SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Colorado women’s golf entered the Causeway Invitational as the favorite, and played the part well as the Buffaloes are atop the leaderboard after the first 36 holes played Monday at the Del Paso Country Club.
The top-ranked team in the field, No. 47 Colorado, was the only team to score in the red on the day, finishing at 3-under and holds a three-stroke lead over host UC Davis heading into Tuesday’s final round. The Buffaloes were also the only team to shoot under par in both rounds. CU had the lead by three strokes after the first round at 1-under and held its ground in the afternoon session. The Buffaloes and Aggies both shot 2-under in the second round.
“I was happy with the way we started,” Colorado head coach Madeleine Sheils said. “We looked solid first thing this morning and no doubt we competed until the last putt. There were some hiccups in between but overall a pretty solid day of golf.”
Sophomore Ellen O’Shaughnessy is tied for third overall after two rounds at 3-under, just one shot out of the lead held by UC Davis’ Vani Karimanal and San Francisco’s Eva Pett. O’Shaughnessy and Karimanal were the only two golfers in the field to go under par in both rounds. The Colorado sophomore shot a 71 in the first round and followed that up with a 70 in the second.
O’Shaughnessy had a little bit of a rough start to her day, playing her first four holes at 4-over, before quickly settling into the round. She proceeded to play the next 20 holes bogey-free, adding six birdies in that span and eventually ending the day with nine.
“I’m so impressed with Ellen’s steadiness on the golf course,” Sheils said. “She’s become a really smart player who never gives up. It is impressive that she had nine birdies on her card today, that says she’s doing a lot of things well in her game.”
Freshman Teemapat Pateetin is in fifth place at 2-under, just one shot back of O’Shaughnessy and UC Riverside’s Mitzi Duarte. Pateetin had Colorado’s best single round, opening with a collegiate-best 69 during the morning session. She was even through eight before picking up birdies at the 11th and 13th to get to 2-under. Pateetin dropped one stroke at the par-4 17th, but then recorded back-to-back birdies at the 18th and first, to claim a share of the first round lead alongside San Diego State’s Manon Martin.
Pateetin kept herself in contention for the overall title with a 73 in the second round, staying within two shots of the lead.
“(Teem) played with a ton of confidence and composure,” Sheils said. “She was striking her driver and her chipping and wedge play was great too. When her driver is good, she can put herself in such a great position and it really frees up the rest of her game. It was fun to see her in such a good place today.”
Junior Carolyn Fuller was 1-over for the day, just three shots out of the top five. She carded a 74 in the first round but bounced back to log her team-best seventh under-par round of the season with a 1-under 71 in the afternoon session.
Third-year golfer Vanessa Ngo is tied for 20th at 4-over. She had her better of two rounds in the afternoon, logging an even-par 72, highlighted by an eagle on the 378-yard par-4 third.
Maya McVey rounded out Colorado’s team scorers, tying for 23rd place at 5-over. Individually, Brenna Higgins is tied for 35th at 7-over while Ananthi Vivek is tied for 40th at 8-over. Higgins had Colorado’s second-best first round, recording a 70 for her third under-par round of the season. Vivek, playing in just her second collegiate tournament, had a 77 in the first round and improved by two shots in the second round with a 75.
Colorado will pair with second-place UC Davis and third-place Sacramento State in Tuesday’s final round, set to begin with a shotgun start at 9:30 a.m. MT. Those groups will begin play between the first and fourth holes.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
Rank
Name
Score (To Par)
T3.
Ellen O’Shaughnessy
71-70—141 (-3)
5.
Teemapat Pateetin
69-73—142 (-2)
T12.
Carolyn Fuller
74-71—145 (+1)
T20.
Vanessa Ngo
76-72—148 (+4)
T23.
Maya McVey
73-76—149 (+5)
T35.
*Brenna Higgins
70-81—151 (+7)
T40.
*Ananthi Vivek
77-75—152 (+8)
*Playing As Individuals
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
Rank
Name
Score (To Par)
T1.
Vani Karimanl, UC Davis
70-70—140 (-4)
T1.
Eva Pett, San Francisco
73-67—140 (-4)
T3.
Ellen O’Shaughnessy, Colorado
71-70—141 (-3)
T3.
Mitzi Duarte, UC Riverside
72-69—141 (-3)
5.
Teemapat Pateetin, Colorado
69-73—142 (-2)
TEAM SCORES
Rank
Team
Score (To Par)
1.
Colorado
287-286—573 (-3)
2.
UC Davis
290-286—576 (E)
3.
Sacramento State
295-285—580 (+4)
4.
San Diego State
291-292—583 (+7)
5.
San Francisco
294-298—592 (+16)
6.
Santa Clara
300-296—596 (+20)
7.
Seattle
307-291—598 (+22)
8.
Cal Poly
301-299—600 (+24)
9.
UC Riverside
306-300—606 (+30)
10.
Nevada
310-300—610 (+34)
