A day after the CSU men won the Ram Masters Invitational at Fort Collins Country Club (READ MORE), the CSU women wrapped up on Wednesday at the Ptarmigan Ram Classic at Ptarmigan Country Club.

In their first tournament under new head coach Laura Cilek, the Rams placed sixth out of 13 teams at Ptarmigan.

The Rams moved up one spot in the standings in Wednesday’s final round by shooting a 7-over-par 295 in round 3, giving them a 33-over 897 total. Boise State won the tournament at 879.

Haley Greb and Jessica Sloot, who recently teamed up to qualify in Colorado for the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, led the way for the Rams by finishing 13th and 19th individually, respectively. (The two are pictured, with Greb at right.) Greb shot an even-par 72 on Wednesday to check in at 4-over 220, 10 strokes behind individual champion Tara Finigan of Boise State, which also captured the team title. Sloot ended up at 222 after closing with a 73.

The University of Northern Colorado, meanwhile, placed 12th at 914. Beah Cruz paced UNC by finishing 24th individually at 224.
 

Ptarmigan Ram Classic
Sept. 17-19, 2018 (final) at Ptarmigan CC in Fort Collins
6. (out of 13 teams) Colorado State 305-297-295–897
13. Haley Greb 74-74-72–220
19. Jessica Sloot 75-74-73–222
27. Katrina Prendergast 78-71-76–225
51. Ellen Secor 78-79-74–231
62. Sydney Smith 81-78-77–236
Competing Only as Individual
28. Saga Traustadottir 80-76-70–226

12. Northern Colorado 309-304-301–914
24. Beah Cruz 72-76-76–224
33. Marisa Hisaki 80-73-74–227
39. Morgan Sahm 76-76-77–229
55. Nicole Polivchak 81-79-74–234
68. Aili Bundy 81-79-79–239
Competing Only as Individual
66. Jenna Chun 80-79-79–238

Others
44. Coloradan Erin Sargent, Wyoming 76-74-80–230
55. Coloradan Sarah Hankins, Wyoming 80-78-76–234

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

It’s been an eventful last several months for the Colorado State University women’s golf team.

In May, CSU teammates Katrina Prendergast and Ellen Secor won the national title at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship. In July, the Rams hired a new head coach, Laura Cilek. Last week, Prendergast led after the first two rounds of the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open and ended up finishing second while competing against a field comprised mainly of pros. And on Wednesday, for the third consecutive year in Colorado, a pair of CSU teammates earned medalist honors in the Colorado-based qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball.

And for the record, the college season hasn’t even begun.

CSU junior Jessica Sloot, from Fruit Heights, Utah, and sophomore teammate Haley Greb, from Pendleton, Ore., fired a 5-under-par 66 best-ball in Wednesday’s qualifying tournament at Fox Hollow Golf Course in Lakewood. That earned them the one available berth — out of an 11-team field — in the national Women’s Four-Ball, which will be played April 27-May 1 at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Fla. (The qualifiers are pictured, with Sloot at left.)

The last two years in the Colorado-based qualifying tournament, Prendergast and Secor were the medalists. And, as noted, they went on to win the national title in May, which makes them exempt from qualifying for the 2019 championship.

“Knowing that they won this event last year kind of drives us a little bit because we’re so competitive,” said Sloot, who will be going to her fifth USGA championship (second Four-Ball to go with three U.S. Girls’ Juniors). “We want to be there and able to push them a little harder and try to give them some competition at the national level.”

Said Greb, a former 5A state high school champion in Oregon: “We compete all the time in practice with those two. You could maybe call us the underdog, but in our minds we’re not. It’ll be fun. Hopefully we get there and maybe even see them in the championship (match). That would be pretty cool.”

Another set of college teammates — the University of Denver’s Mary Weinstein of Highlands Ranch and Annie Heck from Eagan, Minn. (together at left) — finished a stroke behind the two Rams, at 67. It’ll be the second time Weinstein has been first alternate in a Colorado qualifying tournament for this event, as she also was in that role in 2015 with Jaclyn Murray. The first alternates from Colorado last year — Hailey Schalk and Charlotte Hillary — ended up landing a spot in the national championship in May.

Sloot and Greb shot a best-ball score of even-par 35 on the front nine on Wednesday, but kicked it into gear with an eagle by Greb on the 455-yard, par-5 10th hole. There, she hit a 4-iron from the rough to 8 feet and sank the putt.

“I’ve probably never hit that good of a 4-iron in my life before,” said Greb, who will be going to her first USGA national championship. “That helped our momentum going into the back nine because we only shot even on the front. We needed to get after the back and that definitely helped us get going. It led to a strong finish.”

Indeed, the CSU teammates shot a 5-under-par 31 on the back nine despite both bogeying the last hole after each driving a ball into the left hazard.

“I always thought, ‘We’re not playing well right now, but it’s going to turn around. We’re going to get after it,'” Greb said. “Once we had something happen. it seems so much easier after that.”

In addition to the eagle, they made four best-ball birdies, with Sloot sinking putts of 55 feet on No. 14 and of 45 feet on No. 17. Both putts hit the back of the cup, popped up in the air and fell in, meaning both would have rolled well past had they not gone in.

