Buffs women’s golf starts season strong with 2nd-place team finish
The Colorado Buffaloes women’s golf team kicked off their season this week at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place, Washington. They finished with their best result yet at the Leadership and Golf Invitational, finishing second out of 17 teams, only trailing the Eastern Michigan Eagles.
The two-day tournament featured 36 holes of golf in a shotgun setup on Monday, and a final 18 on Tuesday morning. The Buffs closed out the event at 6-over par, falling short to Eastern Michigan, the only team that was able to harness the tough conditions on Tuesday and finish under par (-1).
The Scottish-style links course–known for its numerous sweeping elevation changes–plays just under 6,100 yards with a difficult slope index of 129.
Senior Maya McVey led the squad with a standout performance. She finished with the best leaderboard position of her collegiate career at 6-under par and with the second-best individual performance of the tournament. She became just the 11th Colorado women’s golfer to go under par in all three rounds of a tournament, and her total score of 210 tied for the 13th best in team history across 54 holes of tournament golf. McVey’s Tuesday round was highlighted by a fantastic back nine, where she made par on 8 out of 9 holes, and an eagle on the drivable par 4 12th hole.
The Buffs entered the tournament with a great amount of experience at the course, as all five golfers returned from last year's event. They carded a strong 3-under through the first 36 holes of play on Monday, and held their second-place position on Tuesday with a 9-over par. Very difficult and windy conditions on Tuesday caused scores to increase across the board.
Sophomore Teemapat Pateetin recorded her fourth top-20 finish for Colorado, tying for 17th at 4-over par and shooting the second-best score on the team on the difficult Tuesday, with a 73.
Senior Carolyn Fuller opened the tournament on Monday firing a co-team best 69 on the first 18 holes of the day; ultimately she finished just one stroke behind Pateetin and placed 23rd at 5-over par.
Junior Ellen O’Shaughnessy tied for 33rd at 8-over par, collecting seven birdies over the course of the event. She had a great second round score of 71 on Monday.
Sophomore Brenna Higgins made the first of two eagles for the team on the par-4 12th on Monday, also picking up three birdies throughout her rounds and finishing tied for 58th at 12-over par.
The Buffs head back home to Colorado next week for the Golfweek Red Sky Challenge, which will start on Sept. 21 in Wolcott, Colorado, at Red Sky Golf Course.
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