FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Colorado Buffaloes women’s golf team, minus Morgan Miller, traveled to Fort Collins to compete in the Colonel Wollenburg Classic on Monday and Tuesday.
The black and gold finished at No. 5 in the team rankings with a combined score of 3-over 867. The Buffs stayed consistent throughout the tournament, scoring a combined 2-over, par and 1-over in each of their three rounds.
Vanessa Ngo, a sophomore from California, competed in her first tournament of the year as an individual.
Through her first two rounds, the sophomore finished right at par shooting a 1-under 71 in her first round and 1-over 73 in her second. Ngo was tied at spot No. 21 on the leaderboard with teammate Ellen O’Shaughnessy.
On Tuesday, Ngo stepped it up.
In the third round, Ngo had two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine to stay at par. On the back nine she landed four birdies and five pars to end the round 4-under 68. She finished as the highest Buff on the podium tied at the No. 9 spot with a score of 4-under 212.
Ngo shot the best round by a Buff for the tournament and could have helped Colorado move up a couple spots in the team rankings if she were not competing as an individual.
The top three Buffs contributing to the team score were all within three strokes of each other.
Freshman Sydney Givens finished the tournament with a 2-under 214, with her best score coming in the second round (-3). In her second collegiate start, Givens played better and with more confidence than in her first tournament. She improved her score by 12 strokes and jumped over 20 spots on the individual leaderboard.
As the California native plays more tournaments and gets more experience under her belt, she will be a key piece of this Colorado squad.
Next on the leaderboard was sophomore Carolyn Fuller, who finished the classic right at even par. Fuller shot 1-over and 2-over in her first two rounds, landing her out of the top 30 individuals after Monday.
On Tuesday, Fuller managed to shoot a 3-under 69, which pulled her up 11 spots on the leaderboard to a tie at No. 21.
Another freshman with potential for the Buffs is O'Shaughnessy, whose score was even through her first two rounds. In her third round she shot a 1-over 73, leaving her at 1-over for the whole tournament. This score landed O’Shaughnessy tied at the No. 23 spot. The Dublin native finished one spot lower on the leaderboard than in her first tournament, but was able to lower her score by three strokes.
The freshman duo between Givens and O'Shaughnessy could be huge for the Buffs going forward.
The last Buff who contributed to the team score was senior Maria Eidhagen Harrouch. Harrouch didn’t have the same juice she had last week, as she finished 23 spots lower than the previous week at No. 31.
Harrouch played a solid first round with a score of 1-under 71, but could not follow it up in the next two rounds. Harrouch finished the tournament off scoring a 2-over 74 and a 5-over 77. She ended with a total score of 6-over 222.
For the Buffs to be competitive they need their only senior to play well and be a leader for the rest of the squad.
The only Buff who competed with the team but did not contribute to the score was sophomore Francesca Sumcad. She has struggled in these first two tournaments of the year scoring 18-over in her first and now 14-over in Fort Collins.
Sumcad played well in the first and third round scoring a 2-over 74 and 3-over 75 respectively. It was the second round that tanked her score. She shot four bogeys, a triple bogey and on hole 10 shot five strokes over par. Sumcad finished the second round with a 9-over 81. She ended the tournament tied at No. 44.
Colorado’s 5th place finish was only three strokes away from coming in third place, however was quite far from second or first. UC Davis took the win with a score of 21-under, nine strokes clear of Cal Poly, who finished in second place scoring at 12-under.
Colorado can compete with these teams if the whole squad can put it together for three consecutive rounds.
The Buffs will travel to Highlands Ranch on October 4 to compete in the Ron Moore Intercollegiate.
Cover photo by CUBuffs.com.
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