The Colorado State women’s golf team finished second to last, 15th, at the Greenville Regional Preview. The Rams entered with high hopes after a fifth place finish at the Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate, but the Rams would struggle at the Brook Valley Country Club (Par 72- 6,133 yards) in North Carolina to the tune of a 99-over 963.
CSU was facing an uphill battle from the beginning when 14 of the 15 other teams are currently ranked above them in Golfweek rankings. Also, course conditions were not ideal after Hurricane Matthew flooded the Ironwood Golf and Country Club, the original host course of the tournament, and forced the event to move.
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The major struggle on the course for the Rams came from the par 4’s. CSU finished in last place for scoring on par 4’s at 92-over and had a stroke average of 4.61 on the holes. Par 3’s and 5’s were not much help either as they finished in the bottom three of scoring for those holes as well.
The first round would set the tone for the Rams as they opened with a 40-over 328, tied for the worst single round score for the tournament. That left them 31 strokes out of first place and out of any contention for a victory.
The Rams would improve with each round as they were able to card a 32-over 320 in the second round and a 27-over 315 in the final round. Overall, CSU finished at 99-over which put them in 15th place, 68 strokes behind the champion TCU Horned Frogs.
Freshman Ellen Secor led the charge for the Rams as she finished in a tie for 39th at a 20-over 236, 17 strokes behind the champion Connie Jaffrey from Kansas State at 3-over.
Secor, like the CSU team, was able to improve each round after she shot a 10-over 82 in the first round. She followed that up with a 7-over 79 and a 3-over 75. Sophomore Caroline Reiners was the next lowest Ram tied for 57th at a 24-over 240. Reiners was entered into the tournament as an independent, meaning her score was not counted towards the team score.
Sophomore Katrina Prendergast was the next lowest at 25-over 241, good enough for a tie for 61st. Freshman Jessica Sloot and senior Brianna Becker rounded out the top four scorers for the Rams at a 28-over 244 in a tie for 71st for Sloot and a 29-over 245 in a tie for 74th for Becker.
CSU will look to rebound quick as their next event is Oct. 23-25. The three day Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown will be the Rams final fall event.
Collegian sports reporter Austin White can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @ajwrules44
