The University of Colorado women’s golf team didn’t win a team or individual title Wednesday at the Pac-12 Conference Championships at Boulder Country Club, but the Buffs nevertheless celebrated behind the 18th green — and had plenty of legitimate reasons to do so.

After all, the tournament hosts:

— Beat the No. 1-ranked team in the country, according to Golfstat, by outdueling Southern California in a head-to-head matchup on Wednesday.

— One of their players, junior Alexis Keating, matched the low score in the 21-year history of the CU program as she fired a 5-under-par 66 on Wednesday. (Jessica Wallace, 2011, and Emily Talley, 2012, shot 6-under-par 66s on par-72 layouts.) Keating (pictured above being hugged), who tied for fifth individually, recorded the best 54-hole conference championship score ever by a CU player (3-under-par 210).

— Posted their best finish in their four years at the Pac-12 Championships, placing fifth. That may not sound like much, but when you consider the conference currently has six teams in the nation’s top 20, that’s pretty stout. And for the record, the No. 39 Buffs beat four teams ranked ahead of them: No. 1 USC, No. 16 Stanford, No. 18 Arizona State and No. 36 Cal.

— Put a CU player on the All-Pac-12 first team for the first time as sophomore Esther Lee (left) earned the honor after placing 12th Wednesday.

“Today in general was just amazing,” Keating said after her seven-birdie round. “It was so special. I think this is where we’re supposed to be. I think we’re surprising people, which makes it a lot of fun. I’m so proud of my team. I can’t even put it into words.”

Added CU coach Anne Kelly: “This is what college sports is all about.”

Arizona, ranked sixth in the nation, captured the Pac-12 team championship, giving the Wildcats three tournament titles in their last four events. They posted a 1-over-par 853 total, good for a five-stroke victory over No. 28 Oregon. No. 7 Washington (861) was third and No. 3 UCLA (862) fourth.

Colorado, hosting its first conference championships since 1999, used its home-course advantage to close with a 1-under-par 283, the best single-round CU score in conference championship history. That gave the Buffs 868 for three days, their best postseason total ever. CU started the day even with No. 1 USC, but was eight strokes better than the Trojans while playing in the same groups on Wednesday.

“The Pac-12 is an extremely difficult conference,” Lee said. “Every team, every school, is so good. This feels kind of like a breakthrough for us. Maybe now we’ll finally realize that we can compete with the best.”

This week at Boulder Country Club, Oregon junior Caroline Inglis (left) was the best out of a stellar field that featured two of the world’s top 10-ranked women’s amateurs. Inglis recorded the first individual victory of her college career, and her 206 score was the best overall in Pac-12 Championships history, though not in relation to par. She became the first individual or team Pac-12 champion Oregon has produced.

“It’s awesome, really surreal,” said Inglis, who called it her top golf accomplishment. “I’m kind of speechless right now. The Pac-12s have such a great field. The are so many good players and so much good competition. That’s the part that makes it really special. I know I can stack up against them now.”

Inglis won despite a double bogey on No. 17, where she pulled her tee shot into the water and hit her approach over the green. But with her lead down to two, she nestled a chip shot on No. 18 to within a foot of the cup for a par to close with a 4-under 67.

UCLA’s Bronte Law, the 2014 English Women’s Amateur champion, and Arizona’s Lindsey Weaver tied for second place at 208. It was Weaver’s second consecutive runner-up finish at the Pac-12 meet. Noemi Jimenez of Arizona State, like Law ranked in the top 10 in the world among women’s amateurs, took fourth at 209.

Meanwhile, CU’s Keating shot the low round of her college career — by three strokes. She racked up seven birdies on the day, including ones on each of the last two holes. According to Boulder Country Club director of golf Kevin Bolles, she briefly held the women’s course record with her 66. Arizona’s Wanasa Zhou, playing just three groups behind Keating, proceeded to make the women’s course record her own with a bogey-free 6-under-par 65.

“It’s unbelievable,” Keating said of her day. “I can’t even explain the feelings I’m feeling right now. It’s so exciting to share this with my team and have them come and hug me after my last putt. It’s amazing, and having it be at one of our home courses makes it even that much more special.”

Noted Kelly about Keating: “She’s been so close all semester. I keep saying she’s hitting it like a tour pro, and she really is. For those birdies to finally convert for her is great. She kept knocking on the door and it finally opened for her. And her dad was watching. I’m thrilled for her.”

Lee, who had recorded five consecutive top-10 finishes, placed 12th on Wednesday at 215. CU teammate Brittany Fan (219) was 21st, Natalie Vivaldi (226) 38th, and Jamie Oleksiew (235) 51st.

CU will now wait for Monday’s announcement of the fields for the four NCAA regional tournaments. Arizona gained an automatic berth on Wednesday with its Pac-12 title, but the Buffs should have no problem earning an at-large spot.

