Friday, May 18
Stillwater, Okla.
All Day
Colorado
vs
First Round
Kirsty Hodgkins was Colorado's low scorer in round one with a 2-over, 74.
Photo by: Bruce Waterfield, Oklahoma State Athletics
Buffaloes Tied For 13th After First Round Of NCAA Championship
May 18, 2018 | Women's Golf
STILLWATER, Okla. – With high scores dominating the field, the University of Colorado finds itself right in the hunt, tied for 13th place after the first round of the 2018 NCAA Women's Golf Championship at the Karsten Creek Golf Club.
The No. 28 ranked Buffaloes are tied with No. 18 Wake Forest after shooting an 18-over, 306. Despite the higher-than-desired score, Colorado remains right in the thick of it. The Buffaloes are on the plus side of 15th, which would get them to Monday's fourth round and five shots out of eighth, the cut line for match play.
All 24 teams shot over par rounds and only four managed single digits over par. No. 6 USC is the first round leader at 3-over, 291. Top-ranked Alabama is one stroke back at 4-over, No. 3 UCLA is third at 6-over and No. 16 Kent State is in fourth at 8-over.
Sophomore Kirsty Hodgkins had Colorado's low round, shooting 2-over, 74, and is tied for 28th overall. Senior Brittany Fan and sophomore Robyn Choi each carded 3-over, 75, and are tied for 35th.
Wake Forest's Jennifer Kupcho shot a 7-under, 65, to take a three stroke lead over Northwestern's Janet Mao. Only 10 of 132 individual had rounds in the red on Friday.
"It's a very difficult course and we knew that coming in from our experience at the regional (in 2014) and years ago in the Big 12," Colorado head coach Anne Kelly said. "It's a fair course but it will test every part of your game. They could play a U.S. Women's Open out here."
Colorado played both sides fairly similar, shooting 10-over on the front and slightly better at 8-over on the back. The Buffaloes had four birdies on each side and split their four big numbers – double-bogey or worse – with two on each side.
Colorado's four birdies on the back came at a great time. The Buffaloes had slid to 21-over, but the trio of Fan, Hodgkins and Choi each birdied the 482-yard par-5 No. 18 to pick up three strokes to close out the round. Hodgkins also birdied No. 17.
"That was a big finish for us," Kelly said. "Those three really came through once again. Can't ever complain about this team in general but those three in particular give us there all in every round. A 74 or 75 is a good solid round out here."
As one of the first groups to tee off, Colorado was in the clubhouse tied for 18th, but with half of the field just beginning their round. By the time it was over, the Buffaloes had jumped five spots. Colorado's score was the sixth best among the 12 teams with the earlier tee times.
"There's never an easy day out here," Kelly said. "We're ready to take on the challenge tomorrow. Our goal is to move into that Top 8 (for match play). To do that we need to have our top three have good days and our fourth or fifth, one of them, scoring in the mid-70s. That will help a ton."
Hodgkins began her round with four straight pars before running into trouble on the latter part of the front. She had back-to-back bogeys at No. 5 and No. 6 and wound up at 3-over at the turn. Hodgkins opened the back nine with four straight pars before making her final push. She had three birdies over the last five holes, but with a pair of bogeys on the other two, Hodgkins ended up at 2-over.
Choi was even through three, but dropped a pair of strokes with bogeys at No. 4 and No. 6 to fall to 2-over. She earned a stroke back at the par-3 No. 7 and finished the turn at 1-over. Choi was still 1-over through 12, but fell to 3-over after a double-bogey on the par-4 No. 13. After logging three straight pars, Choi finished with a bogey at No. 17, but regained that final stroke with a birdie at No. 18.
Fan had the team's best start to the round, beginning with a birdie at the 496-yard par-4 No. 1. She stayed at 1-under through four, before a bogey at the par-4 No. 5. Fan briefly moved back to the red with a birdie on the par-3 No. 7, but bogeyed the par-4 No. 8 to finish the front at even.
She remained at even through 11, but struggled down the stretch playing the next six holes at 4-over. Fan ended on a good note with a birdie at the par-5 No. 18.
