect the players, but it didn't help either. A mixture of cold and windy conditions with rain was prevalent throughout the day, but not as bad as the forecast had predicted.

“We were just happy to get it in,” Kelly said. “Compared to the forecast, it wasn't that bad, but in the middle of April when you're wearing ski caps and rain suits, it's not exactly ideal conditions.”

“It's more just annoying than affecting our play,” Wallace added. “It wasn't pounding rain, but it was consistent and just a nuisance. Having to have an umbrella and having to cover your clubs, but it wasn't where we were consciously thinking it would throw off our shot or anything.”

The Buffaloes will now wait just over 24 hours to find out if they've been selected to participate in the 2011 NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships. Selections will take place at 5 p.m. MT on Monday.

“This will drop us in the rankings, and we learned a lesson from the men's basketball team not to assume we will be selected, but we're hopefully that we're still solid for Regional's,” Kelly said. “The hurdle now if we're selected is that Regional's are right after finals, so we have to juggle academics and get them prepared for finals, but we also have to prepare for Regional's, so what practice time we do have needs to be quality time.”

Headed into the Big 12 Championships, the Buffs were ranked No. 30 by Golfweek and No. 31 by Golfstat while also receiving votes in the NGCA Coaches Top 25 poll (31st based on vote totals). A total of 72 teams are selected for the NCAA Regional's, 24 teams each at three sites and six individuals not on any of those teams. From each of the three Regional sites, the top eight teams and two individuals not on those teams will advance to NCAA Championships.

Regional sites for 2011 include Daytona Beach, Fla. (east) hosted by Stetson, Notre Dame, Ind. (central) hosted by Notre Dame and Seattle, Wash. (west) hosted by Washington. Each site will hold play May 5-7. NCAA Championships will be held May 18-21 in College Station, Texas, with Texas A&M serving as host.

“It's pretty much a mixture of studying and practicing,” Wallace said about balancing post season with finals. “It's tough having Regional's so close to finals, we definitely have some work to do both with school and golf, so we'll fit in as much practice as we can around finals, but we'll be able to balance it out for sure.”

The Buffs are set to host the western regional in 2012 at the Colorado National Golf Club in Erie.

BUFFALOES INDIVIDUALS

Rk.	Team	Score
t-4.	Jess Wallace	73-70-72—215
t-23.	Emily Talley	72-74-78—224
t-43.	Jenny Coleman	78-79-73—230
t-54.	Kristin Coleman	79-78-81—238
t-54.	Taylor Doyle	80-75-83—238

TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS

Rk.	Team	Score
1.	Madison Pressel, Texas	71-66-71—208
t-2.	Josephone Janson, Oklahoma State	73-71-69—213
t-2.	Katerina Ruzickova, Texas A&M	71-72-70—213
t-4.	Victoria Stefansen, Iowa State	75-72-68—215
t-4.	Jess Wallace, Colorado	73-70-72—215

TEAM SCORES

Rk.	Team	Score
1.	Texas	296-287-289—872
2.	Texas A&M	298-290-287—875
3.	Missouri	297-291-292—880
4.	Iowa State	300-285-297—882
5.	Oklahoma	298-293-297—888
6.	Texas Tech	294-296-299—889
7.	Oklahoma State	302-294-295—891
8.	Baylor	301-294-305—900
9.	Colorado	302-297-304—903
10.	Nebraska	297-298-314—909
11.	Kansas	302-305-304—911
12.	Kansas State	309-303-304—916