Buffaloes Finish 19th At NCAA Championship

STILLWATER, Okla. – The University of Colorado had its best of three rounds at the NCAA Women's Golf Championship, but it wasn't enough on Sunday to advance any further as the Buffaloes finished in 19^th place at 40-over, 904, at the Karsten Creek Golf Club.

The No. 28 ranked Buffaloes needed to be among the Top 15 to advance to Monday's fourth round, but fell just one stroke short. Four teams tied for 15^th at 39-over with Louisville edging Auburn, Arizona State and Wake Forest on a tiebreaker to advance.

Colroado's season isn't quite over though. Sophomore Robyn Choi, tied for 24^th overall at 4-over, 220, will play in Monday's fourth round as one of the top nine individuals not on an advancing team. The fourth round will determine the NCAA's individual champion as well as the Top 8 teams advancing to match play.

Colorado shot 9-over, 297, in the final round, four strokes better than its second round total, and nine better than the first round. However, the Buffaloes weren't able to score as well as others that were behind them after round two. Colorado entered the round tied for 14^th, but was passed by five teams including No. 26 Baylor which had the second-best round of the day at 1-under and No. 2 Arkansas which played the final round at 1-over.

"We gave it all we had," Colorado head coach Anne Kelly said. "Unfortunately we made some unforced errors coming in. We didn't have a bad day, it just wasn't good enough. They were playing hard until the end."

Top-ranked Alablama has the overall lead at 2-under after a round-best 4-under, 284. No. 3 UCLA is second at 6-over followed by No. 9 Arizona at 16-over and No. 13 Northwestern at 18-over.

Choi shot a 2-under, 70, in Sunday's third round to advance as the eighth individual and is 11 shots off the lead. Wake Forest's Jennifer Kupcho and Alabama's Cheyenne Knight share the three-round individual lead at 7-under, 209. Choi's 70 was lone under-par round for the Buffaloes on the weekend, and represents the lowest 18-hole score at an NCAA Championship in team history.

She was 1-under after a birdie at the par-4, No. 2 and stayed there through six. Choi dropped back to even with a bogey at the par-3, No. 7, but vaulted to 2-under after an eagle at the 490-yard par-5, No. 9, chipping in from the fairway about 90-yards out.

"She had a nice drive and the second shot played as a lay-up today, so she couldn't go for it on the second shot," Kelly said. "She had a nice pitch and it really flew there (into the hole). That's one area she has really worked on and become better at."

Choi moved up to 3-under with a birdie at the par-4, No. 13, but dropped back with a bogey at No. 14. She played even the rest of the way, capping off her round with a birdie at the par-5, No. 18.

Senior Brittany Fan wrapped up her collegiate career finishing in a tie for 42^nd place at 7-over, 223. She shot 2-over, 74 in her final round. Fan made birdie at No. 3, but slipped to 3-over after 13 holes. She birdied two of her final five holes, both par-5s at No. 14 and No. 18.

Sophomore Kirsty Hodgkins finished tied for 67^th overall at 11-over, 227, after shooting 4-over, 76, in the third round. She started even through three, but had three-straight bogeys to fall to 3-over. Hodgkins birdied No. 9 and stayed a 2-over through 12 until a double-bogey at No. 13. Hodgkins finished off her round with a birdie at No. 18.

Freshman Alisha Lau wrapped up her initial collegiate season finishing in 104^th place at 18-over, 234. After a challenging round one with an 82, she shot in the 70s for the final two rounds. Lau carded a 5-over, 77 in the final round. She birdied the par-5, No. 1, but that ended up being her lone red number on the day. Lau played the back side at 4-over, closing with a par at No. 18.