For all the team and individual scores from the Pac-12 meet, CLICK HERE.
 

Here are the local scores for the various conference tournaments that concluded on Wednesday.

Pac-12 Women
April 20-22, 2015 (final) at Par-71 Boulder CC
5. (out of 11 teams) Colorado 296-289-283–868
5. Alexis Keating 72-72-66–210; 12. Esther Lee 76-68-71–215; 21. Brittany Fan 73-75-71–219; 38. Natalie Vivaldi 75-76-75–226; 51. Jamie Oleksiew 79-74-82–235.

Summit League Women
April 20-22, 2015 (final) in Seaside, Calif.
1. (out of 9 teams; won by 18) Denver 307-312-307–926
1. (won by 2) Elyse Smidinger 77-75-75–227; 3. Jessica Carty 74-82-75–231; 8. Isabel Southard 79-79-80–238; 8. Aleana Groenhout 83-78-77–238; 14. Mariell Bruun 77-80-84–241.

Mountain West Women
April 20-22, 2015 (final)  in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
6. (out of 9 teams) Colorado State 304-299-310–913
8. Allie Andersen 74-72-76–222; 11. Mikayla Tatman 75-75-74–224; 31. Elisabeth Rau 82-74-78–234; 39. Sarah Archuleta 78-81-82–241; 39. Jessa LaBarbera 77-78-86–241.
Also
14. Former Coloradan Paige Spiranac, San Diego State, 72-77-76–225; 29. Coloradan Samantha Stancato, Wyoming, 75-84-74–233; 43. Coloradan Taylor Dorans, Wyoming, 77-84-82–243.

Bronte Law doesn’t loom large stature-wise — she checks in at about 5-foot-4 — but she has made a habit of coming up big when she laces up her golf shoes.

Her record over the last year speaks for itself: 2014 English Women’s Amateur champ, third-place individual finish in the Women’s World Amateur Team Championships last September, two individual college titles this season, and currently No. 7 in the women’s world amateur ranks.

And on Tuesday in the Pac-12 Women’s Championships at Boulder Country Club, the UCLA sophomore showed what sets her apart as a 4-under-par 67 gave her the individual lead in arguably the toughest conference meet in the country.

Even though she’s relatively small, the 20-year-old has laid down the Law by regularly hitting it by most of her competitors. That’s led to her playing the three par-5s at Boulder Country Club in 5 under par for two days.

“For a short person, I don’t hit it too short,” she said with a smile on Tuesday. “It definitely gives me a huge advantage. Some of the par-5s today, I was hitting driver-6-iron, which makes a huge difference with some of the girls hitting 3-wood or they can’t reach (the green in two). I use it to my advantage. Because I hit it pretty straight as well, it definitely helps here. But knowing where to push it and hold back is really important on this course.”

After finishing birdie-birdie on Tuesday, Law (pictured above) sits at 5-under-par 137 going into Wednesday’s final round. Teammate Erynne Lee (70-68) is in second place, so it should come as no surprise that the No. 3-ranked Bruins share the team lead after two rounds. But the fact that No. 28 Oregon is tied for the top spot with them at 5-over-par 573 is noteworthy, especially with four of the top seven teams in the country competing in Boulder this week.

No. 6 Arizona (574) and No. 7 Washington (576) are also both still in the hunt for the Pac-12 title.

The host University of Colorado, ranked 39th by Golfstat, jumped three spots on the leaderboard on Tuesday, now sharing fifth place with top-ranked Southern California at 585. And the Buffs surged despite four of their five players bogeying their final hole (No. 9) on Tuesday. That includes CU’s top two players this week, Esther Lee and Alexis Keating, who missed par putts of inside 2 1/2 feet to conclude their rounds.

“We’d like to play No. 9 over,” said coach Anne Kelly, whose Buffs nevertheless cut seven strokes off their first-round total. “In every tournament, especially this one, you can’t let shots like that slip away. But overall it can’t take away from the way the (CU golfers) played today and how hard they fought. I’m really proud of them.”

Indeed, despite the rough finish, CU recorded the fourth-best score on Tuesday (289).

“I knew we would play better today,” Keating said. “We had some girls that didn’t play their best (Monday). I had full faith that they were going to come out today and make up for that. We’re a team and we’re here for each other. We play well for each other and pick up the slack when it’s needed. That’s what we do.”

Lee (left) and Keating share 12th place individually at 2-over-par 144. While Keating fired her second straight 72, Lee rebounded from a 76 Monday to post a 68 on Tuesday. The Buffs’ top player didn’t make a bogey until missing her 30-inch putt on her final hole.

“It lipped around the entire hole,” said the sophomore transfer from Duke. “If I even tried to do that, I couldn’t. It was some bad luck.

