Buffs Finish Ninth At Pac-12 Championships

EUGENE, Ore.—The Colorado Buffaloes women's golf team finished ninth at the 2022 Pac-12 Championship after a rain-soaked third and final round here at the Eugene Country Club Wednesday.

Colorado had some bad luck as sophomore Ellie Gower was disqualified for signing the wrong card.  Initially, she had been credited with a 1-under par 71 and actually shot an even par 72.  With her DQ, the Buffs remained in ninth place but moved from a 7-over 295 to 14-over par 302 in the final round and finished the championship with a 37-over par 901. 

With a soaked course and constant rain with temperatures in the mid-40s, the Buffs were led in the final round by Malak Bouraeda.  She shot a 1-over par 73 and moved up nine spots to finish tied for 26th at 8-over par 224.  Hailey Schalk shot a 2-over par 74 in the final round and finished tied for 13th at 5-over par 221 to lead the Buffaloes overall. 

"It was unfortunate for Ellie to have signed the wrong card," CU Coach Anne Kelly said.  "She and Malak played well today.  Hailey was solid, she just couldn't get her birdies to drop.  The weather was more cooperative than everyone expected but we still had rain most of the day and the greens were wet. The grounds crew did a great job of keeping the course playable"

No. 2 and host Oregon won the Pac-12 Championship with top-ranked Stanford tying No. 29 Oregon State for second place.  Behind the Ducks, Beavers and Cardinal sat No. 16 UCLA in fourth place with No. 12 USC and No. 26 Arizona finishing tied for fifth.  

Oregon's Hsin-Yu Lu won medalist honors, shooting a 6-under par 210 and winning by four strokes over Stanford's Rose Zhang, the nation's top-ranked player, who was the only other golfer under par at 2-under 214.  Arizona's Carolina Melgrati and UCLA"s Alessia Nobilio tied for third at 1-over par 217 and Oregon State's Kelsey Weber and USC"s Amari Avery tied for fifth at 2-over par 218.  

Bouraeda started on No. 12 and led the Buffs with four birdies in the final round, including two quick birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 to open up 2-under par.  After three bogeys and a birdie making the turn to the front of the course, she remained even before getting another birdie and two more bogeys.  

Schalk teed off on the 10th hole and quickly went under par with a birdie on No. 11.  Back-to-back bogies on holes 15-16 moved her to one over and then after nine straight pars, she bogeyed the par 5 No. 8 to finish at 2-over par.  

Issy Simpson substituted in the final round for Diane Baillieux, who returned to Boulder for a midterm, and she responded with a 4-over par 76.  Simpson was even par except for a four-hole stretch that included two bogeys and a double bogey.  Those were in the first six holes after which she settled down and played the last 12 holes at even par with one bogey and one birdie. 

Natalie Vo shot a 7-over par 79 in the final round to finish 48th at 22-over par 238. Vo had four bogeys in her first nine holes and then had an unfortunate triple bogey on the Par 5 No. 6.  She responded with a birdie two holes later and after a bogey on the No. 9, she got three pars to finish her round. 
 

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