Junior Gillian Vance is tied for 111th with a 10-over, 82. She had a rough front, but managed to settle in on the back end of her round. Vance was 6-over after only four holes and 8-over through seven. She started to turn it around with back-to-back birdies at the par-4 No. 8 and par-5 No. 9 to make the turn at 6-over. Vance dropped back to 8-over on the No. 10 with a double-bogey. After that, she only added two strokes the rest of the way, making par on six of her final eight holes.
Freshman Alisha Lau is also tied for 111th after logging an 82. She was 2-over through four holes, but had her biggest challenge with a bogey at the par-4 No. 5 and a double-bogey at the par-4 No. 6. Following the double, she managed five pars over the next eight holes to sit at 8-over through 14. Lau lost two more strokes down the stretch to finish at 10-over.
"I know that Alisha and Gillian can score a lot better," Kelly said. "It's definitely a tough course for them because they don't hit it quite as far as the others, but they're capable of much lower scores than they shot today."
,
Colorado will pair again with Ohio State and Mississippi and will be one of the last groups to tee off, beginning from the No. 10 tee at 12:21 p.m. MT
NOTES: Colorado had the best score among it grouping. Ohio State is in 19st place at 22-over while Ole Miss is in 24th at 32-over…Lau tied the Colorado freshman record for rounds in a season with 35 and is scheduled to set the mark outright at Saturday's second round…Colorado tied for sixth in the field on the par-5s at 3-under and an average score of 485. The Buffaloes are tied for eighth on the par-3s at 3-over….Choi was one of 18 players to play the par-3s in the red, at 1-under with an average score of 2.75…Only two holes played under par on the day, the par-5 No. 14 and the par-5 No. 18…There were 39 scores worse than double-bogey in the round, including 10 on the par-4 No. 6 which played as the toughest hole of the day at +0.70.
The No. 28 ranked Buffaloes are tied with No. 18 Wake Forest after shooting an 18-over, 306. Despite the higher-than-desired score, Colorado remains right in the thick of it. The Buffaloes are on the plus side of 15th, which would get them to Monday's fourth round and five shots out of eighth, the cut line for match play.
All 24 teams shot over par rounds and only four managed single digits over par. No. 6 USC is the first round leader at 3-over, 291. Top-ranked Alabama is one stroke back at 4-over, No. 3 UCLA is third at 6-over and No. 16 Kent State is in fourth at 8-over.
Sophomore Kirsty Hodgkins had Colorado's low round, shooting 2-over, 74, and is tied for 28th overall. Senior Brittany Fan and sophomore Robyn Choi each carded 3-over, 75, and are tied for 35th.
Wake Forest's Jennifer Kupcho shot a 7-under, 65, to take a three stroke lead over Northwestern's Janet Mao. Only 10 of 132 individual had rounds in the red on Friday.
"It's a very difficult course and we knew that coming in from our experience at the regional (in 2014) and years ago in the Big 12," Colorado head coach Anne Kelly said. "It's a fair course but it will test every part of your game. They could play a U.S. Women's Open out here."
Colorado played both sides fairly similar, shooting 10-over on the front and slightly better at 8-over on the back. The Buffaloes had four birdies on each side and split their four big numbers – double-bogey or worse – with two on each side.
Colorado's four birdies on the back came at a great time. The Buffaloes had slid to 21-over, but the trio of Fan, Hodgkins and Choi each birdied the 482-yard par-5 No. 18 to pick up three strokes to close out the round. Hodgkins also birdied No. 17.
"That was a big finish for us," Kelly said. "Those three really came through once again. Can't ever complain about this team in general but those three in particular give us there all in every round. A 74 or 75 is a good solid round out here."
As one of the first groups to tee off, Colorado was in the clubhouse tied for 18th, but with half of the field just beginning their round. By the time it was over, the Buffaloes had jumped five spots. Colorado's score was the sixth best among the 12 teams with the earlier tee times.
"There's never an easy day out here," Kelly said. "We're ready to take on the challenge tomorrow. Our goal is to move into that Top 8 (for match play). To do that we need to have our top three have good days and our fourth or fifth, one of them, scoring in the mid-70s. That will help a ton."
Hodgkins began her round with four straight pars before running into trouble on the latter part of the front. She had back-to-back bogeys at No. 5 and No. 6 and wound up at 3-over at the turn. Hodgkins opened the back nine with four straight pars before making her final push. She had three birdies over the last five holes, but with a pair of bogeys on the other two, Hodgkins ended up at 2-over.
