PHOENIX — The University of Colorado women’s golf team shot a spring-season best 7-over-par, 295, to open the PING/ASU Invitational at the Papago Golf Course on Friday.
The Buffaloes sit in a five-way tie for sixth place, joined by Pac-12 Conference counterparts California, No. 11 ranked Arizona State, Oregon State and Washington State, just five strokes out of second. No. 23 Northwestern had the day’s only sub-par round at 6-under, 282, and leads the field by eight strokes after the 18 holes. No. 14 Baylor, No. 5 Oregon and No. 6 Mississippi State are all tied for second at 2-over, 290.
Colorado ended with its best round since shooting 291 on the final day of the Jim West Challenge on Oct. 24.
Buffaloes sophomore Natalie Vo was the team’s top performer on the day, tying her best round of the 2022-23 season with a 1-under, 71. She is in a nine-way tie for eighth place with that group four strokes behind Mississippi State’s Julia Lopez Ramirez, who is the first-round leader at 5-under, 67. Kelly Sim of Northwestern and Huai-Chien Hsu are tied for second, one-stroke back.
Colorado started its day on the back nine and played well, shooting 1-over during the first half of the round including a combined six birdies on the first five holes. The round looked even brighter through the turn. All five Buffaloes made a birdie on either No. 1 or No. 2 and Colorado found itself at 3-under through 11 holes and in the top five early.
Colorado caught a little break as one of the first groups teeing off. Winds were calm early when the Buffaloes started at 9 a.m. MDT, but it picked up to 15-20 miles per hour for the second half of the round.
“We got lucky with the tee times because we were first off the back nine this morning,” Colorado head coach Anne Kelly said. “It wasn’t too bad for nine holes, but that second nine it really kicked up.”
That wind was a major contributor to all but one team finishing over par for the day. The Buffaloes dropped 10 strokes over the final seven holes. Overall, Colorado avoided the big numbers – two double bogeys accounted for the worst holes of the entire round – but the Buffaloes were limited to just one birdie during that final stretch.
Vo began the day with a birdie out of the gate on Papago’s second-longest hole, the 525-yard, par 5, No. 10. She moved to…
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