Buffs Jump To Sixth At Northrop Grumman

PALOS VERDES, Calif.—Senior Emily Talley was one of just six players in the field under par and the No. 23 University of Colorado women's golf shot the fourth best team round of the day to move from 11th into a tie for sixth after two rounds here at the 2012 Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge. The Buffs shot a collective 11-over par 295 are tied for sixth at 30-over par 598 on the par 71, 5,912 Palos Verdes Golf Club.

“It was a better day,” CU coach Anne Kelly said. “We just made fewer mistakes and converted more birdie opportunities. We have a good team and they're good players. We still need to make fewer mistakes and better decisions. But I'm proud of them, we fought hard today and moved ourselves up. It's a very good field, and the hole locations were quite difficult today, so they should feel good about what they accomplished today and hopefully we can do it again tomorrow.”

Top ranked UCLA shot 2-over par 286 in the second round and sit 2-over 570 through two rounds, holding a commanding 18-stroke lead. No. 4 Southern California is second at 20-over par 588 after shooting 7-over in the second round, while No. 34 Pepperdine is third at 24-over par 592 after shooting 8-over. No. 18 Duke is fourth at 26-over par 594 after a second round score of 18-over and No. 8 Arizona State rounds out the top five at 29-over par 597, matching the Buffs second-round performance of 11-over.

CU is tied with host and 12th-ranked Ohio State in sixth at 30-over par 598 after the Buckeyes shot a second-round 18-over par 302. The Buffs surge is even more impressive given the strength of the field. All 15 teams here are ranked in the No. 43 nationally and CU is now ahead of three teams ranked higher than they are in No. 14 Florida (12th), No. 19 Oregon (ninth) and No. 21 UC Davis (13th). CU is tied with No. 12 Ohio State and of the teams ahead of the Buffs, only Pepperdine at No. 34 is ranked lower.

“Overall, everybody is hitting their stride, which is good,” Talley said. “Making up that much ground in one day is good to see. We always tell ourselves we can all play well and move up and it doesn't always happen. Today we didn't all play fantastic, but we weren't terrible and made a little bit of a comeback.”

Talley's second round 70, or 1-under par, was tied for the fourth-best round of the day in the field and was one of just six scores under par. Talley, ranked the No. 72 player in the nation by Golfstat, was behind only No. 8 Caroline Powers of Michigan State (3-under 68) and No. 5 Erynne Lee of UCLA and No. 13 Giulia Molinario of Arizona State, who both shot 2-under 69.

“It was a much better experience today than yesterday overall,” Talley said. “I made more putts and birdies and didn't have any terrible holes. That was my first round under par and it feels good. I think I'm making better decisions. When I have a tweener hole, I can see myself pulling off a shot, where a couple of years ago I don't think I was doing that. I have to be 100 percent and trust it and it's good.”

Starting on the back nine, Talley had a bogey on her first hole to sit at 1-over par and then after six pars she birdied the Par 5 No. 16 to get back to even par, only to bogey the Par 4 No. 18 two holes later. Once she made the turn, she caught fire, shooting 2-under with birdies on the Nos. 6 and 9, her final hole of the day.

“I hit the back of the cup on the last hole,” Talley said. “If I had missed the cup, I would've blown by it, but the second I hit it I knew it was in, I walked off. My parents were here and coach saw that.”

It's her first subpar round of the season and 19th of her career. She now has six more subpar rounds than any other golfer in CU history. She is also the first CU golfer in program history to go under par on a Par 71 course. Her 33 on the front nine, her back nine, matches the sixth-best total in program history and is one off her personal best.

“I made more putts today, had a few fist pumps, it was fun,” Talley said. “I don't always do well on first and last holes when there's nerves and people watching. It was good to end today on a good note, it feels good to contain nerves and emotions and hit three good shots in a row on a par 4 for the good finish.”

