Colorado University Athletics
Women Golfers Earn NCAA West Regional Invite
April 25, 2016 | Women's Golf
BOULDER –The University of Colorado women's golf team was invited to the NCAA Championships for a third straight year on Monday as the Buffaloes will compete in the West/Stanford Regional, May 5-7 in Stanford, Calif.
The Buffaloes, ranked No. 34 in the country in the latest GolfStat poll (No. 21 Golfweek), earned a No. 9 seed in the 72-team field and will look to advance to the NCAA Championship Finals for the first time since 2012.
“We're excited for Stanford,” said Colorado head coach Anne Kelly. “We've been playing in Northern California for what seems to be the majority of the spring and we've had experience playing that course a few times so we're excited to go back there.”
The Buffaloes' postseason invitation marks the sixth straight year CU has sent either a team or individual to a regional and the sixth time in program history a team has qualified.
Colorado is one of 18 teams slated to square off at the Stanford Golf Course in the 54-hole tournament format. A group of six golfers will also compete as individuals. One 18-hole round will be played each of the three days. The field includes fellow Pac-12 opponents Southern California, the top seed in the regional along with host, Stanford as the No. 3 seed. The University of Arkansas-Fayetteville is the No. 2 seed. The remaining schools, in order of seeding from four to 18 are: Virginia, Nevada, San Diego State, Texas Tech, Ohio State, Colorado, Wake Forest, Michigan, North Carolina, Pepperdine, San Jose State, UC Riverside, Idaho, Richmond and Seton Hall.
The Buffs played the 6,084-yard, par 71 Stanford Golf Course this past February when they opened their spring season in the Peg Barnard Invitational. Colorado shot 295-299—594 or 26-over par during the 36-hole tournament and finished sixth in the 13-team field.
There were 44 at-large bids awarded and in total, nine of the 11 Pac-12 schools with women's golf programs earned a berth into a regional tournament. The Pac-12 is the only conference with two schools earning No. 1 seeds in their respective regional—Southern California and UCLA, who will play in Bryan, Texas. Colorado has represented the Pac-12 Conference in a regional every year since joining the league for the 2011-12 season with four teams qualifying and one individual during that span.
Colorado is coming off a solid fifth place finish at the Pac-12 Championships last week. The team recorded the lowest 54-hole score in postseason history and matched a program-best with their top five finish for a second consecutive year. Senior Alexis Keating anchored the team as she too, earned her second straight fifth place finish at the conference championships.
“After the tournament at Arizona State, we were disappointed with how we played so we cleaned up some things for the Pac-12 Championships and I think we'll keep building on that,” Kelly added. “We're looking forward to getting through finals and getting back on the golf course.”
Junior Esther Lee leads the team with a 72.48 stroke average and has played 27 rounds of golf with all of them counting toward team scoring this season. She also has a team-best six top 10 finishes. Keating owns a 74.15 mark and sophomore Brittany Fan has the third best average at 74.63.
There are four regional sites with Bryan, Texas, Baton Rouge, La. and Shoal Creek Ala. being the others. The top six teams and three individuals who are not members of those squads from each of the four regions will advance to the NCAA Championship Finals, scheduled for May 20-25 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
