Women Golfers Open 2017-18 Season Monday

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of Colorado women's golf team opens its first tournament of the 2017-18 season here Monday, Sept. 11 at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational hosted by New Mexico.

The two-day 27-hole event is set to be played at the Lobo's New Mexico Championship Golf Course and features an impressive 17-team field.

Colorado head coach Anne Kelly enters her 21st season guiding the Buffs as the team looks to build on its impressive second place finish in the Pac-12 Championships and fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Regional last year, where the Buffs fell only one stroke short of advancing to the NCAA Championships. CU returns five golfers from its 2016-17 squad, while welcoming four freshmen standouts in, Alisha Lau, Jaclyn Murray, Elle Otten and Katie Stribling. Colorado lost two golfers from last season including NCAA record holder and Colorado female athlete of the year Esther Lee, as well as Tori Glenn, who graduated this past May.

RETURNERS
Lone Senior Brittany Fan is back for her final year in black and gold. Fan has been a staple in the Buffs' lineup the past few seasons. She closed out her 2016-17 season with a 74.75 stroke average through 28 rounds. Fan's consistency is impressive as she led the team in pars with 334. She helped the Buffaloes to their second place finish at the Pac-12 Championships as she carded a 74-72-74—220 scorecard to place seventh in a competitive field.

We caught up with Brittany Fan on Friday. Full interview here.

Juniors Lauryn Keating and Gillian Vance and sophomores Robyn Choi and Kirsty Hodgkins also return for the Buffaloes' 2017-18 campaign. Choi and Hodgkins both saw extensive action last season as both competed in all 17 rounds in the spring.

QUOTABLE (Head Coach Anne Kelly)
We caught up with head coach Anne Kelly earlier this week, watch full interview here.

"We are excited to get the 2017-18 season started in New Mexico next week. We have several freshman that have been a good addition to our team so far and it will be great to see Alisha Lau and Jaclyn Murray compete for the Buffs in their first event."

"Our returnees look ready to go too, but in golf you just have to take it a shot at a time and add it up when the round is over! Every tournament we play in counts towards post season so we are looking to get off to a good start this year. The team is geared up to go represent Colorado and see what we can do this year!"

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational:

Host: UNM
Dates: Monday, Sept. 11 – Tuesday, Sept. 12
Course Name: UNM Championship Golf Course
Course Par/Yardage: Par 72, 6,317 yards
Tee Times: Monday, Sept. 11 --- 7:30 a.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 12 --- 7:30 a.m.
*Shotgun Start for both days

Live Scoring: Live scoring for the 2017 Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational will be provided through BirdieFire. Fans can follow at: http://bfire.co/-a6600/

Format: The 17-team field will be participating in a 27-hole collegiate tournament played at the par 72, 6,317 UNM Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque, N.M. Participants will be playing in threesome, playing 9 holes each round. Parings for each round will be determined by team score.

The Field: The 2017 Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational will be represented by a field of 17 teams including host UNM.

Washington State
Oklahoma State
Texas
Pepperdine
Stanford
Northwestern
San Diego State
UC Berkley
Iowa State
Iowa
Central Arkansas
Fresno State
Denver
Arizona
UC Davis

Weather: The average high for Sunday to Tuesday is 91 with a low of 63. The humidity is potentially in the upper 20s but no chance of rain yet reported.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Robyn Choi

Brittany Fan

Tori Glenn

Kirsty Hodgkins

Lauryn Keating

Alisha Lau

Esther Lee

Jaclyn Murray

Elle Otten

Gillian Vance

Colorado University Athletics