Buffs advance in Match Play at Gifford Great Eight

Monday, March 13

Los Angeles, Calif.

All Day

Colorado

Day 1

March 13, 2017 | Women's Golf

Results

By: Maggie Still, Assistant SID

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. — The University of Colorado women's golf team earned a split here Monday after two rounds of match play in UCLA's Giffort Great 8 Collegiate Match Play tournament.

The Buffaloes, seeded as the No. 6 team defeated No. 3 seed Georgia, 3-2 in their opening round which moved them to the semifinal championship bracket of the tournament. Colorado's momentum slowed in the afternoon semifinal round as they dropped the match against No. 2 seeded UCLA 3&2.

The two-day, 54-hole match-play event is comprised of eight schools competing at the Brentwood Country Club on the par 72, 6,294-yard course. The Buffs are one of five Pac-12 squads that make up the 8-team field.

"We were very proud of the team in the first match vs No. 8 ranked Georgia," head coach Anne Kelly. "Everyone played hard and did a great job fighting for the win. We were disappointed with the loss to UCLA but the team fought really hard and starting to understand that if we take care of the little things or there is not a team in the country that can't that we compete with."

Freshman Robyn Choi played 13 holes against her morning opponent. She defeated Georgia's Jillian Hollis 4&3 and helped earn the Buffs a point. Choi kicked off her day firing a par on hole No. 10 against Hollis' bogey so Choi went 1-up and never trailed. Eight holes later, Choi held her 4-up lead and coasted to her victory. Choi's afternoon matchup served a bit challenging as she faced UCLA's Mariel Galdiano. The match was squared up until Galdiano birdied four straight holes to take the lead and extended it throughout the evening winning 4&3.

Senior Esther Lee won both her matches on the day including her morning matchup against Georgia's Mary Ellen Shuman on Monday. Lee, never trailed even though she started off the day with a bogey at hole No. 10 against Shuman's double bogey. Shuman squared up the match on hole No. 2, but Lee birdied the following hole to earn her back her lead. Lee was the only Buff to secure a win in the afternoon matchup as she defeated UCLA's Clare Legaspi 6&5. Lee went 1-up on hole No. 2 and coasted to her victory extending it to 6-up.

Brittany Fan joined Choi and Lee as the final Buff to earn a win on the morning defeating Georgia's Rinko Mitsunaga 4&2. Fan went 1-up on Hole No. 11 and never trailed the rest of the way. Fan faced UCLA's Erin Choi in the afternoon matchup and finished all squared up. Fan held steady for most of the matchup while Choi went up and down until Fan birdied her last hole to square it all out.

Kirsty Hodgkins struggled throughout the entire day as she dropped both her matches on the day. Hodgkins fell to Georgia's Bailey Tardy 3&1. She recorded three birdies on the day but carded four bogeys that slowed her down. Hodgkins went on to face UCLA's No. 1 golfer Lilia Vu and tried hard to hold on to her 1-up lead but Vu snagged four birdies in a row to close it out 7&6.

Gillian Vance also played a good player in Georgia's Harang Lee. She dropped her match by one stroke as Lee won 1-up. Vance turned in a solid performance as she was only down by 1 stroke for most of the match and squared it up on hole No. 4 but Lee struck back in the final two holes firing out a birdie to close out the match.

The Buffs will face the tournament's No. 4 seed Purdue in the second round on Tuesday. Purdue defeated Ohio State but fell to USC in the afternoon matchup. Round two gets underway at 9:00 a.m. MT. Live scoring is available on BirieFire.com.

"We take away from this loss many positives," Kelly said. "But that usually means you're trying to find something positive from a defeat. But we will move on tomorrow and do our best to compete against tough and ranked Purdue team."

Gifford Great 8 Collegiate Match Play
No. 6 Colorado def. No. 3 Georgia, 3-2

Bailey Tardy (UGA) def. Kirsty Hodgkins (CU) 3&1
Robyn Choi (CU) def. Jillian Hollis (UGA) 4&3
Esther Lee (CU) def. Mary Ellen Shuman (UGA) 2&1
Brittany Fan (CU) Rinko Mitsunaga (UGA) 4&2
Harang Lee (UGA) def. Gillian Vance (CU) 1 up

TEAM SCORES –First Round
No. 1 USC def. No. 8 Oregon State 3-2
No. 4 Purdue def. No. 5 Ohio State 3.5-1.5
No. 2 UCLA def. No. 7 Oregon 4-1
No. 6 Colorado def. No. 3 Georgia 3-2

No. 2 UCLA def. No. 6 Colorado
Lilia Vu (UCLA) def. Kirsty Hodgkins (CU) 7&6
Mariel Galdiano (UCLA) def. Robyn Choi (CU) 4&3
Esther Lee (CU) def. Clare Legaspi (UCLA)
Brittany Fan (CU) tied Erin Choi (UCLA), AS
Gillian Vance (CU) tied Bethany Wu (UCLA), AS

TEAM SCORES- Second Round
Southern California def. Purdue 3.5-1.5
UCLA def. Colorado 3-2
Ohio State def. Oregon State 3-2
Georgia def. Oregon 4-1