Colorado
Silverado Showdown
Lee Takes Second, Buffs Finish Third At Silverado Showdown
April 14, 2015 | Women's Golf
NAPA, Calif. – The University of Colorado women's golf team closed out the regular season with one of its best finishes this spring, taking third place here at its own Silverado Showdown. The Buffaloes were anchored by sophomore Esther Lee, who finished second.
As a team, the Buffs shot 11-over par in the final round on Tuesday to post a 294-298-299—891 or 27-over par for the tournament held at the par 72, 6,253 yard Silverado Resort and Spa. CU's third place finish was only two strokes back of the top spot and the team's best finish in a stroke-play event this spring (CU finished second in a match-play event last month).
“We're disappointed that we didn't win,” said Colorado head coach Anne Kelly. “They are all working hard and giving it their best. We're learning something in every tournament and that's all you can do is keep knocking on the door and giving yourself opportunities to win. I think eventually we're going to convert on those.”
It turned out to be a close finish as first to fifth place was only separated by six strokes. Oregon, a co-host with CU won the event with a 25-over par, 889, a single stroke better than an Oregon State team that took second at 26-over par. The 39th-ranked Buffs followed with their 27-over par performance and Harvard was two strokes behind CU at 29-over par to claim fourth. Fifth place belonged to No. 12 Northwestern at 31-over par.
Lee finished runner-up and only three strokes shy of medalist honors. It is her third top-five finish this spring, which is tied for third most all-time in a single season. She was 2-over par in the third round on her way to carding a 67-74-74—215 or 1-under par final score. Lee was one of only two players in the field to finish with a sub-par mark. The Los Alamitos, Calif. native made 37 pars and had a team-leading eight birdies over the 54-hole tournament.
Freshman Brittany Fan posted her best career finish, tied for 11th overall. She went 1-over par in the final round, opening with a bogey on the first hole and then had 17 straight pars. Fan led the field in par-3 scoring, at 1-under, averaging 2.92 strokes. She carded a 74-75-73—222 or 6-over par at the meet and now has three top 15 finishes this season.
“We just didn't convert on our birdie opportunities,” Kelly added. “For example, Brittany's round– one bogey and 17 straight pars, which is good golf, but we just need to make a few more birdies.”
Junior Alexis Keating had two birdies and carded a 2-over par, 74 on Tuesday to end at 8-over par, 224 en route to posting her best finish of the spring, tied for 17th overall. She got off to a shaky start, with back-to-back bogeys to go 2-over, and then had a birdie on her third hole to bring it back down to 1-over. Keating went back to 2-over with a bogey on her 11th hole, but played even-golf the rest of the afternoon, closing the tournament with seven consecutive pars.
Sophomore Natalie Vivaldi finished 18-over par (78-75-81—234) and tied for 49th. On Tuesday, Vivaldi was 7-over on the front nine and five strokes better on the back, shooting a 5-over, 38. She was one of four Buffs to tally at least two birdies in the final round.
Junior Jamie Oleksiew turned in a 6-over, 78 on the final day to finish at 20-over par, 236 and tied for 57th for the meet. She opened on No. 4 and was even par through six and went under-par with a birdie on the par-4 No. 10. She ran into some trouble throughout the rest of the day, where she had two double-bogeys and four bogeys over the final 10 holes. Despite a tough finish, she improved her final round score by three strokes from Monday's second round.
Junior Allie Zech, who competed as an individual this week carded her best round on Tuesday with an 8-over par, 80, which put her at 245 or plus-29 overall. She had two birdies, the most in any of her three rounds to go along with eight pars. She finished in 71st place.
California's Lucia Gutierrez shot a 4-under 68 in the final round to edge out Lee and win the tournament at 4-under par. Five strokes behind Lee was Anica Yoo from Oregon State and Suchaya Tangkamolprasert of Northwestern, who shared a third place finish at 4-over par, 220. Six golfers tied for fifth, each tallying 5-over par performances.
“I think we've had steady improvement this whole spring and hopefully we are going to peak at the right time,” said Kelly. “What really matters in the whole big picture is getting yourself to nationals and giving yourself a shot at that. Next up is Pac-12s and we definitely want to play well in that and see what happens there. It will be fun to have that in our home town and at one of our home courses.”
The Buffs will host the Pac-12 Championships at Boulder Country Club next week, April 20-22. The three-day, 54-hole tournament is arguably the most difficult conference championship in the country, boasting the top three teams in the NCAA and all 11 teams are ranked in the top 76 out of 262 Division I women's golf programs nationwide.
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BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS |
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|
Rank |
Team |
Score |
|
2. |
67-74-74—215 |
|
|
T11. |
74-75-73—222 |
|
|
T17. |
76-74-74—224 |
|
|
T49 |
78-75-81—234 |
|
|
T57. |
77-81-78—236 |
|
|
71. |
81-84-80—245 |
|
|
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS |
||
|
Rank |
Team |
Score |
|
1. |
Lucia Gutierrez, California |
73-71-68—212 |
|
2. |
Esther Lee, Colorado |
67-74-74—215 |
|
T3. |
Anica Yoo, Oregon State |
74-78-68—220 |
|
T3. |
Suchaya Tangkamolprasert, Northwestern |
74-69-77—220 |
|
T5. |
Regan De Guzman, San Jose State |
74-74-73—221 |
|
T5. |
Caroline Inglis, Oregon |
72-75-74—221 |
|
T5. |
Anne Cheng, Harvard |
76-74-71—221 |
|
T5. |
Krissy Peterson, Oregon State |
74-71-76—221 |
|
T5. |
Kacie Komoto, Northwestern |
75-71-75—221 |
|
T5. |
Kelsey Ulep, Oregon |
78-70-73—221 |
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TEAM SCORES |
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|
Rank |
Team |
Score |
|
1. |
Oregon |
299-290-300—889 |
|
2. |
Oregon State |
308-293-289—890 |
|
3. |
COLORADO |
294-298-299—891 |
|
4. |
Harvard |
309-294-290—893 |
|
5. |
Northwestern |
307-288-300—895 |
|
6. |
San Jose State |
299-303-298—900 |
|
7. |
California |
300-309-292—901 |
|
8. |
GRU Augusta |
299-311-297—907 |
|
9. |
Washington State |
310-305-298—913 |
|
10. |
Long Beach State |
309-309-302—920 |
|
11. |
Wisconsin |
313-302-306—921 |
|
12. |
New Mexico |
315-308-304—927 |
|
13. |
Minnesota |
310-312-309—931 |
|
14. |
Hawaii |
317-311-317—945 |
|
15. |
Colorado State |
311-319-317—947 |
Players Mentioned
