Buffs In Fourth After Strong Start at Pac-12 Preview

KAILUA KONA, Hawai'i — The University of Colorado women's golf team caught fire on Monday, turning in their best first round score of the season, and are currently fourth at the Nanea Pac-12 Preview.

The Buffs were right near the top of the field for most of the day and were even tied for first with California heading into the final hole of the par 73, 6,372-yard Nanea Golf Course. Colorado, which shot a 2-under 290, was unable to hang on for a share of first after the first round, but is just one stroke behind Oregon, Cal and Southern California, which all recorded 3-under 289's.

Colorado had a pair of golfers finish the day tied for fifth after shooting a 3-under 70: junior Robyn Choi, who rejoined the team after competing on the LPGA Q-Series, and senior Haley Nist.

"Robyn and Haley both played solid rounds, which put our team into contention," Colorado Head Coach Anne Kelly said. "We were happy to see Robyn arrive yesterday after a 14-hour trip here from N.C. and a long few weeks of LPGA qualifying. She really wanted to play in this event to support her team which speak volumes to her commitment to her team."

Choi started on No. 9 and made par on the first four holes before recording her first birdie. She had four more pars before tallying another birdie to finish out the back nine and put her at 2-under. As she started the front, she made a par before sinking her third birdie of the day to go 3-under. She earned a bogey on the following hole before collecting a pair of birdies to get to 4-under. Unfortunately she recorded her second bogey of the day on No. 6, but finished the day with two pars to stay at 3-under.

Nist had her best round since joining CU. She got out to a great start on No. 8 with her first of six birdies, but followed it up with a bogey on No. 9. She made par on the next hole before recording her second of three bogeys. At that point, her focus was obvious. She made par on No. 12 and then recorded four birdies in the next six holes to finish out the back nine; the two holes she did not birdie, she made par. Nist was at 3-under as she turned to start the front and recorded five pars and one birdie over the course of the next six holes, which put her at 4-under. She ended the afternoon with a bogey on No. 7 to put her at 3-under.

Freshman Malak Boureada turned in her best first round collegiate score with a 1-over 74. She had a little bit of a rough start to her day with three bogeys in her first six holes, but by the eighth hole of the first round, she recorded her first birdie to bring her score to 2-over. She was able to play fairly consistent the rest of the way, earning five pars, three birdies and two bogeys, which put her in a tie for 21^st.

"Malak had a very good finish to her round and considering this was her first competitive round on this course, she did well and really helped the team," Kelly said.

The Buffs also had a pair record 3-over 76's as senior Gillian Vance and junior Kirsty Hodgkins are tied for 37^th after the first round. Both played fairly steady games. Vance made 13 pars and added four bogeys and one birdie. Hodgkins recorded a team-best 14 pars and added two bogeys and one birdie. The difference was her double bogey on No. 7, a par 4, which moved her from a 1-over, to a 3-over with two holes left in the round.

"Kirsty unfortunately had a couple of tough holes on her back nine," Kelly said. "Other than that, she played really well tee to green. We're just waiting for her putter to get hot; then she will be consistently under par. Gillan also hit the ball well and just needs a few more putts to drop."

Cal's Cindy Oh is the leader after day one. She shot a 6-under 67 to take a two stroke lead into the second round. There are three players tied for second (4-under 69) and then four others, including Choi and Nist, that are tied for fifth (3-under 70).

The second round of the tournament will be played on Tuesday, Nov. 6, while the third is set for Wednesday, Nov. 7.

"We have two more rounds to go and if we can clean up a few mistakes and get a few more putts to drop, it will be interesting to see what happens," Kelly said.

NOTES: Since the Buffs started playing in the Pac-12 Preview, their first round score today of 290 is the lowest first day total…The previous best was 301 in 2015…It is also the best round the Buffs have recorded at the Pac-12 Preview in school history…The 290 is also the second best round for the Buffs this season…Nist's six birdies led the team; Choi was second on the team with five and Bouraeda recorded four…Choi's score of 70 in the first round ties her best round at the Pac-12 Preview; she also shot a 70 in the second round last year.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
T5.	Robyn Choi	70
T5.	Haley Nist	70
T21. T37.	Malak Bouraeda Kirsty Hodgkins	74 76
T37.	Gillian Vance	76

TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
1.	Cindy Oh, California	67
T2.	Gabi Ruffels, Southern California	69
T2.	Yu-Sang Hou, Arizona	69
T2.	Wenyung Keh, Washington	69
T5.	Katherine Zhu, California	70
T5. T5. T5.	Robyn Choi, Colorado Bethany Wu, UCLA Haley Nist, Colorado	70 70 70
TEAM SCORES
Rank	Team	Score
T1.	Oregon	289
T1.	California	289
T1.	Southern California	289
4.	Colorado	290
5.	Stanford	291
6.	Arizona	295
7.	Washington	296
T8.	Oregon State	297
T8.	Arizona State	297
10.	UCLA	301
11. 12.	Washington State Hawai'i	306 316

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Players Mentioned

Malak Bouraeda

Kirsty Hodgkins

Haley Nist

Gillian Vance