Choi was even through three, but dropped a pair of strokes with bogeys at No. 4 and No. 6 to fall to 2-over. She earned a stroke back at the par-3 No. 7 and finished the turn at 1-over. Choi was still 1-over through 12, but fell to 3-over after a double-bogey on the par-4 No. 13. After logging three straight pars, Choi finished with a bogey at No. 17, but regained that final stroke with a birdie at No. 18.
Fan had the team's best start to the round, beginning with a birdie at the 496-yard par-4 No. 1. She stayed at 1-under through four, before a bogey at the par-4 No. 5. Fan briefly moved back to the red with a birdie on the par-3 No. 7, but bogeyed the par-4 No. 8 to finish the front at even.
She remained at even through 11, but struggled down the stretch playing the next six holes at 4-over. Fan ended on a good note with a birdie at the par-5 No. 18.
Junior Gillian Vance is tied for 111th with a 10-over, 82. She had a rough front, but managed to settle in on the back end of her round. Vance was 6-over after only four holes and 8-over through seven. She started to turn it around with back-to-back birdies at the par-4 No. 8 and par-5 No. 9 to make the turn at 6-over. Vance dropped back to 8-over on the No. 10 with a double-bogey. After that, she only added two strokes the rest of the way, making par on six of her final eight holes.
Freshman Alisha Lau is also tied for 111th after logging an 82. She was 2-over through four holes, but had her biggest challenge with a bogey at the par-4 No. 5 and a double-bogey at the par-4 No. 6. Following the double, she managed five pars over the next eight holes to sit at 8-over through 14. Lau lost two more strokes down the stretch to finish at 10-over.
"I know that Alisha and Gillian can score a lot better," Kelly said. "It's definitely a tough course for them because they don't hit it quite as far as the others, but they're capable of much lower scores than they shot today."
,
Colorado will pair again with Ohio State and Mississippi and will be one of the last groups to tee off, beginning from the No. 10 tee at 12:21 p.m. MT
NOTES: Colorado had the best score among it grouping. Ohio State is in 19st place at 22-over while Ole Miss is in 24th at 32-over…Lau tied the Colorado freshman record for rounds in a season with 35 and is scheduled to set the mark outright at Saturday's second round…Colorado tied for sixth in the field on the par-5s at 3-under and an average score of 485. The Buffaloes are tied for eighth on the par-3s at 3-over….Choi was one of 18 players to play the par-3s in the red, at 1-under with an average score of 2.75…Only two holes played under par on the day, the par-5 No. 14 and the par-5 No. 18…There were 39 scores worse than double-bogey in the round, including 10 on the par-4 No. 6 which played as the toughest hole of the day at +0.70.
| BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS | ||
| Rank | Name | Score |
| T28. | Kirsty Hodgkins | 74 |
| T35. | Brittany Fan | 75 |
| T35. | Robyn Choi | 75 |
| T111. | Gillian Vance | 82 |
| T111. | Alisha Lau | 82 |
| TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS | ||
| Rank | Name | Score |
| 1. | Jennifer Kupcho, Wake Forest | 65 |
| 2.. | Janet Mao, Northwestern | 68 |
| 3. | Jillian Hollis, Georgia | 69 |
| T4. | Morgane Metraux, Florida State | 70 |
| T4. | Cheyenne Knight, Alabama | 70 |
| T4. | Rose Huang, BYU | 70 |
| TEAM SCORES | ||
| Rank | Team | Score |
| 1. | USC | 291 |
| 2. | Alabama | 292 |
| 3. | UCLA | 294 |
| 4. | Kent State | 296 |
| 5. | Duke | 298 |
| 6. | Northwestern | 299 |
| T7. | Louisville | 301 |
| T7. | Arizona | 301 |
| T7. | Florida State | 301 |
| T10. | Florida | 303 |
| T10. | Washington | 303 |
| 12. | Auburn | 304 |
| T13. | Colorado | 306 |
| T13. | Wake Forest | 306 |
| 15. | Oklahoma | 307 |
| T16. | Stanford | 308 |
| T16. | Arkansas | 308 |
| 18. | Texas | 309 |
| 19. | Ohio State | 310 |
| 20. | Furman | 312 |
| 21. | Baylor | 313 |
| 22. | Arizona State | 314 |
| 23. | Virginia | 315 |
| 24. | Ole Miss | 320 |
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