“After nine I said to (Greb), ‘We’ve got to go low on this back nine.’ And we did just that,” said Sloot (left), who previously played in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball with Secor in 2016. “Us teammates, we’ve learned to ham and egg it really well. We play together all the time at practice, so playing with a teammate in this event helps out for sure.”
 

U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Qualifying
At Par-71 Fox Hollow GC in Lakewood
ADVANCE TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Haley Greb, Pendleton, Utah/Jessica Sloot, Fruit Heights, Utah 35-31–66
ALTERNATES (In Order)
Mary Weinstein, Highlands Ranch/Anni Heck, Eagan, Minn. 32-35–67
Paris Hilinski, La Quinta, Calif./Allyn Stephens, Houston 34-34–68

For all the scores, CLICK HERE.
 

There was plenty at stake and every stroke made a difference on a tightly packed leaderboard at U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifying Wednesday at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster.

When everything sorted itself out, two former Colorado 5A state high school champions and two international players landed spots in the national Women’s Am, which will be held Aug. 6-12 in Kingston Springs, Tenn.

With the top four finishers out of a field of 50 at Walnut Creek advancing, University of Colorado golfer Gillian Vance from Lakewood and University of Denver player Mary Weinstein from Highlands Ranch made the grade along with Sara Camarena of Mexico and Annabelle Ackroyd of Canada.

It was the second USGA championship in two days for which Ackroyd qualified in Colorado. She advanced to the U.S. Girls’ Junior Tuesday at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie.

This will be the second straight U.S. Women’s Amateur for Weinstein and the first for Vance.

“We had a great season as a team for CU this past year (finishing 19th in the NCAA Finals),” Vance said. “That was fun, but this is like a whole new level for me. I feel like I’ve really done something for myself. I’m just on Cloud Nine right now.”

Added Weinstein: “It means so much” to go back to a second straight Women’s Amateur. “Last year didn’t go as well as I had hoped and planned (she failed to make match play). This year I went in with a different mindset and I really wanted to qualify so I could do my best and make up for last year. It really did mean a lot for me to make it this year.”

Camarena earned medalist honors Wednesday at Walnut Creek with a bogey-free 2-under-par 70. Vance and Ackroyd tied for second place at 71. (The top qualifiers are pictured, from left: Vance, Camarena and Ackroyd.)

Vance made two birdies and one bogey on the day, avoiding a playoff by sinking a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 17. 

“I was kind of missing a lot of putts all day,” she said. “I had a lot of birdie chances and kept leaving them just short or burning edges. I finally made one on 17. That gave me the boost I needed because 72 was a playoff. 

“This was very much one of my better (recent rounds). I’ve only gone under par once in a collegiate event in three years.”

Meanwhile, Ackroyd rallied on Wednesday after being 4 over par through four holes by playing the next five holes in 5 under, including making an eagle on No. 6. And, after a bogey on No. 16, she birdied the 18th.

Three players finished tied for fourth place at even-par 72, forcing a three-person-for-one spot playoff. Kelsey Webster of Boulder, who will be a CU teammate of Vance starting in the fall, was eliminated on the first extra hole as she missed the green in regulation and made bogey.

On No. 11, the second playoff hole, Weinstein (left) drained a 40-foot birdie that was matched by Jessica Sloot of Fruit Heights, Utah, a Colorado State University golfer who holed a 20-footer to extend the playoff. Then on the third hole of the playoff, on No. 12, Sloot hit her tee shot into a bunker on the par-4 and missed a 7-foot par putt, making bogey. Weinstein two-putted for 20 feet for par to advance.

“To qualify for the U.S. Women’s Am two years in a row is amazing for me,” said Weinstein, a former Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado Girls Player of the Year who will be a junior at DU in the fall. “It’s one of the top tournaments on my entire schedule this year.”

Weinstein played her final seven holes of regulation in 2 under par, including making a 15-foot putt for birdie on 17.

Sloot will be the first alternate from the Walnut Creek site and Webster the second.

The upcoming U.S. Women’s Amateur will be the fourth USGA championship for Vance and the third for Weinstein. Both qualifiers from Colorado are 20 years old.

“This is one of my biggest accomplishments (in golf),” said Vance, a senior-to-be at CU. “I’m am just so excited. I’m not really sure what’s going to happen the next couple of years with golf and I’m trying to figure it out right now. This was a really good boost that I needed. I’m going to have so much fun out there, and I know that. My family, I don’t think we’ve gotten to do something like this since junior golf, so it will be a really good time.

“We got to nationals (as a team for CU), which was so much fun. It’s just been an incredible year, especially getting to go to the U.S. (Women’s) Amateur. Now it’s just icing on the cake.”

U.S. Women’s Amateur Qualifying
At Par-72 Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster

ADVANCE TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Sara Camarena, Mexico City 70
Gillian Vance, Lakewood 71
Annabelle Ackroyd, Canada 71
Mary Weinstein, Highlands Ranch 72
ALTERNATES (In Order)
Jessica Sloot, Fruit Heights, Utah 72
Kelsey Webster, Boulder 72

For all the scores from Wednesday’s qualifyng tournament, CLICK HERE.