Stewart Impressive At Amateur Tournaments

BOULDERGÇöSophomore Alex Stewart returned to Boulder to start her semester a little late due to the fact that she took part in a pair of early January amateur tournaments, looking extremely impressive in both of them.

She opened the year at the WomenGÇÖs South Atlantic Amateur Golf Championship, also known as The Sally, considered one of the majors of womenGÇÖs amateur golf in the United States. Played at the Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach, Fla., she finished fourth there with a 72-hole total of 290, or 2-over par.

After shooting a first round 74 in which she suffered a double bogey on the par 3, 16th after sitting at even par through the first 15 holes, she tore up the course in the second round shooting a 4-under par 68. She was 5-under through 16 after a stretch of three birdies in four holes from Nos. 12-15.

GÇ£I was just on my game,GÇ¥ Stewart said. GÇ£I hit a ton of greens and made some easy birdies and everything was going right.GÇ¥

In the third round, she started the first two holes at 3-over par before rebounding to shoot 1-under par over the next 12 holes. She then had a stretch of three bogeys in the final four holes to finish her worst round, a 5-over par 77 performance. But not unexpectedly she rebounded and shot under par in the final round to push to a fourth place finish.

She played the entire final round at even or 1-under par, earning a birdie on the second hole and a bogey on the fifth. She played even until getting a birdie on the 11th and after struggling again on the 16th, she immediately rebounded and birdied the next hole to finish under par.

She then remained in Florida for the 80th Annual D. Jones/Dougherty Amateur Championship, a match-play event in Fort Lauderdale. After one round of qualifying she was seeded into the 32-woman event.

She won three matches and advanced to the semifinals where she fell to 17-year-old Jaye Marie Green, the No. 1 ranked amateur in the United States according to the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com rankings.

GÇ£I played solid (against Green),GÇ¥ Stewart said. GÇ£I just didnGÇÖt make enough birdies. I had some opportunities, but they just didnGÇÖt fall that day. In the quarterfinals (against No. 2 seed Kelly Walsh), I got off to a really good start, I was three under on the front nine and remained solid on the back nine.GÇ¥

Stewart fell 2 and 1 to Green at the Coral Ridge Country Club, who then fell to Meaghan Stasi 1-up on Saturday. Prior to facing Green, Stewart defeated Walsh, 2 and 1.

GÇ£I think I played really solid at both tournaments,GÇ¥ Stewart said. GÇ£My ball-striking was really good throughout both and my short game was pretty good, too.GÇ¥

Stewart and the Buffs are just two weeks from the start of the spring season, as the Buffs will open the toughest spring schedule in school history at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational in Tucson at the Vistoso Golf Club February 5-7.

Other spring dates include the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, the All State Sugar Bowl, the Fighting Irish Spring Invitational and the Anuenue Spring Break Challenge in Maui. After the Pac-12 Championships, the Buffs for the first time will host the NCAA West Regional at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, on May 10-12.

GÇ£Individually, IGÇÖd like to get my scoring average down around par and win a college tournament,GÇ¥ Stewart said. GÇ£As far as the team goes, we just want to make it to nationals. We definitely want to do really well at RegionalGÇÖs since weGÇÖll be home.GÇ¥

Colorado University Athletics