STANFORD, Calif. – The No. 52-ranked Colorado women’s golf team is tied for fifth after the first round of the Stanford Intercollegiate, shooting a 2-over-par score of 286 Friday at the Stanford Golf Course.
Colorado played toe-to-toe with the best teams in the nation. The Buffaloes matched No. 24 Arizona State at 2-under, 286 on the par 71 Stanford course, with those two teams just one shot behind No. 25 UCLA. Host and No. 3-ranked Stanford shot 13-under and has a six-stroke lead over No. 4 Oregon. No. 28 Arizona was the only other team to shoot under par, one stroke behind the Ducks at 6-under.
The Buffaloes had a very steady day, hovering around even for the entire round. The Buffaloes were even as a team through six, but jumped into the red, by playing the seventh through ninth at 2-under.
After the turn, Colorado had a minor setback at the 383-yard 10th, dropping three strokes on what proved to be the toughest hole of the day for the field. Collectively, the Buffaloes shot 1-over through the final eight holes to stay right in the mix for a top-five position at the stacked tournament, which features 10 of the top 25 and 15 of the top 40 teams in the nation.
“They showed up ready to play first thing this morning and stayed poised over 18 holes,” Colorado head coach Madeleine Sheils said. “Their presence was steady throughout the round.”
Sophomore Ellen O’Shaughnessy had Colorado’s best round of the day at 2-under, 69, and is tied for seventh with six other golfers after 18 holes, just two shots out of second and three out of the lead. O’Shaughnessy got off to a fantastic start playing the front nine at 3-under, with the help of four birdies on her first eight holes. She dropped back to 2-under after a bogey on the tough 10th, but made par on her last eight holes to clinch her third career round in the 60s.
“She’s playing great golf,” Sheils said. “She’s doing everything well, hitting, chipping and we’ve really seen her putting improve. As boring as it may sound, it’s all about continuing to commit to our process of focusing, having great speed and a lot of patience and picking the golf course apart with a good strategy.”
Redshirt sophomore Vanessa Ngo is tied for 23rd after an even-par 71. She opened with a birdie at the 501-yard par 5 first before making the turn at even. At the turn, Ngo achieved a rarity on the day, making birdie at the 383-yard 10th, one of only two on the day in the 100-player field. She dropped back to 1-over through 14 before making par on three-straight and then climbing back to even with her third birdie of the day at the 422-yard par-4 18th.
Junior Carolyn Fuller is tied with 15 other players for 32nd overall after a 1-over, 72. Fuller was 1-over through 12 before having her best stretch of the day with back-to-back birdies at the par-4 13th and par-3 14th. She was in position for an under-par round before dropping a stroke on each of her last two holes.
Freshman Teemapat Pateetin is tied for 54th after shooting 3-over, 74. Junior Maya McVey is tied for 78th at 5-over. Both Pateetin and McVey had their struggles early, but rallied for good finishes. McVey made par on her final eight holes while Pateetin played the final seven at 1-under with a birdie at the 12th and then six-straight pars to end her day.
“We played with a lot of confidence and poise today,” Sheils said. “There was so much good in their games, especially their short game. These greens have a lot of slope and you have to play the right section of the green, but even when you do, you’re eventually going to have some really tough two putts to make and some tough up and downs, and the team was converting those in an impressive way all day.”
Stanford’s Paula Martin Sampedro is the round one leader after shooting 5-under, 67 on her home course. She has a one-stroke lead over her teammate Meja Ortengren and Northwestern’s Arianna Lau, both with a 4-under 68.
Colorado will pair with No. 25 UCLA and No. 28 Arizona for Saturday’s second round, starting at 9:25 a.m. off the No. 10 tee.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank
Name
Score (To Par)
T7.
Ellen O’Shaughnessy
69 (-2)
T23.
Vanessa Ngo
71 (E )
T32.
Carolyn Fuller
72 (+1)
T54.
Teemapat Pateetin
74 (+3)
T78.
Maya McVey
76 (+5)
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank
Name
Score (To Par)
1.
Paula Martin Sampedro, Stanford
66 (-5)
T2.
Meja Ortengren, Stanford
67 (-4)
T2.
Kinsley Ni, Arizona
67 (-4)
T2.
Arianna Lau, Northwestern
67 (-4)
T5.
Jasmine Koo, USC
68 (-3)
T5.
Pimkwan Chookaew, Iowa State
68 (-3)
TEAM SCORES
Rank
Team
Score (To Par)
1.
Stanford
271 (-13)
2.
Oregon
277 (-7)
3.
Arizona
278 (-6)
4.
UCLA
285 (+1)
T5.
Colorado
286 (+2)
T5.
Arizona State
286 (+2)
T7.
Pepperdine
287 (+3)
T7.
Iowa State
287 (+3)
9.
USC
288 (+4)
10.
Northwestern
289 (+5)
11.
Oklahoma State
291 (+7)
T12.
UC Davis
292 (+8)
T12.
Virginia
292 (+8)
14.
LSU
294 (+10)
15.
Texas
296 (+12)
16.
San Jose State
297 (+13)
T17.
Washington
299 (+15)
T17.
Tennessee
299 (+15)
19.
San Francisco
310 (+26)
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