Buffs Open In Second At Silverado Showdown

NAPA, Calif. – The University of Colorado women's golf team recorded one of its best rounds of the year here Sunday, opening in second place at the Silverado Showdown.

The Buffaloes, a tournament co-host along with the Oregon Ducks, matched its lowest single round score this spring as they posted a 290 through the first 18-holes of action on the 6,206-yard, par 72 Silverado Resort North Course. Colorado tied Stanford with 65 pars to lead the 18-team field and made 10 birdies.

No. 11 Stanford leads the event at 2-under par, 286 and is four strokes ahead of 40th-ranked Colorado at 2-over par. The Buffaloes hold a three-stroke advantage over LSU and Oregon, both in a third place tie at 5-over par (293) while Louisville and Pepperdine are tied for fifth at 6-over par.

“We played a solid round today,” said Colorado head coach Anne Kelly. “It was a good ball striking day on what is a difficult course with a tough layout. We did leave a few opportunities out there with some missed birdie putts, but all-in-all it was a really solid day and really good decision making.”

Sophomore Brittany Fan fired a team-best 71 or 1-under par to pace the Buffaloes. Her round included 15 pars, a pair of birdies and one bogey. Six holes into the round, Fan was 1-under par and then moved back to even with a bogey on No. 7. She stayed even over the next six, until her second birdie of the day put her at 1-under and she wrapped up the afternoon with four more pars. Fan is tied for fourth place and was one of only eight golfers to post a subpar round in a field of 93 players.

Junior Natalie Vivaldi is in with an even-par 72, tying her for ninth place on the leaderboard. Vivaldi's strong first round consisted of 14 pars, 2 birdies and 2 bogeys. Vivaldi opened with five straight pars and then had a bogey on the par 4, sixth hole. She remained at 1-over par through the next six holes until a bogey on No. 13 moved her to 2-over. Vivaldi was strong down the stretch, though with a series of three consecutive pars followed by back-to-back birdies on the last two holes to bring her back to even-par.

Junior Esther Lee is tied for 16th after posting a 1-over par, 73 scorecard. Lee's first of two birdies came on the par 5, fifth hole, but she quickly moved back to even-par with a bogey on No. 6. She pared the last three holes on the front side and then finished the back side at 1-over par with six pars, one birdie and two bogeys.

Senior Alexis Keating carded a 74 or 2-over par on Sunday afternoon–recording a team-high three birdies. Keating struggled on the front side, shooting 4-over par with six pars, two bogeys and one double-bogey, but settled down nicely on the back side to card a 2-under par. Her round was highlighted by draining two birdies over her final five holes. Keating is tied for 25th place.

Freshman Gillian Vance posted a 5-over par, 77 in the opening round. She shot 3-over on the front side and 2-over on the back. After two straight pars to begin the day, she struggled some over the next four holes, bogeying three of the four to move to 3-over. She closed the front nine strong with three consecutive pars. Once she made the turn, Vance had a double-bogey on the par 3, No. 11 and a bogey on the par 4 No. 13 as she went to plus-6, but played solid golf through the final five holes with four consecutive pars and made her only birdie of the day on No. 18. The first-year Buff is tied for 60th overall.

Senior Allie Zech, playing as an individual matched Vance with a 5-over par round. After shooting 5-over through nine holes, Zech went on to card an even-par backside. She is also tied for 60th place.

Oregon's Cathleen Santoso is in first among the individuals at 5-under par, one stroke ahead of fellow teammate Kelsey Ulep at 4-under par. Stanford's Lauren Kim is in third with a 2-under par first round and Fan is joined by four other golfers who are all tied for fourth at 1-under par.

The three-day, 56-hole tournament continues on Monday with the second round, which gets underway at 8:45 a.m. MDT. The Buffaloes are paired with Stanford and LSU.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
T4.	Brittany Fan	71
T9.	Natalie Vivaldi	72
T16.	Esther Lee	73
T25.	Alexis Keating	74
T60.	Gillian Vance	77
T60.	Allie Zech*	77
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
1.	Cathleen Santoso, Oregon	67
2.	Kelsey Ulep, Oregon*	68
3.	Lauren Kim, Stanford	70
T4.	Brittany Fan, Colorado	71
T4.	Kassidy Teare, Long Beach State	71
T4.	Molly Skapik, Louisville	71
T4.	Hannah Haythorne, Pepperdine	71
T4.	Hira Naveed, Pepperdine	71
TEAM SCORES
Rank	Team	Score
1.	Stanford	286
2.	COLORADO	290
T3.	LSU	293
T3.	Oregon	293
T5.	Louisville	294
T5.	Pepperdine	294
T7.	Wisconsin	300
T7.	California	300
T9.	Ohio State	301
T9.	San Francisco	301
T9.	New Mexico	301
T9.	UC Davis	301
13	Minnesota	303
14	San Jose State	305
15	San Diego State	307
16	Gonzaga	310
17	Long Beach State	311
18	Nebraska	315