Buffaloes Finish 12th At Illini Invitational

MEDINAH, Ill. – The University of Colorado women's golf team moved up a few positions to finish 12th on Tuesday at the Illini Women's Invitational.
 
Colorado was 14th heading into the third round after shooting a 294 in the second, and shaved off 12 strokes in the third round, firing a 6-under 282. CU's 6-under tied for the third-best score in the third round for the event. Louisville recorded the lowest round on Tuesday at 11-under (277), while San Jose State was second at 10-under (278). The Buffs tied for third with Georgia as both carded a 6-under.
 
"I'm proud of the comeback the team made today," head coach Anne Kelly said. "The conditions were challenging; very wet and breezy. The team hung in there and fought hard to move up. They showed a lot of heart today. We need to make more putts and pitch better, but overall ball striking was impressive."
 
CU finished the tournament 5-over (293-294-282—869) and was just one stroke from 11th-place SJSU (868). In the final round at the 6,159-yard, par 72 Medinah Country Club, the Buffaloes had three players turn in scorecards under-par, which helped CU tie the 10th-lowest 54-hole score in school history. The last time CU recorded an 869 or better was at the 2018 NCAA Regional in San Francisco.
 
Georgia and Louisville tied for first, each finishing 15-under (849). The Bulldogs carded rounds of 282-285-282, while the Cardinals scored rounds of 287-285-277.
 
Leading the Buffaloes was Diane Baillieux.  She moved up from a tie for 28th in the first round to finish tied for 10th with a 4-under 212 (72-71-69), which Kelly was also happy to see.  
 
As play got underway on Tuesday, Baillieux picked up where she left off Monday afternoon when play was called. She was 1-under in the second round with eight holes left and sank a birdie right away on the first hole (No. 5), before making par on the following four. She finished the second round with a bogey on No. 10 and made par on the last two holes to finish the round 1-under.
 
Her third round was even better. Baillieux started with a pair of birdies on the 13th and 14th holes before recording a bogey. After that, she made par on the next six holes before sinking another pair of birdies to get back to 3-under. After making another par, Baillieux sank her final birdie of the round, putting her at 4-under. She made par on the following three holes before another bogey made its way on her scorecard to put her at 3-under which is where she would stay as she finished the round with one more par.
 
Natalie Vo tied for 42nd overall with a 219. She finished her second round with an even 72. She was even when play was suspended Monday and had seven holes left to play. She started on No. 4 with a birdie but a bogey on the next hole offset it. She finished the round making par on the next five holes, putting her 1-over for the tournament as she shot a 73 in her first round. Her third round saw Vo shoot a 74. She recorded three birdies and made par 10 times.
 
Finishing tied for 47th was Ellie Gower, who recorded a 220. She was 3-over starting the rest of her second round. Beginning on the third hole, she recorded a bogey but made par on the next five holes. She finished the round with a bogey and a birdie for a 76.
 
She was one of CU's three sub-par rounds in the final round, carding a 2-under. She made par on the first 10 holes before making back-to-back birdies. Gower finished the round shooting even on the remaining six holes.
 
Hailey Schalk tied for 59th, finishing with a 222. She finished her second round with a 3-over (75). Starting on the third tee, she made par on seven straight holes before recording a bogey on her final hole of the round. Schalk shot a 73 in the last round. After a bogey on her first hole of the round, she made par and followed it up with a birdie. She would record another birdie and make par on six more holes before recording another bogey to put her even. In the next seven holes, she would make par six more times while recording one more bogey.
 
Making a nice comeback from the first round to finish tied for 61st was Lauren Gooding. She finished her second round at 4-over. She was 5-over at the start of it with seven holes left. She made par on every one of those holes except for the seventh hole where she sank a birdie.
 
In her final round, she carded the second sub-par round of her collegiate career, shooting a 70. She played the back nine even and started the front nine by making par on the first two holes. After back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth holes, she finished the round making par on the remaining five holes.
 
Kent State's Emily Price took home medalist honors, carding a 206. She had the lead heading into the final round and shot a 3-under to hold on to the lead (69-68-69—206). Louisville's Kendal Griffin finished three strokes behind Prince for second (67-74-68—209).
 
The Buffs are back in action Friday, October 15, at the Stanford Intercollegiate.
 
NOTES: This is the best individual round the Buffaloes have recorded this fall … It is also tied for the eighth-best low 18-hole score in program history … It is the lowest score CU has recorded in a round since the fall of 2017 when the Buffaloes also recorded a 282 in the first round of the Coeur D'Alene Collegiate and set the school record in the second round (268) … Baillieux recorded a pair of sub-par rounds in the tournament, putting her at four for the season … Baillieux also has two rounds in the 60s this season … she tied for second in the tournament with 13 birdies (three others also had 13 birdies); 14 was the most set by LSU's Carla Tejedo Mulet … Lauren Gooding's 41 pars tied for ninth … this is the first tournament this fall CU did not record an eagle.