At the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, Calif., the CU women’s golf team showed that it can be competitive among the top teams in the nation.
Finishing seventh behind No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Southern California and No. 4 Arizona State, the Buffs were part of a Pac-12 showcase in the heart of the conference’s region.
CU golf team placed 7th in last week in the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge. (CU Independent/Josh Shettler)
The Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge will soon be declared Golfweek’s highest-quality field of any tournament in the country this season, as the competition included several of the NCAA’s leading teams.
Though the Buffs lost to a few familiar Pac-12 teams, CU head coach Anne Kelly was optimistic about the results. Kelly told the CU Sports Information Department that the Buffs’ ability to finish with some of the best teams in the country showcases her team’s improvement.
Senior Emily Talley led the way for the Buffs, tying for 10th individually with a cumulative score of 221. Sophomore Alex Stewart tied for 23rd with a 225, and senior Jessica Wallace tied for 31st with a 227. Sophomore twins Jenny and Kristin Coleman ironically finished with the same score of 237, tying for 55th.
The Buffs finished the tournament Wednesday in 7th overall, the same position they were at when they entered the final round.
Kelly said her team closed out the round on the best of what the golf course had to offer.
“We finished our day on the hardest holes with the more difficult weather conditions,” Kelly said. “To know we weren’t losing ground on everybody finishing on those holes with that weather, it’s a good accomplishment, especially in this field.”
Talley commented on the challenging course: “It was definitely more difficult today. The pins were tougher, they rolled the greens, it was windy and the round ended with quite a bit of rain on our final few holes.”
While the Buffs ended on a high note in California, problems await in Boulder as the team struggles to find a good practice area. The team remains in Boulder for the next 10 days before traveling down south to the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, La., Feb. 26-28.
“We’ll get caught up in school and hope for some warmer temperatures so we can get outside,” Kelly said. “Hopefully our practice facility will be done soon, as well, so we can get in there and get some short game work done.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Joseph Wirth at Joseph.wirth@colorado.edu.
Statistics and quotations courtesy of the CU Sports Information Department.
