Colorado In Ninth After Day One Of The Jim West Challenge

SAN MARCOS, Texas — The University of Colorado women's golf team is in ninth place after two rounds of the Jim West Challenge, hosted by Texas State at the Kissing Tree Golf Club.
 
Colorado shot 12-over-par, 588, through 36 holes on the day. The Buffaloes were tied for fifth after shooting 5-over, 293, in the first round, but dropped two strokes and four places with a 7-over, 295, showing in second round.
 
"Kind of a roller coaster day," Colorado head coach Anne Kelly said. "We started out pretty well then we struggled a little bit. We got it going in the second round again but didn't have a great finish."
 
Oklahoma State leads the tournament at 9-under, 567, seven strokes ahead of SMU (574). Tulsa is in third after an even-par 36 holes (576) followed by Houston (577) and Texas Tech (579).
 
TCU's Caitlyn Macnab and Oklahoma State's Han-Hsuan Yu are tied for the individual lead at 6-under, 138. Macnab had the low round of the day with a 66 in the first round. Tulsa's Grace Kilcrease is one shot back at 5-under, 139.
 
Sophomore Lauren Gooding led the Buffaloes' effort, shooting even-par, 144, and is in a tie for 15th place overall. Gooding stayed within two strokes of even the entire day. Her best stretch came late in the second round where she landed three consecutive birdies at No. 3-5; a par-3 at No. 4 sandwiched between two par-5s.
 
Senior Issy Simpson is tied for 24th at 2-over, 146. Simpson had a share of Colorado's low round of the day, shooting 1-under, 71, during the second 18 holes. After shooting 3-over, 75, in the first round, Simpson made par on nine of her first 10 holes in the second round. She then recorded her first collegiate eagle at the 493-yard, par-5, No. 3 and then birdied the 165-yard par-3, No. 4, to secure the second sub-par round of her career.
 
"Issy was really a bright spot today," Kelly said. "She stayed very patient, just plugged away and ended up having a very solid last round in sustained 20 mile per hour winds all day."
 
Sophomore Natalie Vo had the other 71, notching her season-best score in the first round. Vo began her day with a birdie at the 349-yard, par-4 No. 10, but dropped to 1-over after consecutive bogeys at No. 13 and 14. She made par over the next six holes through the turn to the front nine. Vo birdied both par-5s on the front, at No. 3 and No. 5 and stayed even over the final four holes to notch her first sub-par round of the season.
 
Overall, Vo is tied for 37th place after two rounds at 4-over, 148.
 
Freshman Morgan Miller shot back-to-back 75s and is tied for 47th overall at 6-over, 150. Graduate transfer Haylin Harris is tied for 67th at 10-over, 154.
 
Monday's third and final round will feature a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. MT. The Buffaloes will be paired with Oklahoma and Tulane and will spread out between No. 16 and No. 18 to start the final round. Live coverage of the final round will be streamed on ESPN+ beginning at 8 a.m. MT.