Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Bay Area Intercollegiate
Lee In First, Buffs In Third At Bay Area Intercollegiate
March 09, 2015 | Women's Golf
FAIRFAX, Calif. – Sophomore Esther Lee shot a 36-hole school record 8-under par (67-67—134) on Monday and is in first place as the University of Colorado women's golf team sits in third after the first two rounds of the Bay Area Intercollegiate hosted by the University of San Francisco and San Jose State University.
Colorado finished the day shooting a 286-289—575 or 7-over par on the par 71, 6,050-yard Meadow Club course. The nation's top-ranked squad, Washington leads the tournament at 13-under par with a 280-275—555 performance. Oregon is in second, 11 strokes behind the Huskies at 2-under par. UC Davis trails the Buffaloes by one stroke and is in fourth place with an 8-over par effort and UC Riverside is 15-over par and in fifth place.
“The team played much better today,” said Colorado head coach Anne Kelly, comparing the Buffaloes' play to their performance in last week's tournament in which the team finished 10th overall. “There is still room for improvement, but it's nice to see we are making progress with our short game, especially putting and Esther played extremely well. She's a very solid player.”
Lee came out on fire in both rounds, shooting a 67 or 4-under par, setting a new 18-hole school record on a par-71 course. She surpassed the previous mark of 71, last set in 2013 by Jenny Coleman. Her 32 on the front nine in each round also lands her in the record books, a second place tie for lowest nine-hole score. She tallied five birdies in round one and duplicated that effort her second time out. Lee was 2-under par with three holes to play and then reeled off two birdies in those final three to finish the second round.
Freshman Brittany Fan and junior Alexis Keating are both tied for 26th place at 5-over par and each posted a 72-75—147. Fan entered the second round at 1-over par and had a bit of a rough start going 3-over after five holes, but the Pearl City, Hawaii native was solid the rest of the way. She pared 11 of the 13 remaining holes and drained one birdie on the front nine. Keating went 1-over her first time out and then found the second round to be more challenging. She started the second set of 18 holes 1-over through 13, but went double-bogey-par-bogey to put her at 4-over before paring the final two holes.
Sophomore Natalie Vivaldi improved her second round by one stroke and carded a 75-74—149 or 7-over par. With only one birdie in the first round, Vivaldi found her groove the second time through, tallying four birdies before closing out the day. She began the second set of 18 going 5-over par after seven holes, but recovered nicely, to shoot 2-under par with a stretch of three birdies in four holes on the front nine. The Oceanside, Calif. native will enter the final round tied for 32nd overall.
Junior Jamie Oleksiew is tied with fellow Buff Vivaldi, also in 32nd place. Oleksiew shot a 76-73—149, 7-over par and climbed 10 spots from the first to second round. In the first round, she was 5-over par after only two holes due to a four-stroke penalty for having an extra club in her bag. After the penalty, she turned in a stellar performance on the back nine, draining five birdies to shoot a 31, which ties a school record for lowest nine-hole score. Oleksiew improved her second round score by three strokes tallying two birdies along the way and paring 14 holes.
“Jamie fought her way back after the penalty,” Kelly said. “I take full responsibility for that happening and I think we all learned a good lesson.”
Junior Allie Zech is playing as an individual and is tied for 51st with a 74-79—153 or 11-over par performance. Zech was 3-over in the first round ran into some trouble on the front nine her second time through. She hit a stretch where she bogeyed five of six holes, but settled to close out the round with seven straight pars.
Lee has a four stroke lead over five players who are all tied for second at 4-under par. Oregon's Cathleen Santoso and Caroline Inglis, and a trio from Washington– Jennifer Yang, Ying Luo and Eimi Koga each shot a 138 through 36 holes.
The tournament concludes on Tuesday with the final round beginning at 9:30 a.m. MDT.
|
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
||
|
Rank |
Name |
Score |
|
1. |
67-67—134 |
|
|
T26. |
72-75—147 |
|
|
T26. |
72-75—147 |
|
|
T32. |
75-74—149 |
|
|
T32. |
75-74—149 |
|
|
T51. |
74-79—153 |
|
|
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS |
||
|
Rank |
Name |
Score |
|
1. |
Esther Lee, Colorado |
67-67—134 |
|
T2. |
Eimi Koga, Washington |
67-71—138 |
|
T2. |
Cathleen Santoso, Oregon |
70-68—138 |
|
T2. |
Jennifer Yang, Washington |
72-66—138 |
|
T2. |
Ying Luo, Washington |
73-65—138 |
|
T2. |
Caroline Inglis, Oregon |
69-69—138 |
|
TEAM SCORES |
||
|
Rank |
Team |
Score |
|
1. |
Washington |
280-275—555 |
|
2. |
Oregon |
285-281—566 |
|
3. |
COLORADO |
286-289—575 |
|
4. |
UC Davis |
286-290—576 |
|
5. |
UC Riverside |
290-293—583 |
|
T6. |
Colorado State |
302-286—588 |
|
T6. |
San Jose State |
299-289—588 |
|
8. |
Gonzaga |
295-295—590 |
|
9. |
Coastal Carolina |
297-294—591 |
|
10. |
San Francisco |
306-293—599 |
|
11. |
Brigham Young |
307-299—606 |
|
12. |
Indiana |
296-312—608 |
|
13. |
UC Irvine |
313-311—624 |
Players Mentioned
