Buffs Sixth at UNM Invitational

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The University of Colorado women's golf team showed signs of brilliance throughout the day and despite struggling slightly down the stretch sit in sixth place through two of three rounds at the 2013 Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational here at the University of New Mexico Championship Course. The Buffs shot 295-304—599 (15-over par) on the day.

The Buffs sat in second place after shooting a 3-over par 295 in the first round on the strength of even par rounds from senior Jenny Coleman and sophomore Jamie Oleksiew, and a 1-over par round from senior Kristin Coleman. In fact, all five players scoring for the team had solid rounds with a 2-over par 75 from sophomore Allie Zech and a 3-over par 76 from sophomore Alexis Keating. After a fast start in the second round the Buffs were tied atop the leaderboard with Pepperdine.

“We had a good morning,” CU coach Anne Kelly said. “Then we didn't finish too strongly. The wind picked up and the course dried out and we just didn't adjust as well as we should have. Overall, we had some really good things happen and there's definite improvement from last year.”

With just four strokes separating second through fifth places, the Buffs remained in sixth place but added some distance between themselves and the top of the board after shooting a combined 8-over par in the final three holes of the second round. Despite that, the first round team total of 295 gives the Buffs four rounds under 300 on the young season, matching the total from all of last season. In fact, the Buffs have four rounds that surpass any one team round from a season ago in just five rounds played this season.

“It just shows how much the team has been working and practicing,” Kelly said. “(Assistant coach) Brent (Franklin) has been working hard with them too. All the time and effort that Brent's been putting in is paying off.

“We just need to adjust to changing conditions a little,” Kelly continued. “It was tough coming in, but we can do a little better. Overall, I'm proud of them, we've made improvement, but we can always find areas to continue to improve and that's one of them.”

Pepperdine leads the field by four strokes, shooting a 3-under par 581 through 36 holes on the 6,192-yard, par 73 course. Oregon used a 6-under par second round to surge into second place and sits four strokes behind the Waves at 1-over par 585. UC Davis is three strokes behind the Ducks at 4-over par 588 while Northwestern and Iowa State are one stroke back tied for fourth at 5-over par 589, 10 strokes ahead of the Buffs total of 599.

Oleksiew and Jenny Coleman are both tied for 11th individually after carding identical 73-74—147's in the first two rounds. With five birdies in the first two rounds, Coleman now has 264 in her career and is just two off the school record of 266 held by All-American Emily Talley.

“Jamie really did well today and she's making improvements,” Kelly said. “She was at 3-under this afternoon but overall has been doing really well and has shown good improvement. Jenny is just a rock. She's just a very solid and smart player.”

Jenny Coleman just had one rough stretch of holes in her first round in an otherwise solid day. She was 2-under through six holes making the turn to the back nine in the first round when she went 4-over in a span of three holes to find herself 2-over par. She immediately birdied to bring herself back to 1-over par and then birdied her final hole of the day to finish at even par. Her second round was extremely consistent as she birdied her third hole, the par 4 No. 6, and then rattled off 13 consecutive pars before closing her round with a pair of bogeys to finish at 1-over.

Oleksiew was well under par in both of her rounds. In the first round, she was 2-under par after a run of three birdies in four holes and remained there until past the halfway point of her round. She had a bogeys on the par 4 No. 15 and then on her final hole, the par 4 No. 4, to finish her round at even par. She was then 3-under par and near the top of the leaderboard after four birdies, a bogey and a par in her first six holes of the second round before shooting 4-over the remainder of that round, including bogeys on two of the final three holes, to finish at 1-over.

Sophomore Allie Zech is tied for 25th at 4-over par 150 with identical 2-over par 75s in each of the first two rounds. She hovered between 1-under and 2-over par the entire day and finished with four birdies, six bogeys and one double bogey in her 36 holes. In her second round, she went under par with a birdie on the par 5 No. 9 and then after a pair of bogeys on Nos. 11-12 after making the turn, she responded with eight straight pars before a bogey at the par 3 No. 3 put her at 2-over par, where she finished the round.

Kristin Coleman had a bit of an up-and-down first round with her 1-over par 74 that included an eagle, three birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey. She was 2-over with a pair of bogeys in her first three holes but came back to even with an eagle on the par 5 No. 9. She continued that momentum after making the turn with consecutive birdies on Nos. 10-11 before her double bogey brought her again back to even par. She was 2-over entering the final hole and ended the round on a good note with a birdie on the par 3 No. 3. She struggled a bit in her second round and finished at 8-over par 81 to finisher her day at 9-over par 155 and tied for 51st.

Freshman Alexis Keating had an otherwise consistent day hampered by scoring a 10 on the par 5 No. 10 in her second round. She hit it out of bounds and then took a penalty stroke after her ball moved. She finished the first round at 3-over par 76 and aside from that one hole in the second round, her other 17 holes she shot 4-over par in the second round. She is tied for 59th at 12-over par 158.

Freshman Natalie Vivaldi, in her first collegiate action, managed three birdies in her first round in which she finished at 6-over par 79. In the second round, she ran into some bad luck getting stuck in a field of tumbleweeds and was forced to take a 12 on the par 4 No. 7 and finished the round at 17-over par 90. She is in 90th place at 23-over par 169.

The final round begins at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

BUFFALOES INDIVIDUALS
t-11.	Jamie Oleksiew	73-74—147
t-11.	Jenny Coleman	73-74—147
t-25.	Allie Zech	75-75—150
t-51.	Kristin Coleman	74-81—155
t-59.	Alexis Keating	76-82—158
90.	Natalie Vivaldi	79-90—169

TOP 5 INDIVIUALS
1.	C. Isagawa, Oregon	70-68—138
2.	S. Lee, Pepperdine	70-70—142
t-3.	B. Chen, UC Davis	74-69—143
t-3.	S. Blair, SD State	72-71—143
5.	Grace Na, Pepperdine	73-71—144

TEAM STANDINGS
1.	Pepperdine	290-291—581
2.	Oregon	299-286—585
3.	UC Davis	300-288—588
t-4.	Northwestern	296-293—589
t-4.	Iowa State	297-292—589
6.	Colorado	295-304—599
7.	San Diego State	303-298—601
8.	Oregon State	299-306—605
9.	New Mexico	307-301—608
10.	UNLV	301-309—610
11.	Texas Tech	309-306—615
12.	Fresno State	306-312—618
13.	Iowa	311-311—622
14.	UTEP	309-317—626
15.	Nevada	314-314—628
16.	Wyoming	320-311—631