“But overall today was a lot better (than Monday). I kind of pulled myself out of my head a little bit. I was so focused yesterday on trying to go low that I kind of put a mental block on myself and I wasn’t feeling my game like I normally would. Today I just tried to be myself and more calm and just feel the club and the ball instead of forcing it.”

Lee, a native of Pueblo who moved to California as a 6-year-old, is looking for her sixth consecutive top-10 individual finish in the spring portion of the schedule.

As for Law, though the individual title is within her grasp as she holds a one-stroke lead, that isn’t her priority.

“That’s not something I’m thinking about right now,” said Law, who is one of the main contenders for the Annika Award, given to the top women’s college player in the country. “My main priority is to play well for the team. There’s no other focus than to be the best person I can be.”

This week marks the second big tournament Law has played in Colorado. In 2013, she represented Europe in the 2013 Junior Solheim Cup that was contested at Inverness Golf Club.

Joining Law and Lee in the hunt for the individual title are Arizona State’s Noemi Jimenez, Arizona’s Lindsey Weaver and first-round leader Caroline Inglis of Oregon, who share third place at 139. Jimenez, the No. 6-ranked women’s amateur in the world, made it to 7 under par overall on Tuesday, but played her final six holes in 4 over par. Earlier in the round, she eagled the 389-yard, par-4 first hole (her 10th).

Wednesday’s final-round tee times will range from 9 to 10:52 a.m.

For all the team and individual scores, CLICK HERE.
 

Here are the local scores for the various conference tournaments being played early this week.

Pac-12 Women
April 20-22, 2015 at Par-71 Boulder CC
5. (out of 11 teams) Colorado 296-289–585
12. Esther Lee 76-68–144; 12. Alexis Keating 72-72–144; 25. Brittany Fan 73-75–148; 35. Natalie Vivaldi 75-76–151; 42. Jamie Oleksiew 79-74–153.

Summit League Women
April 20-22, 2015 in Seaside, Calif.
1. (out of 9 teams; leads by 8) Denver 307-312–619
2. Elyse Smidinger 77-75–152; 4. Jessica Carty 74-82–156; 5. Mariell Bruun 77-80–157; 9. Isabel Southard 79-79–158; 17. Aleana Groenhout 83-78–161.

Mountain West Women
April 20-22, 2015 in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
6. (out of 9 teams) Colorado State 304-299–603
5. Allie Andersen 74-72–146; 14. Mikayla Tatman 75-75–150; 28. Jessa LaBarbera 77-78–155; 30. Elisabeth Rau 82-74–156; 37. Sarah Archuleta 78-81–159.
Also
10. Former Coloradan Paige Spiranac, San Diego State, 72-77–149; 37. Coloradan Samantha Stancato, Wyoming, 75-84–159; 40. Coloradan Taylor Dorans, Wyoming, 77-84–161.

Big Sky Women
April 19-21, 2015 (final) in Chandler, Ariz.
7. (out of 12 teams) Northern Colorado 303-312-305–920
4. Amanda Myers 71-72-80–223; 21. Baile Winslow 78-78-74–230; 29. Christina Ferreira 78-81-74–233; 34. Nicole Okada 76-82-78–236; 50. Kala Keltz 89-81-79–249.
Also
11. Coloradan Jaylee Tait, Montana State, 81-76-69–226.

RMAC Women
April 20-21, 2015 (final) in Avondale, Ariz.
Colorado-Based Team Scores — 1. Metro State 301-298–599; 2. CSU-Pueblo 308-310–618; 6. Regis 310-329–639; 4. Colorado Mesa 314-311–625; 5. Adams State 315-311–626; 7. CU-Colorado Springs 318-328–646; 8. Colorado Christian 334-325–659; 12. Fort Lewis 372-386–758.
Top 5 Individuals — 1. Leina Kim, CSU-Pueblo 69-66–135; 2. Julie Sanchez, CSU-Pueblo, 74-71–145; 3. (tie) Cha Cha Willhoite, Metro State, 72-75–147; Nathalie Gallacher, Metro State, 74-73–147; Bobbi Pierson, Western New Mexico 72-75–147.

RMAC Men
April 20-21, 2015 (final) in Goodyear, Ariz.
Colorado-Based Team Scores — (1. Western New Mexico won with an 883 total); 2. Colorado School of Mines 300-281-307–888; 3. Colorado Christian 296-303-290–889; 4. CSU-Pueblo 292-296-305–893; 5. CU-Colorado Springs 304-300-305–909; 6. Colorado Mesa 302-302-318–922; 7. Regis 293-314-317–924; 8. Fort Lewis 329-310-314–953; 10. Adams State 323-327-326–990.
Top 5 Individuals — 1. (tie) Nathaniel Goddard, Colorado Christian, 74-74-72–217; Nick Berry, Mines, 74-64-79–217; Harry Wetton, Western New Mexico, 71-76-70–217; 4. Patrick Skakel, CU-Colorado Springs, 70-71-77–218; 5. Andrew Kennedy, Colorado Christian, 71-76-72–219.
 

