Buffs Ready For NCAA Women's Golf Regionals

BOULDER - The University of Colorado women's golf team will travel to St. George, Utah to compete in the NCAA Regionals this week, held at the Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club, May 7-9 and hosted by Brigham Young University.  

The 54-hole tournament on the par 71, 6,255-yard course is slated for one round each day. The Buffs, ranked 36th in the nation according to the latest GolfStat poll (May 4) and No. 9 seed in the region will play alongside seventh-seed San Diego State and No. 8 seed University of Miami with the first group set to tee-off at 8 a.m. MDT from the first hole.

Competing for the Buffs will be freshman Brittany Fan, sophomores Esther Lee and Natalie Vivaldi, and juniors Alexis Keating and Jamie Oleksiew. This will mark the fifth consecutive year CU has sent either a team or an individual to the regionals.

The last time Colorado hit the links, April 20-22 for the Pac-12 Conference Championships at Boulder Country Club, the Buffs earned a school-best fifth place finish. CU posted a 296-289-283'868 or 16-over par team score, anchored by Keating, who shot a program-record 66 in the final round to finish tied for fifth overall. Lee and Fan, playing in their first Pac-12 Championships also placed in the top 25. Lee was second on the team at 2-over par (215) and finished 12th overall. Fan  went 6-over par (219), tying for 21st place and earning her eighth top 25 finish in her first year playing for the black and gold.

CU will compete against 17 other teams, including three from the Pac-12. The St. George Regional field features No. 1 Southern California, No. 8 Arkansas Fayetteville, No. 9 Virginia, No. 16. Stanford, No. 17 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Miami, No. 38 California, No. 44 Southern Methodist, No. 48 Texas Christian, No. 50 Denver, No. 56 Wisconsin, No. 61 Middle Tennessee State, No. 90 New Mexico State, No. 123 Northern Arizona and No. 201 Albany. Six women golfers will also play as individuals.

The three other regional sites are Raleigh, N.C., South Bend, Ind. and San Antonio, Texas. The top six teams and three individuals (not on those teams) from each of the four regions will advance to the NCAA Women's Golf Championships, set for May 22-27 at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.

Live scoring for each round of the meet is available at golfstat.com.