Buffs Earn Fifth Place Finish At Pac-12 Championships

PLEASANTON, Calif. – The University of Colorado women's golf team recorded the lowest 54-hole score in postseason history en route to a fifth place finish here Wednesday at the 2016 Pac-12 Championships at Ruby Hill Golf Club.

Colorado, ranked No. 40, posted a team score of 6-over par 294 for a final score of 864 or even-par as the Buffaloes finished ahead of four top 20 schools, capturing their second straight top five finish, which matched a program best at a league tournament. The Buffs' 864 marks only the third time in school history Colorado has finished a 54-hole tournament at or under par and it ranks as the third-lowest score of all-time.

No. 2 Southern California claimed the conference title over one of the toughest fields in the country as seven teams are ranked in the top 15, including two top five schools—USC being one of them along with No. 4 UCLA. The Trojans finished with an 846 or 18-under par team score and saw their 13-stroke advantage trimmed to three as UCLA put the pressure on to finish runner up at 15-under par, 849. No. 10 Arizona State took third, five strokes off the pace with a 13-under par 851 performance and the 11th-ranked Arizona Wildcats earned fourth place, eight strokes ahead of the Buffs at 8-under par 856.

“Today the conditions were a little tougher, the wind picked up a bit and the hole locations were a little more difficult and I think you can see that overall with the scores for the day,” said Colorado head coach Anne Kelly. “Of course we would always like to do better, but a fifth place finish in this conference is very good when we're facing so many great teams. Everybody played tough and it was a team effort this week.”

Senior Alexis Keating entered the day in second and in the hunt for medalist honors after a record-setting 6-under par on Tuesday. She finished tied for fifth place in her final Pac-12 Championships with a 70-66-74—210 scorecard, tying her school record she set in last year's conference event where she also finished fifth overall. Keating shot 2-over in the third round with 12 pars, 2 birdies and 4 bogeys. She led the team with 12 birdies over the three-day tournament and also had 36 pars.

“It was really awesome to have another top five finish at Pac-12s, especially since this is my last conference tournament,” said Keating. Yesterday was a really good day. I felt really good on the greens. Ball striking was good, same with the first day. Today was a little bit of a struggle for me. I wasn't hitting the ball as well.

“It has been a lot of fun watching my team have some success out here this week. We're definitely playing with the best here. It's a lot of fun to be in contention with these teams and know that we can compete with them and play well against them.”

Sophomore Brittany Fan played her best round of the week on Wednesday, carding a 2-under par 70. She had 14 pars and three birdies against only one bogey. Fan finished the conference tournament at 1-under par, 215. In total, she made 39 pars, fourth most among the field and eight birdies. Fan's strong final round helped her climb 14 places and finish tied for 12th place, making it her career-best finish in a postseason tournament.

Junior Esther Lee finished tied for 18th overall with a 216 or even-par 54-hole total. She carded a 1-over 73 in the finale, which included 12 pars, 3 birdies, 2 bogeys and 1 double. After going 3-over just three holes into her round, she fought her way back the rest of the afternoon. Lee settled down to shoot 2-under the rest of the way. The second-year Buff now has 10 top 20 finishes this season,

Freshman Gillian Vance shot 5-over par in the final round to post a 75-72-77—224, 8-over par in her first Pac-12 Championships. Her last time on the course, she had 13 pars and five bogeys. Vance shot plus-2 on the front nine and 3-over on the back. She tallied 39 total pars and four birdies for the event.

Junior Natalie Vivaldi struggled in her last 18 holes, shooting 7-over par. She carded an even-par front nine, but had a difficult time on the back side, recording plus-7. Vivaldi was 2-over with four holes remaining. A triple bogey on the par 4, 15th hole moved her to 5-over. She pared the next two holes, however ended her round with a double on No. 18. She recorded a 226 or 10-over par final scorecard and finished in 50th place.

The individual race came down to the final hole as Linnea Strom from Arizona State birdied No. 18 to capture medalist honors, finishing with a conference record 205 or 11-under par. She edged out Bronte Law of UCLA, who took second place at 10-under 206. A pair of golfers placed third, shooting 208 and Keating was part of a four-way tie for fifth place.

The Buffaloes look to be in solid position to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which start with regional play May 5-7. The postseason field will be announced on the Golf Channel's NCAA Selection Show Monday, April 25 at 4 p.m. MDT. This year's regional sites are: Stanford, Calif. (Stanford Golf Course), Bryan, Texas (Traditions Club), Baton Rouge, La. (University Club) and Shoal Creek, Ala. (Shoal Creek Club).

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
T5.	Alexis Keating	70-66-74—210
T12.	Brittany Fan	72-73-70—215
T18.	Esther Lee	70-73-73—216
T45.	Gillian Vance	75-72-77—224
50.	Natalie Vivaldi	74-73-79—226
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
1.	Linnea Strom, Arizona State	71-68-66—205
2.	Bronte Law, UCLA	70-70-66—206
T3.	Lilia Vu, UCLA	70-69-69—208
T3.	Gabriella Then, Southern California	70-65-73—208
T5.	Alexis Keating, Colorado	70-66-74—210
T5.	Charlotte Thomas, Washington	75-67-68—210
T5.	Monic Vaughn, Arizona State	69-72-69—210
T5.	Krystal Quihuis, Arizona	72-69-69—210
TEAM SCORES
Rank	Team	Score
1.	Southern California	278-275-293—846
2.	UCLA	282-284-283—849
3.	Arizona State	285-284-282—851
4.	Arizona	286-280-290—856
5.	COLORADO	286-284-294—864
6.	Washington	289-292-285—866
7.	Stanford	287-294-290—871
8.	Oregon	286-289-303—878
9.	California	295-289-297—881
10.	Oregon State	292-293-297—882
11.	Washington State	287-294-303—884