Buffs Tied for Second After Second Round of the Pac-12 Preview

KAILUA KONA, Hawai'i — The University of Colorado women's golf team continued its strong and steady play in the second round to move into a tie for second place of the Nanea Pac-12 Preview.

The Buffs, who were fourth after the first 18 holes, are just two strokes back from California, which leads the field at a 3-under 581. Stanford and CU are tied for second with a 1-under 583. The Buffs recorded a 1-over 293 on the second day to add to their 2-under 290 from the first day.

"Overall it was a tough day; you can tell by the scores because they weren't nearly as low for the whole field," head coach Anne Kelly said. "Tough hole locations and the wind picked up today, so it was a little more difficult, but our team is hanging in there and I'm proud of them. We're looking forward to tomorrow to see if maybe we can put it all together and see what happens."

Junior Robyn Choi continued to lead the Buffs and is currently tied for fifth with a 2-under 144. In the second round, she shot a 1-over 74. Choi started on No. 1 and made par on the first two holes. She earned a bogey on the third hole, but then tallied birdies on three of the next four holes to go to 2-under. She was at 1-under after finishing the front nine with a par and bogey. The back nine saw her shoot two bogeys and seven pars to finish the way at 1-over.

"Robyn is exhausted but hung in there as best as she could today," said Kelly. "We're just hoping to let her get a lot of sleep tonight to see if she has one more round in her after the weeks and weeks of golf that she has been playing."

Kirsty Hodgkins rebounded in the second round to shoot a team leading round at 4-under (69). With the performance, she jumped up 29 positions into a tie for eighth with a 1-under 145.

She had two straight birdies to start off and added another on her fourth hole after making par on the third hole. She recorded her first of two bogeys on No. 8, but answered back making par on No. 9. As she started the back nine, Hodgkins sank her fourth birdie of the day to go 3-under. She collected back-to-back pars before sinking another birdie to go 4-under on the day. Hodgkins bogeyed on No. 14, a par 5, but two holes later was back to 4-under. She ended the day by making five straight pars.

"I was extremely proud and happy for Kirsty," Kelly said. "She got those putts to drop today. I know she's been a little frustrated not dropping as many birdies as she would like, but today the putter worked much better for her and complimented the ball striking she's had for the last month."

Haley Nist fell in the standings after collecting a three-over 76 on the second day, but is still 15^th with an even 146. Her day started on hole No. 2 with a bogey, but she evened things quickly with a birdie on No. 3. Unfortunately she went right back up by one on No. 4. She made two straight pars after that before recording three more bogeys on holes No. 7, No. 8 and No. 9. Nist started the back nine with a birdie to bring her score back to 3-over and stayed there for two straight holes with another pair of pars before collecting her third birdie of the day on hole No. 13, putting her back at 2-over. Nist finished the back nine with four pars and one last bogey, before finishing her last hole, No. 1, with a par.

"Haley got out to a really rough start on her front nine, but fought back," Kelly said.

Malak Bouraeda had another strong day, finishing with a 1-over 74. When combined with her first round total, another 1-over 74, she is currently tied for 23rd with a 2-over 148. She was even or under par through the first nine holes. She sank two birdies and made three pars in the first five holes, but recorded her first bogey on No. 8. She rallied back, making two straight pars, but then tallied two bogeys to go 1-over. Bouraeda made five pars in the next six holes, but also picked up her first double of the tournament. She recorded two straight birdies to finish the last two holes to finish 1-over.

"Malak really had a strong finish for us," Kelly said. "She birdied a couple of her last few holes and that really helped us a ton."

Gillian Vance struggled in the second round, recording two doubles and four bogeys. She did have 12 pars, but had some bad luck and was unable to sink some putts, which put her at 8-over 81 in the round and 11-over 157 after the first 36 holes.

"Gillian had a rough day, but she was working on a few things this afternoon and hopefully she will get her game going again tomorrow," said Kelly.

Yu-Sang Hou (Arizona) moved up one spot to first after shooting a 2-under 71 in the second round. She is currently at a 6-under 140 with 18 holes left to play. Katherine Zhu (California) is second at 5-under 141, while Cindy Oh (California), moved from first to third with a 4-under 142.

The third round is set for Wednesday, Nov. 7. Live results are available at golfstat.com.

NOTES: Hodgkins' 69 in the second round ties her personal best on this course…she also recorded a 69 in the third round in 2016.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
T5.	Robyn Choi	70-74—144
T8.	Kirsty Hodgkins	76-69—145
15. T23.	Haley Nist Malak Bouraeda	70-76—146 74-74—148
T52.	Gillian Vance	76-81—157

TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
1.	Yu-Sany Hou, Arizona	69-71—140
2.	Katherine Zhu, California	70-71—141
3.	Cindy Oh, California	67-75—142
4.	Tze-Han Lin, Oregon	72-71—143
T5.	Albane Valenzuela, Stanford	71-73—144
T5. T5.	Robyn Choi, Colorado Wenyung Keh, Washington	70-74—144 69-75—144
TEAM SCORES
Rank	Team	Score
T1.	California	289-292—581
T2.	Stanford	291-292—583
T2.	Colorado	290-293—583
T4.	Oregon	289-295—584
T4.	Arizona	295-289—584
6.	Southern California	289-296—585
7.	Arizona State	296-299—595
8.	Washington	296-299—595
9.	UCLA	301-295—596
10.	Oregon State	297-306—603
11. 12.	Washington State Hawai'i	306-305—611 316-315—631

Buffs Tied for Second After Second Round of the Pac-12 Preview

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Players Mentioned

Malak Bouraeda

Kirsty Hodgkins

Haley Nist

Gillian Vance