W-Golf Slips To Eighth

            AUSTIN, Texas - The University of Colorado women's golf team shot a second round 323 and slipped to eighth place after 36 holes of the Big 12 Championships here Saturday with a two-day total 630. Senior Allison Rella continues to pace the Buffs, as the first round leader shot a second round 82 and fell to eighth place.
 

             Oklahoma State continues to lead the team race, but their two stroke lead was sliced in half as the Cowgirls shot a second round 307 while Texas carded a second loop 306.  OSU's two round total is 603, followed by the Longhorns (603) which are looking to make it two straight titles.  Sixteen strokes separate UT from third place Missouri (619) and Baylor (619).  Ten of the 12 teams averaged a 12.6 average stroke addition to their first round scores.  The exceptions were ninth place Iowa State (317-314-631) and 10th place Kansas State (320-314-634) which managed to improve three and six strokes, respectively.

            The Cowgirls' Annie Thurman-Young, who was tied for the lead with Rella after Friday's round, improved her lead to seven strokes on the field.  The only player to shoot under par Saturday, her 70-71-141 is seven strokes ahead of Texas' Perry Swenson (75-73-148), who jumped from 12th on Friday to second today.  Teammate Lisa Ferrero and Missouri's Maria Ohlsson are in third with a two-round 150.

            For the second time in as many tournaments, Colorado had to count at least three rounds in the 80s towards its team score.

            Hannah Hoch proved to be the Buffs' constant on Saturday, as she carded her second straight round of 78, and was the team's only better than 80 round.  She improves to 23rd place with a 156.  Making the turn 6-over, she had a bogey on 10, then capitalized on three straight birdies and shot par on 14 and 15 to give the sophomore some breathing room.  She then went double, par, par for an even back nine and +6 on the day.

            Despite Rella shooting 10-over Saturday, she remains just two strokes out of third place and a single stroke out of the top five.  After going 3-under on her front nine yesterday, she was par through her first two holes before being broken by three bogeys and a double on the remainder of the front to go +5.  She only had a pair of bogeys in her entire round Friday.  She made up some ground shooting par on three of her next four holes, but had another bogey on 14 and a double on 15.  She came into the clubhouse riding three straight pars.

            Maria Persson-Gulda added four strokes to her first round and slipped five places to 31st with a 78-81-159.  After the turn she had shot par on five holes and closed out the round with her lone birdie of the second round to go 3-over on the back nine, but it wasn't enough to make up for going 6-over on the front with four bogeys, including a triple on her fifth hole. 

            Jessie Malcolm managed to move up a pair of places despite her drop in her score.  She improves from 47th to 45th with a two round 81-82-163, which matches her 36-hole score from the season finale at the BYU Dixie Classic.  After opening the second round with a double, she shot a team best six straight pars on her second through seventh holes to stand 2-over.  But she made the turn the way she started, with two more doubles to stand 6-over.  She made up a pair of strokes on the back nine going +4 shooting par on five holes on 10-18.

            Jess Ellis' four pars helped to balance out her five bogeys on the front nine to make the turn +5.  That number doubled on the back nine with just a single par on her 12th hole.  In her first conference championship, she slipped from 57th to sole possession of 59th with an 85-87-172.

BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

University of Texas Golf Club (Austin, Texas)

TEAM SCORES

1. Oklahoma State........ 295-307-           602

2. Texas ...................... 297-306-           603

3. Missouri................... 306-313-           619

3. Baylor...................... 305-314-           619

5. Texas A&M............... 310-316-           626

6. Texas Tech............... 305-323-           628

7. Nebraska ................ 305-324-           629      

8. COLORADO............ 307-323-           630

9. Iowa State................ 317-314-           631

10. Kansas State.......... 320-314-           634

11. Oklahoma............... 314-328-           642

11. Kansas................... 311-331-           642

COLORADO PLAYERS

8. Allison Rella.................... 70-82-        152

T23. Hannah Hoch.............. 78-78-        156

T31. Maria Persson-Gulda... 78-81-        159

T45. Jessie Malcolm........... 81-82-        163

59. Jess Ellis...................... 85-87-        172