Women’s Golf Opens at USF Intercollegiate

BOULDER –There won’t be any easing into the season for the University of Colorado women’s golf team. The Buffaloes are jumping right in.

“We’re jumping in with both feet,” Colorado head coach Anne Kelly said.

The Buffaloes begin their 29^th season of varsity women’s golf, without a senior in their opening tournament lineup, Monday, Sept. 12, at the 2022 University of San Francisco Intercollegiate and will do so facing some of the top teams in the country on one of the nation’s best courses – The Olympic Club Ocean Course in San Francisco.

The tournament will consist of 54 holes with the first 36 coming on Monday. The Olympic Club Ocean Course will play as a par 71, with a length of 5,976 yards.

The tournament field is relatively small – only 10 teams participating – but it is power packed. UCLA and San Jose State are ranked No. 5 and No. 9 respectively in the Mizuno Women’s Golf Coaches Association Preseason Polls and are coming off NCAA Championship appearances. Oregon State, California, BYU and Pepperdine all advanced to NCAA Regional competition last season.

“It will definitely be a challenge,” said Kelly who begins her 26^th season as Colorado’s head coach. “You always want to challenge yourself and to play a course of that quality is just a great opportunity. It’s a smaller field, but there are some very good and highly ranked teams there.”

Junior Hailey Schalk, Colorado’s stroke average leader last season at 74.7, is among the five traveling to San Francisco, but the remaining four will consist of two sophomores and a pair of true freshmen.

Morgan Miller and Makenzie Cooper jump right into the mix and are set to make their collegiate debuts. Cooper, from Litchfield Park, Ariz., won three junior championships this summer, including a 12-stroke win – shooting 9-under – at the Junior Golf Association of Arizona Ping Invitational. Miller a native of Cedar Park, Texas, is a two-time Colorado Junior Match Play champion and placed sixth at the 2022 Colorado Golf Association Women’s Stroke Play in Erie this summer.

Miller will be Colorado’s No. 1 golfer for this tournament after a seven-stroke win in team qualifying.

“Morgan is a very strong player and hits the ball a long way,” Kelly said. “Like every freshman that comes in, she needs a little more course management, but she’s played quite well (in qualifying), so you just never know. We’re very excited for her.”

Sophomores Lauren Gooding and Natalie Vo round out the Buffaloes’ lineup. Gooding played in…