Junior Gillian Vance finished in 127^th place at 30-over, 246. She had her high round of the event on Sunday, shooting 13-over, 85. After playing the front nine at 6-over, she had a difficult stretch after the turn, shooting 8-over through the next six. Vance regrouped to close out her round with a pair of pars and birdie at the par-5, No. 18

"Kirsty had a rough day and Brittany didn't player her best," Kelly said. "Robyn was solid but left some out there too. We were close, but it just wasn't our week unfortunately.

"I think our team just needs to get used to being at this level and competing at the very top. We're a good solid Top 25 team, but to get to the level of a Top 10 team, we've got to get a little better."

Choi will tee off her final round at 10:40 a.m. on Monday from hole No. 1, and will pair with BYU's Rose Huang and Georgia's Jillian Hollis.

"She can hopefully relax a little more and play, and see how far she can move up and get ready for the U.S. Open," Kelly said. "This course is a great prep for that event, and I believe the team will get to stay and watch her so that will be fun for us too.

"I told a couple of them, 'I know it's not a great feeling now and that we're all kind of tired, but give it a few days to look back and they should be proud of what they've accomplished.' I would venture to say this is the best team we've had at CU and that top level keeps getting better. The 2012 team was good, but the level of play has jumped up since then. I'm very happy about what they've done and the way they have handled themselves and represented Colorado."

NOTES: Colorado finished the 2017-18 season 119-73-7 against NCAA Division I opponents…Choi's 54-hole score of 220 is Colorado's best at the NCAA Championship. Fan's 223 ties for second…With her 70, Choi takes over sole possession of the school single-season record with her 13th under par round of the season…By playing on Monday, Choi will also own the single-season round record outright at 39…Lau holds the freshman record for rounds in a season at 37…Choi's playing partner Monday, Georgia's Jillian Hollis, was the second qualifier out of the Colorado Golf Association U.S. Open event last week in Westminster. Hollis finished four shots behind Choi….Fan's career 74.24 stroke average is the best in Colorado history (min. 100 rounds). She finished her career second in rounds counting toward team score (120) and Top 20 finishes (29), fourth in rounds under par (19), fifth in career rounds (127) and low score in relation to par average (+2.34), seventh in total strokes (9,429).

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
T24.	Robyn Choi	75-75-70—220
T42.	Brittany Fan	75-74-74—223
T67.	Kirsty Hodgkins	74-77-76—227
104.	Alisha Lau	82-75-77—234
127.	Gillian Vance	82-79-85—246
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank	Name	Score
T1.	Jennifer Kupcho, Wake Forest	65-74-70—209
T1.	Cheyenne Knight, Alabama	70-69-70—209
T3.	Bianca Pagdanganan, Arizona	71-68-71—210
T3.	Jaclyn Lee, Ohio State	72-72-66—210
T5.	Lauren Stephenson, Alabama	74-69-70—213
T5.	Kim Metraux, Florida State	73-69-71—213
TEAM SCORES
Rank	Team	Score
1.	Alabama	292-286-284—862
2.	UCLA	294-279-297—870
3.	Arizona	301-291-288—880
4.	Northwestern	299-293-290—882
5.	USC	291-298-296—885
6.	Duke	298-298-293—889
7.	Stanford	308-291-291—890
8.	Kent State	296-299-296—891
9.	Florida State	301-294-299—894
10.	Baylor	313-295-287—895
11.	Arkansas	208-300-289—897
12.	Furman	312-293-294—899
13.	Texas	309-300-291—900
14.	Washington	303-300-299—902
T15.	Louisville	301-300-302—903
T15.	Auburn	304-306-293—903
T15.	Arizona State	314-297-292—903
T15.	Wake Forest	306-301-296—903
19.	Colorado	306-301-297—904
20.	Oklahoma	307-303-295—905
21.	Florida	303-303-303—909
22.	Virginia	315-302-297—914
23.	Ohio State	310-318-298—926
24.	Ole Miss	320-303-305—928

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Players Mentioned

Robyn Choi

Brittany Fan

Kirsty Hodgkins

Alisha Lau

Gillian Vance

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