TUCSON, Ariz. – It was a tale of (almost) two rounds.
The No. 48-ranked Colorado women’s golf team fought off a rocky start with a second-round surge that has the Buffaloes in a top-five position heading into the final day of the Arizona Thunderbird Intercollegiate at the Tucson Country Club.
Colorado is unofficially tied with No. 47 Texas Tech for fifth place at 21-over par. Monday’s second round was suspended due to darkness, with seven of 15 teams needing two players each to finish their final hole. The Buffaloes are one of those seven teams and will have junior Carolyn Fuller and freshman Teemapat Pateetin join 12 others who will play their final hole at 8:15 a.m. MT on Tuesday, with the third and final round commencing immediately after.
Top-ranked Stanford, one of eight teams to complete the second round, is atop the leaderboard at 5-under, well ahead of No. 21 Baylor, in second at 9-over. Host and No. 22 Arizona is in third at 11-over with BYU in fourth at 13-over.
Three Buffaloes golfers completed their second round, but the suspended status makes the full team’s scores unofficial until the scorecards are submitted at the end of the second round. Regardless of the outcome of those final two holes, Colorado will enter the final round on the heels of an impressive comeback.
Colorado found itself in 10th place after the first round, shooting 20-over-par, but the Buffaloes regrouped over the second 18 holes, adding just a single stroke to that total with two holes left to be played and in the process leaping up five spots in the standings.
“It was a really great comeback today,” Colorado head coach Madeleine Sheils said. “We were disappointed in the poor start; the course played harder than expected; it was much firmer. We had some early misses that played more penalizing than they did in the practice round. After a few of those, we were just a little shaky for the rest of that round, but I’m so proud of the way they fought back.
“Golf is such a mental game. It’s amazing how you can shoot two such different numbers all within the same day. But sometimes just being able to get out a fresh score card, physically turn the page to the next round, that is what you need.”
Fuller led the momentum shift in the afternoon. After recording a 5-over, 77, in the first round, Fuller is one hole away from potentially logging her fifth round in the 60s of the season. She is at 3-under in her second round with the 407-yard, par-4 11th left, and unofficially tied for 14th overall at 2-over.
Fuller birdied three of her first five holes in the second round and then made the team’s first eagle of the spring on the 513-yard, par-5 first. She landed her second shot from 230 yards onto the green within 12 feet and sank the putt. Fuller dropped back to 2-under during the last part of her round, but made birdie on the par-5 10th to get back to 3-under before play was suspended with one hole to go.
While Fuller’s soon-to-be official sub-par round stood out, all five Buffaloes contributed to the second round surge. Sophomore Ellen O’Shaughnessy is in 16th at 3-over, shooting three strokes better in her second round. Pateetin struggled in her first round with an 81, but is one hole away from playing an even second as she sits tied for 44th, unofficially at 10-over.
“I’m very proud of the resilience our team showed for the second round,” Fuller said. “We realized it was playing more difficult in the morning and all had a very good attitude for a long day and kept grinding.”
Vanessa Ngo is tied for 41st at 9-over. Maya McVey is listed as tied for 49th 11-over, but Sheils expects a one-stroke correction in her favor when the second round scorecards are officially submitted.
Stanford’s Andrea Revuelta is at 9-under through 36 holes, holding a five-shot lead heading into the final round.
Colorado will again be paired with Texas Tech, Grand Canyon and Seattle University for Tuesday’s final round. All four teams have two players with one hole left in their respective second rounds. The groups will begin the third round between the No. 10 and 13 tees beginning at 8:30 a.m. MT.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank
Name
Score (To Par)
T14.
Carolyn Fuller
77- (-3)—(+2)
16.
Ellen O’Shaughnessy
75-72—147 (+3)
T41.
Vanessa Ngo
76-77—153 (+9)
T44.
Teemapat Pateetin
81- (+1)—(+10)
T49.
Maya McVey
80-75—155 (+11)
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank
Name
Score (To Par)
1.
Andrea Revuelta, Stanford
66-69—135 (-9)
T2.
Paula Martin Sampedro, Stanford
68-72—140 (-5)
T2.
Pimchompoo Chaisilprungruang, Charlotte
69-71—140 (-5)
T2.
Silje Ohma, Baylor
71-69—140 (-5)
5.
Maria Jose Barragan, BYU
73-68—141 (-4)
TEAM SCORES
Rank
Team
Score (To Par)
1.
Stanford
288-283—571 (-5)
2.
Baylor
295-290—585 (+9)
3.
Arizona
295-292—587 (+11)
4.
BYU
300-289—589 (+13)
T5.
Colorado
308- +1 (17)—(+21)
T5.
Texas Tech
301- +8 (17)—(+21)
7.
Arizona State
300-299—599 (+23)
T8.
Wisconsin
307-301—608 (+32)
T8.
Seattle
307- +13 (17)—(+32)
T10.
Oklahoma State
297-312—609 (+33)
T10.
Little Rock
303- +18 (17)—(+33)
T10.
Cal Poly
308- +13 (17)—(+33)
13.
Charlotte
303-309—612 (+36)
14.
Grand Canyon
311- +19 (17)—(+42)
15.
Marshall
316- +43 (17)—(+71)
