Women Golfers Finish 12th At Arizona State Invite

TEMPE, Ariz. – The University of Colorado women's golf team faced rainy conditions off and on here Sunday in the final round of the Arizona State Invitational as the Buffaloes finished in 12th place.

The Buffs combined to shoot 17-over par their last time on the course and recorded a 901 or 37-over par 54-hole total. Colorado struggled to get anything going as the team shot 7-over on the front side and 10-over par on the final nine holes.

“We just didn't play well at all this week,” said Colorado head coach Anne Kelly. “Hopefully we can use it as a good wake up call to get prepared for Pac-12s, but it was just a bad tournament. We need to work on our wedges and pitches, and dialing in on those distances a little bit better. It wasn't a good week for us, but I'm hoping we can learn something from it as we move forward into the postseason.”

UCLA won the tournament with a 12-under par, 852, six strokes ahead of runner-up and tournament host Arizona State at 6-under par. Alabama took third, one stroke behind ASU at 5-under par. Arizona finished in fourth place at 11-over and Washington rounded out the top five with a 16-over par performance.

Junior Esther Lee rebounded after a challenging second round to pace the Buffs in the third with a 73 and recorded a 2-over par, 218 final score. In the closing round, Lee had 10 pars, 2 birdies and 1 eagle against five bogeys. Her eagle on the par five, fifth hole was her second of the tournament, leading the 78-player field in that category. Lee's strong round on Sunday allowed her to advance 12 spots in the standings and finished tied for ninth place overall.

Senior Alexis Keating closed here with a 6-over, 78 in the final round to post a 63-71-78—222 or 6-over par. She had 11 pars and a birdie against five bogeys and a double on the last day as she shot 3-over on each side of the course. Alexis led the team with eight total birdies for the tournament. She also finished with 33 pars and tied for 29th in the standings.

Junior Natalie Vivaldi also shot 6-over on Sunday and carded a 230 or 14-over par for the event. Her last time on the 6,337-yard, par 72 course Karsten Golf Course included 9 pars, 2 birdies 6 bogeys and 1 double. Vivaldi teed-off from the 12th hole and was 2-over through six holes. She had a double-bogey on her seventh and then was 6-over after 10 holes with back-to-back bogeys. She had her best stretch over the next five holes with two birdies and three pars to get back to 4-over, but then bogeyed two of her final three holes. Vivaldi tied for 58th place.

Sophomore Brittany Fan shot her second straight round of 76 and finished with a 232 or 16-over par. Her last set of 18 holes included 14 pars and four bogeys. In total, Fan had 32 pars and five birdies through the 54 hole event. She placed 63rd overall.

Freshman Gillian Vance wrapped up the tournament with a 7-over par, 79. After starting out with two straight pars, she struggled over the next six holes, shooting plus-7, but then settled down to close the day at even-par. Her round finished with five pars and a birdie over the final six. She posted a 234 or 18-over par final scorecard and tied for 66th place.

Freshman Lauryn Keating, played as an individual this weekend and tied for 64th, posting 233 or 17-over par. She shot 82 in the closing round.

UCLA's Bronte Law earned medalist honors, shooting 12-under par and won by three strokes over her teammate Lilia Vu, who finished at 9-under par. Linnea Strom of Arizona State took third at 5-under par and Cheyenne Knight of Alabama along with Sophia Schubert of Texas tied for fourth place at 4-under.

The Buffaloes will now prepare for the Pac-12 Championships, set for April 18-20 in Pleasanton, Calif. Colorado finished a program-best fifth place last year when CU hosted the event at Boulder Country Club.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
T9.	Esther Lee	69-76-73—218
T29.	Alexis Keating	73-71-78—222
T58.	Natalie Vivaldi	77-75-78—230
63.	Brittany Fan	80-76-76—232
T66.	Gillian Vance	79-76-79—234
T64.	Lauryn Keating*	75-76-82—233
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
1.	Bronte Law, UCLA	64-71-69—204
2.	Lilia Vu, UCLA	68-67-72—207
3.	Linnea Strom, Arizona State	69-71-71—211
T4.	Cheyenne Knight, Alabama	72-70-70—212
T4.	Sophia Schubert, Texas	69-70-73—212
TEAM SCORES
Rank	Team	Score
1.	UCLA	281-287-284—852
2.	Arizona State	287-282-289—858
3.	Alabama	288-286-285—859
4.	Arizona	288-291-296—875
5.	Washington	298-290-292—880
6.	UNLV	287-289-307—883
7.	Texas	295-290-306—891
T8.	Northwestern	301-282-311—894
T8.	Baylor	300-293-301—894
T8.	Washington State	301-298-295—894
11.	Oregon State	294-299-303—896
12.	COLORADO	298-298-305—901
13.	Denver	309-301-303—913
14.	Hawai'i	324-297-314—935