She moved up 34 spots from a tie for 54th to a tie for 20th at 6-over par 148 through two rounds. Classmate Jessica Wallace is also tied for 20th after she shot 3-over par 74 for the second straight round. Wallace had one birdie and four bogeys with 13 pars to turn in a more consistent score card than her first round, when she had four birdies, five bogeys and a double bogey with eight pars.

Sophomore Alex Stewart had the second best round of the day for the Buffaloes at 2-over par 73 and she sits tied for 32nd, one stroke behind Talley and Wallace at 8-over par 150. She played between even par and 1-over par her entire round and after she got back to even par with a birdie on the Par 5 No. 7, her 16th hole of the day, she got a double bogey on the next hole and finished at 2-over par.

“Jess had good ball striking and had several birdie opportunities and didn't convert all of them, but overall was very consistent in her round today,” Kelly said. “Alex was playing really strong and she was even par and had an unfortunate kick on a short par 3. She played a very good round of golf, just had one bad hole, but played quite well otherwise.”

Sophomores Jenny and Kristin Coleman continue to suffer the effects of being ill most of last week. Kristin Coleman shaved four strokes off her first round score and finished at 7-over par 78 while Jenny Coleman unfortunately added seven strokes to her first round total and shot a 10-over par 81. Jenny Coleman is tied for 52nd at 13-over par155 and Kristin is tied for 67th at 18-over par 160.

“The twins struggled on their back nine which was unfortunate,” Kelly said. “They're still not feeling very good.”

Duke's Lindy Duncan leads the event at 2-under par after shooting even par 70 in the second round with UCLA placing all five of its golfers in the top nine, including four of the top eight which include a five way tie for fourth. The Bruins Erynne Lee is the only other golfer under par in second place at 1-under after a 2-under 69 with teammate Tiffany Lua in third at even par after her second straight round of shooting even par. UCLA then has two more golfers tied for fourth, Ani Gulugian and Kyle Roig at 1-over par. Those two are tied with Southern California's Doris Chen, Michigan State's Caroline Powers and Florida State's Maria Salinas at 1-over par 143.

The Buffs conclude the Northrop Grumman Wednesday with the final round slated to begin at 8 a.m. in a shotgun start. The Buffaloes will be teeing off on holes Nos. 6-11 with Duke and Arizona State. Next up for the Buffaloes is the All State Sugar Bowl, hosted by Tulane in New Orleans, Feb. 26-28.

“Last week we were playing with the leaders and this week we are playing the final day with Duke and Arizona State, two great programs. We know we can play with these teams. I'm playing with the tournament leader and No. 1 ranked player (Duke's Lindy Duncan) and that's awesome.”

BUFFALOES INDIVIDUALS
t-20.	Emily Talley	78-70—148
t-20.	Jessica Wallace	74-74—148
t-32.	Alex Stewart	77-73—150
t-53.	Jenny Coleman	74-81—155
t-67.	Kristin Coleman	82-78—160

TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
1.	Lindy Duncan, Duke	69-71—140
2.	Evynne Lee, UCLA	72-69—141
3.	Tiffany Lua, UCLA	71-71—142
t-4.	Doris Chen, USC	72-71—143
t-4.	Ani Gulugian, UCLA	71-72—143
t-4.	Caroline Powers, Michigan St.	75-68—143
t-4.	Kyle Roig, UCLA	73-70—143
t-4.	Maria Salinas, Florida State	70-73—143

TEAM STANDINGS
1.	UCLA	284-286—570
2.	Southern California	297-291—588
3.	Pepperdine	300-292—592
4.	Duke	292-302—594
5.	Arizona State	302-295—297
t-6.	Colorado	303-295—598
t-6.	Ohio State	296-302—598
8.	Michigan State	302-297—599
9.	Oregon	304-300—604
10.	Florida State	296-309—605
11.	Denver	295-313—608
12.	Florida	302-308—610
13.	UC Davis	312-300—612
14.	Oklahoma	310-310—620
15.	Wake Forest	310-314—624

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Players Mentioned

Jenny Coleman

Kristin Coleman

Alex Stewart

Emily Talley

Jessica Wallace