Buffaloes Tie For Seventh At PING/ASU Invitational

TEMPE, Ariz. – Colorado enjoyed its best round of the weekend, shooting a 3-over par, 291, to finish in a tie for seventh place at 14-over (881) at the 2018 PING/ASU Invitational on Arizona State's Karsten Golf Course.

The No. 18 ranked Buffaloes shot four strokes better on Sunday than in each of their first two rounds, moving up two spots on the final day to catch Oregon for the seventh spot.

No. 15 Arizona ran away with the team title on the heels of an 11-under performance on Sunday (277), the low round for the tournament. The Wildcats, at 12-under for the weekend, were four strokes better than the runner up, No. 16 Washington.

Sophomore Robyn Choi was Colorado's top performer at the invitational, finishing in a tie for 11^th place at even-par (216) over her three rounds. Senior Brittany Fan and sophomore Kirsty Hodgkins tied with Denver's Mary Weinstein for 25^th at 3-over (219).

"We got off to a pretty good start and then didn't finish as well as we would have liked to," head coach Anne Kelly said. "Everyone hit the ball really well. We just didn't get a lot of putts to drop today."

Georgia's Jillian Hollis shot a tournament-low 65 in the final round to claim medalist honors at 9-under par (207).

Hodgkins had Colorado's low-score of the day, shooting a 2-under 70, for her second sub-par round in three days. She overcame a bogey off No. 1 by playing the rest of the front nine at 2-under, including three straight birdies on the par-4 No. 4, par-5 No. 5 and par-3 No. 6. She dropped back to even for the round after the 12^th, but finished strong with birdies at No. 13 and No. 14 and four pars to close out her round.

Choi registered her high round of the tournament, with a 3-over par 75, but it was enough to claim her eighth top 20 finish of the season. She played even on the front, picking up birdies at the par-5 No. 4 and the par-4 No. 8. Choi moved up to 1-under on the day, and 4-under for the tournament, after a birdie on the 498-yard par-4 No. 10, but she gave those four strokes back with four bogeys and four pars over the final eight holes.

"Robyn struggled today," Kelly said. "She wasn't striking the ball as well as the first couple of days. Unfortunately she didn't have her best today, but her ability to consistently be in contention is a really good sign."

Fan logged her best round of the weekend, using a fast start en route to a 1-under 71. She was 3-under after eight holes including back-to-back birdies on the par-3 No. 7 and par-4 No. 8. Fan also had a birdie on the par-5 No. 10, but bogeys at No. 9, No. 11 and No. 15 brought her back down to 1-under. She was steady down the stretch, recording par on six of her final seven holes.

Freshman Elle Otten finished off her second collegiate tournament with a 3-over 75 in the final round. Otten started with a birdie on the opening hole, the 350-yard par-4 No. 1, but quickly fell to 2-over with bogeys on the next three. She regrouped by logging pars on nine of her next 10 holes. On the par-5 No. 17, Otten registered her first career eagle, chipping in from about 55-yards out on her third shot. She finished tied for 58^th overall at 14-over (230).

Junior Gillian Vance, playing as an individual, capped off a solid weekend with a 3-over 75 in the final round. She wasn't able to get into the red on the day, but at the same time she avoided the big numbers. Vance registered 15 pars, including a string of eight straight from No. 12 through No. 1 (she started at the No. 10 tee). Vance finished tied for 48^th overall with a 10-over 226. She had the second-best overall score of the 11 golfers playing as individuals, just one stroke behind Fresno State's Kelsi Stieler.

Freshman Alisha Lau had her best round of the tournament with a 4-over 76. She had a solid front nine, playing it at 1-under. Lau started her round with six-straight pars and then logged a birdie at the 155-yard par-3 No. 7. She stayed at 1-under through 11 holes, but ran into trouble down the stretch with three bogeys and a double on four of her final seven holes. Lau finished in a tie for 71^st place with a 19-over 235.

"I think we made a lot of progress in the fourth and fifth positions," Kelly said. "Alisha had a tough tournament, but Gillian and Elle made some good progress. Alisha won't be in the lineup in San Diego, but she'll be with us and hopefully she'll be able to practice some and learn a lot from watching."

As it had for much of the weekend, Colorado played the front nine strong, with its top four golfers to that point shooting 4-under. The Buffaloes were 4-over on the back from their eventual four scorers. Colorado had 12 combined birdies (counting all five team golfers) on the first 10 holes but only three sub-par numbers collectively over the final eight.

"The back nine is harder than the front for sure," Kelly said. "No. 16 is one of the toughest par-3's in college golf. The par-5 at No. 17 is a birdie hole, and we didn't take advantage of it this weekend – except for Elle's eagle. No. 18 kind of had our number."

NOTEWORTHY: Colorado's 291, the fifth-best round of the day, tied for its eighth best of the season, matching its effort in the second round of the Meadow Club Collegiate…Colorado and Washington State logged the top scores on the par-3s at the invitational playing those 12 total holes at 13-over and an average score of 3.22… Vance registered 39 pars, which ranked second in the tournament field trailing only Oregon's Kathleen Scavo who had 41…Otten's eagle on the par-5 No. 17 was Colorado's ninth of the season. Fan has the most with six while Choi has the other two. Despite the No. 17 playing as the fifth-easiest hole for the tournament, Otten's eagle was the only one over three days on that particular hole…Hodgkins two subpar rounds gives her nine for the season tying Choi for the team lead…Colorado moved its season record against NCAA Division I opponents to 85-29-5.

NEXT UP: Colorado has a quick turnaround as the Buffaloes are participating in the San Diego State March Mayhem at the Farms, Monday through Wednesday. The 12-team tournament, to be played at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., will consist of one 18-hole round of stroke play on Monday morning followed by match play. Monday's stroke round will determine seeding for match play; spots 1-8 will participate in a championship bracket while 9-12 will play round robins with one match Monday afternoon, and also single matches on Tuesday and Wednesday.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
T11.	Robyn Choi	72-69-75—216
T25.	Brittany Fan	72-76-71—219
T25.	Kirsty Hodgkins	71-78-70—219
T48.	*Gillian Vance	78-73-75—226
T58.	Elle Otten	83-72-75—230
T71.	Alisha Lau	80-79-76—235
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
1.	Jillian Hollis, Georgia	71-71-65—207
T2.	Haley Moore, Arizona	73-71-66—210
T2.	YuSang Hou, Arizona	68-72-70—210
T2.	Wenyung Keh, Washington	73-67-70—210
5.	Sarah Ree, Washington	68-73-70—211
TEAM SCORES
Rank	Team	Score
1.	Arizona	285-290-277—852
2.	Washington	284-288-284—856
3.	Oklahoma State	286-283-292—861
4.	Georgia	285-297-280—862
5.	Arizona State	298-282-286—866
6.	TCU	289-286-300—875
T7.	Colorado	295-295-291—881
T7.	Oregon	297-281-303—881
9.	UNLV	297-291-297—884
10.	Washington State	297-295-294—886
11.	Denver	302-298-293—893
12.	Fresno State	300-301-299—900
13.	New Mexico	305-299-300—904
14.	Iowa	304-303-304—911

*-Playing as an individual

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Players Mentioned

Robyn Choi

Brittany Fan

Kirsty Hodgkins

Alisha Lau

Elle Otten

Gillian Vance