Women Golfers Finish Third at Peg Barnard Invite

STANFORD, CALIF. — University of Colorado women's golf team finished its first tournament of the spring season here Sunday in third place at the Peg Barnard Invitational, hosted by the Stanford Cardinal.

The Buffaloes, ranked 43 in the nation in the latest Golfweek poll, combined to score 294 or 10-over par in the final round of the 36-hole event. They posted a 19-over par, 587 overall team score for the tournament. The No. 1 ranked Cardinal won the tournament with a 3-over par 571 and carded a 1-over 285 score in the final round. 10 strokes back recording a second-place finish was Oregon with a 13-over 581 team score, while CU finished third. Fourth place belongs to San Jose State, who is in at 26-over par 594, while New Mexico State rounds out the top-five teams coming in at No. 5 with a team score of 598.

"We walked away from this event knowing we are a very competitive team," head coach Anne Kelly said. "It is good to have a couple tournament rounds under our belt. The course was tough - very wet and it played long. I think everyone knows what areas of their game they need to work on and we will keep improving from here."

Robyn Choi posted the best two-day total, firing a 1-over par on Sunday and finished with a 70-72-142 scorecard to finish third overall. She had three birdies, 11 pars and four bogeys in the final round. Choi started out strong with five straight pars before carding her first bogey on hole No. 6. Starting on hole No. 1 she finished the front nine only 1-over par. The back nine holes were a bit more up and down for Choi as she posted two bogeys in a row and off set them with a birdie, as she closed out her back nine with even par.

"I am really proud of Robyn and her 3rd place finish. She has been working extremely hard and this is a great finish in a quality field," Kelly said.

Senior Esther Lee followed suit from Saturday shooting the same score for the second straight day. She fired a 1-over par through the final 18 holes and finished at 2-over par (72-72-144) for the event. Lee finished the first nine holes at 1-under par and then hit a few bumps on the back side, making 2-over to finish with her 1-over 72. She collected, two birdies, and 13 pars on the day to finish tied for fifth overall.

"Esther had another very solid performance with her 5th place finish, it is a good start to our spring and we are looking forward to the next tournament at the end of this month," Kelly said.

Junior Brittany Fan finished the tournament at 7-over par (72-77-149) and struggled a little bit on the final day adding five strokes from Saturday. She had a little rough start scoring five bogeys in the front nine but settled down a little bit to par six of the back nine. Fan placed tied for 18^th overall.

Sophomore Lauryn Keating improved her final round score, carding a 2-over par, 73 and posted a 79-73-152 total to finish tied for 33^rd overall. Keating had a steady day of golf recording 13 pars and two birdies on the day.

"I was also really happy for Lauryn she had a very solid round and played her last seven holes 1-under par," Kelly said.

Freshman Kirsty Hodgkins closed out the tournament at 15-over par (79-78-157). She struggled on the course a little bit yesterday and improved by one stroke on Sunday recording eight pars and two birdies on the day.

"I know Kirsty and Brittany were a bit dissapointed with their rounds today, but they are tough competitors and will work hard to get ready for the next event.," Kelly said.

Stanford's Andrea Lee earned medalist honors, shooting 8-uncer par (134), six strokes ahead of Oregon's Kelsey Ulep posting a 140 or 2-under par. Colorado's Robyn Choi finished third overall with Casey Canielson from Stanford came in one stroke behind Choi at 143 and Esther Lee and My Leander from San Jose State closed out the top five both scoring a 144 total.

The Buffaloes will have one week off before their next scheduled tournament in the San Luis Obispo, Calif competing in the Bruin Wave Invitational on Feb. 27-28.

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS

RANK	NAME	DAY 1	DAY 2	FINAL
3rd	Robyn Choi	70	72	142
T5	Esther Lee	72	72	144
T18	Brittany Fan	72	77	149
T33	Lauryn Keating	79	73	152
T48	Kirsty Hodgkins	79	78	157

TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS

RANK	NAME	DAY 1	DAY 2	FINAL
1st	Andrea Lee, Stanford	67	67	134
2^nd	Kelsey Ulep, Oregon	71	69	140
3^rd	Robyn Choi, Colorado	70	72	142
4^th	Casey Danielson, Stanford	74	69	143
T5th	My Leander, San Jose State	71	73	144
T5th	Esther Lee, Colorado	72	72	144

TEAM SCORES

RANK	TEAM	DAY 1	DAY 2	FINAL
1.	Stanford	286	285	571
2.	Oregon	292	289	581
3.	Colorado	293	294	587
4.	San Jose State	294	300	594
5.	New Mexico State	303	295	598
6.	UC Davis	301	298	599
7.	Oregon State	303	298	601
8.	Nevada	299	303	602
9.	Washington State	306	300	606
10.	Long Beach State	309	302	611
11.	San Francisco	312	311	623

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Players Mentioned

Robyn Choi

Brittany Fan

Kirsty Hodgkins

Lauryn Keating

Esther Lee