Colorado Women's Golf
Finishes 11th At Conference Championships
TravelGolf.com
Staff Report
HARVESTER, Iowa (APRIL 24, 2001) - With a final round 330, and
three-day total 988, the University of Colorado women's golf team
fell two spots to finish 11th at the fifth annual Big 12 Championships
here at the Harvester Golf Club.
Senior Katy Nolan, like she had done through the first two rounds, led the Buffs with a final round 76, which is her second-best round of the season and fourth best of her career. With a three-round 237 total, Nolan finished was 16th when she turned in her scorecard, 13th by the end of the day, her best finish in a conference tournament. It was the second-best finish by a CU player in a conference tournament, as she trails Sarah Bellinger's fourth-place finish in 1999. Missouri (949), which had led after each the first and second rounds, surrendered its title hopes to Oklahoma State (925) which fired a final round, and tournament low, 295 to become the first Big 12 team to repeat a title as the Cowgirls won the 1999 team crown. After Missouri's Amelia Moses (79-73-75), Oklahoma's Lisa Meldrum (89-67-71) and Maria Boden (77-78-72) of OSU all finished 11-over-par (227) for the tournament, a playoff was needed to decide medallist honors. As if it were scripted, Boden, the Big 12 Player of the Year, went on to birdie the first playoff hole on a 25-foot putt to upend Moses' and Meldrum medallist hopes. It is Boden's second conference crown as she won the '99 title in Boulder. Erin Kerr was making a comeback when she hit a 2-over-par 38 on the front nine, her best effort of the tournament when she hit a roadblock on the back where she bogeyed four holes, double-bogeyed the 12th hole and closed out the tournament on the final hole with an 8 on a par 3. Kerr finished her first conference tournament with an 85 on the final 18 for a three-day total of 247 to finish 38th. More consistent than Katy Nolan's performance was that of sophomore Jolene Fellhauer. While Nolan's rounds varied by five strokes, Fellhauer's never reached beyond four as she shot an 87-83-84. Her 254 total earned her 48th place.
Jo Pritchard (92-79-85) and Sarah Bellinger (93-77-86) each finished with a 56-hole total of 256 and finished in a four-way tie for 50th place. For the second time this week, and just eighth time in an illustrious career that finds the senior with eight of 20 individual school records to her credit, her score from today did not count towards the team's final effort. The end of the tournament marks the end of the collegiate careers of seniors Sarah Bellinger, Katy Nolan and Brooke VanWyk. The three players, and head coach Anne Kelly, all arrived in Boulder in the fall of 1997, the third season of the program. Since then, this class has helped re-write the Colorado record books. They have been on teams that have tied or bettered all 10 team records while 21 individual records have been erased in that same time span. The season prior to their arrival, Colorado's average tournament score was 33.31. Almost 20 strokes later, the Buffs carry a 313.96 tournament average. All four were all in Tucson in February when the team won its first-ever tournament, the Mountain View Collegiate.
CU INDIVIDUALS
t-13. Katy Nolan 81-80-76 237
t-38. Erin Kerr 86-76-85 247
t-48. Jolene Fellhauer 87-83-84 254
t-50. Sarah Bellinger 93-77-86 256
t-50. Jo Pritchard 92-79-85 256
TEAM SCORES
1. Oklahoma St (15/10) 325-305-295- 925
2. Texas (9/9) 330-300-301- 931
3. Baylor (33/29) 335-306-306- 947
4. Missouri (39/35) 319-309-321- 949
5. Nebraska (36/34) 341-306-311- 958
6. Texas A&M (34/33) 346-310-308- 964
7. Oklahoma (17/12) 351-307-307- 965
8. Texas Tech (42/39) 344-312-311- 967
9. Kansas State (48/47) 344-308-316- 968
10. Iowa State (62) 351-308-317- 976
11. COLORADO (72) 346-312-330- 988
12. Kansas (94) 358-307-325- 990
( ) national ranking
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