Buffs Finish 11th At Final Pac-12 Championship

PULLMAN, Wash. — Colorado finished 11th at the 2024 Pac-12 Women's Golf Championship following a final round of 7-over 295 at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club on Tuesday.
 
The Buffaloes closed the books on the Pac-12 era with a final 54-hole score of 25-over 889, three strokes behind host Washington State.
 
Top-ranked Stanford won the team title at 28-under 836, eight strokes ahead of No. 6 USC. The top four teams from the second round stayed unchanged on Tuesday and distanced themselves from the rest of the field. No. 14 Oregon finished third at 16-under 848 while No. 4 UCLA was fourth at 12 under, a full 13 strokes ahead of fifth-place Washington (+1).
 
Colorado was never able to make a serious move out of the 11th spot. A pair of birdies to open at the par-5 10th by seniors Hailey Schalk and Sabrina Iqbal got the Buffaloes to 2 under, but the four scoring golfers dropped seven strokes over the next four holes and played in that 5-to-10 over range the rest of the round.
 
Colorado avoided the double-bogey or higher numbers, but had only 12 birdies against 19 bogeys for the round.
 
Schalk, Iqbal and academic senior Lauren Waxer-Gooding all finished on solid notes for what could potentially be their last rounds of collegiate golf. Waxer-Gooding, scheduled to graduate in a couple weeks, had her best tournament of the spring season, tying for 35th overall at 5-over 221. She had three birdies on the day, including on her final hole at the 485-yard par-5 ninth to finish the final round with a 73 and clinch Colorado's low 54-hole score for the first time this season.
 
Schalk, a fourth-year senior also on track to graduate, tied for 40th at 7-over 223 following an even-par 72 in the final round. She was under par for much of her round, climbing to 2 under through 11 holes, but dropped three strokes over a four hole stretch on the front to drop back to 1 over. Schalk rallied back to even with a birdie at the 355-yard par-4 seventh, before finishing off her final two holes with a pair of pars.
 
Iqbal finished tied for 37th at 6-over 222 after shooting 1-under 71 in the final round. Iqbal, who was 3-under collectively over the final 36 holes, had five birdies on the day, including back-to-back on her final two holes at the eighth and ninth.
 
Iqbal, who will soon begin prepping for the EPSON Tour and 2024 U.S. Women's Open, has an outside shot at advancing to NCAA Regionals as an individual, as does sophomore Morgan Miller who missed the Pac-12 Championship with an injury. The top 36 individuals not on one of the 72 qualifying teams will be invited to participate in the NCAA field which will be announced on Wednesday, April 24, from 12-1 p.m. MT on the GOLF Channel. Miller is listed at No. 147 in the latest collegiate rankings while Iqbal is No. 174.
 
Freshman Francesca Sumcad tied for 49th at 14-over 230 in her first collegiate conference championship after shooting a 79 in the final round. Junior Maria Eidhagen Harrouch tied for 51st overall, one stroke back at 15-over 231 after an 81 on Tuesday.
 
"Happy for our seniors who all played solid today," said Colorado head coach Anne Kelly who is wrapping up her 27th and final season as the Buffaloes' head coach. "Unfortunately, we just couldn't get it going as a team this week. The team showed a lot of determination and fought hard. But that's the tough part about golf - you can give it everything you have and sometimes it just doesn't go your way. I'm proud of this team. They never gave up and played hard until the final putt."
 
USC's Catherine Park won medalist honors at 15-under 201 after a round of 67 on Tuesday. Stanford's Kelly Xu was the runner up at 10 under while Oregon's Kiara Romero was third at 9 under. Both Xu and Romero shot the day's low round of 65 to get into the top three.