Buffs Resume Spring Season In 14th At PING/ASU Invitational

PHOENIX — Colorado women's golf is in 14th place after the first round of the PING/ASU Invitational after carding a 7-over 295 at the Papago Golf Course on Thursday.
 
Host and No. 13 ranked Arizona State is the first-round leader at 7-under 281, two strokes ahead of top-ranked Stanford. No. 4 UCLA and No. 11 Northwestern are tied for third at 4-under 284.
 
Returning to action after 24 days since its last competition, Colorado showed few signs of rust early. Starting at the 10th, the Buffaloes played the back nine at 2-over. Colorado moved back to even-par collectively after 10 holes, and at that point was right in the mix to finish in the top half of the 17-team field which features eight teams ranked in the top 20 and 14 of the top 50 in the country.
 
Colorado hit a rough patch on the front however, playing the second through sixth at 9 over. The Buffaloes rallied to pick up two strokes on the final two holes and are just seven strokes out of the top half of the field with two more rounds to go.
 
"It's a very tough competitive field here in Arizona," Colorado head coach Anne Kelly said.  "Many of the teams are in the top 20 or top 30. We were playing pretty well but unfortunately lost some shots coming in on the last few holes. We all feel like the team is very, very, close to playing well. We just haven't put it all together yet."
 
Graduate senior Sabrina Iqbal had Colorado's low round of the day and is tied for 28th after an even-par 72. Iqbal had a great start, sitting at 2 under through six holes after birdies at the par-3 11th and the par-5 15th. She dropped three strokes over the course of the next 11 holes, but birdied the 512-yard par-5 9th for her team-best fifth even par round of the season.
 
Senior Hailey Schalk is tied for 40th after a 1-over 73. Schalk had a rocky beginning, she was 3 over through four holes, but managed to make par on four of the next five to finish the back nine at 4 over. Schalk played brilliantly on the front. She started off with a birdie at the 530-yard par-5 1st. She then made six straight pars before finishing off her round with back-to-back birdies at the 8th and 9th.
 
"The day was highlighted by Hailey's finish," Kelly said. "She had a tough start, but really played well the last nine holes. I think we all feel very determined to clean up some of the misses and go play a strong round tomorrow."
 
Junior Lauren Waxer-Gooding is tied for 53rd after shooting 2-over 74. Waxer-Gooding was 2 over on the back with a pair of bogeys at the 11th and 14th. She was even on the front, albeit a little more up and down than the score would indicate, carding three birdies and three bogeys as she matched her best 18-hole score in the last 10 rounds.
 
Junior Maria Eidhagen Harrouch and sophomore Morgan Miller are tied for 65th after shooting 4-over 76. Miller was even through nine, highlighted by her lone birdie of the day at the par-5 15th. She dropped back to 4-over after carding four bogeys on the front.
 
Eidhagen Harrouch was even through 12 holes, including a birdie at the par-5 1st. She recorded a second birdie at the par-4 7th, but overall dropped four strokes over the final six holes.
 
On the overall individual leaderboard, 17 golfers are within two shots of the top spot. Oklahoma State's Ellie Bushnell, Arizona's Gile Bite Starkute, Ashley Yun of Northwestern and California's Constance Fouillet are in a four-way tie for the lead at 4-under 68.
 
Colorado will pair with No. 6 USC and No. 41 Kansas in Friday's second round. The groups will start on the back nine, beginning at 9:50 a.m. MT.