Chergo and Shockley, who built their sports reputations with the University of Denver women’s golf program, will have a homecoming of sorts next week when the top women’s golf conference in the nation holds its league championships at Boulder Country Club April 20-22.

Now in her first season as head coach at Oregon State — and having hired Shockley, one of her standout players at DU, as an assistant coach — Chergo will bring her OSU Beavers to her old stomping grounds. (Chergo is pictured in black above, alongside Shockley.)

“I’m excited to bring the team out — a lot of them have not been to Colorado before,” Chergo said in a recent phone interview. “We’ll have a whole bunch of family and friends there. I think we’ll have one of the biggest galleries out there, so there will be a lot of energy. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Chergo, the DU women’s head coach for 15 years before resigning in early 2013, indicated at that time that she was retiring from coaching. But she changed her mind when Oregon State came calling in the middle of last year.

“I thought I was” done coaching, Chergo said. “I felt I had done everything I could do there (at DU). Other schools called, and I didn’t even think about it. There were only a handful of places I wanted to go. But Oregon State called out of the blue, and I fell in love with the place. We have so much fun working to grow the program, and the community really wants to help. It was a perfect fit.

“One of the reasons I got back in was I missed the student-athlete. I missed the competition.”

Chergo worked wonders during her years at DU, taking the Pioneers to heights never seen in Colorado women’s college golf history. They finished sixth in the NCAA Championship finals in 2008, and fifth in 2009. All told, Chergo was named Sun Belt Conference coach of the year six times.

Shockley, a former state high school cross country champion from Estes Park, won the individual NCAA East Regional title in 2009, helping the Pioneers claim the regional team championship. Stephanie Sherlock and Katie Kempter also were key players during those years.

Shockley turned pro in 2009 and played on the Symetra Tour and the Ladies European Tour. Just last June, the former All-American finished fourth in the Symetra Tour’s FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship.

“Even when she played for me, she said she wanted to be a coach,” Chergo said of Shockley. “After playing professionally, she was ready to do something else. She’s a great player, she loves the game of golf, loves coaching and she’s energetic. It’s great to watch her grow.”

Chergo is trying to do at Oregon State what she did at Denver — steadily build the program into a team which regularly advances to the NCAA finals. But she has some work in front of her as the Beavers are currently ranked 73rd in the nation, according to Golfstat, and 75th, according to Golfweek.

In the stellar Pac-12 Conference, which has three teams ranked in the top three nationally (Southern Cal, Washington and UCLA), Oregon State is either No. 10 or No. 11 out of 11 teams, depending on which rankings you use. (Utah doesn’t have a women’s golf program.)

“It’s similar to where we were with DU seven or eight years ago when we were starting to build,” Chergo said. “The culture we created at DU, we’re looking to create here.

“We have a lot of work to do to grow this program. We just opened a $600,000 indoor training center and every week we’re playing against the best teams. Hopefully we’ll be in the top 25 in a couple of years. Corvallis is a very supportive community. They love the Beavers. You can’t walk down the street without hearing, ‘Go Beavers.’ It’s a wonderful place, a beautiful college town.”

Before moving to Corvallis in the late summer, Chergo had lived her whole life in Colorado. She attended Arvada West High School and Colorado State, then served as an assistant coach at the University of Colorado before going to DU.

“I didn’t go away for college; this is kind of like my going away for college,” said Chergo, who succeeded Rise Alexander at OSU after Alexander coached the Beavers for 27 years. “But I’m a Northwesterner now. I’m close to my family, but I probably see and talk to them more now than ever before” in her professional career.

Though Chergo is two years removed from her days at DU, her influence on the golf programs there is still certainly being felt. Two of her former Pioneer assistant coaches now head the teams, with Lindsay Kuhle leading the women’s program and Erik Billinger the men’s.

“Those two are my peeps. I couldn’t be more proud,” Chergo said.

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Pac-12 Women’s Golf Championships in Boulder: The Essentials

What: Pac-12 Conference Women’s Golf Championships, with the University of Colorado serving as the host school.

Where: Boulder Country Club, 6,437 yards, par-71.

When: Championship rounds, Monday through Wednesday (April 20-22); practice round, Sunday (April 19). Ralphie the buffalo is tentatively scheduled to be on hand during Sunday evening’s team banquet. The Sunday practice rounds are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. On Monday and Tuesday, play will start at 9 a.m. On Wednesday, it will begin at 8:30 a.m.

Format: 54 holes of stroke play, with team and individual competitions. The best four individual scores from each school each day will count toward the team total.

Admission/Parking: Both free.

Participating Schools (with national Golfstat ranking): 1. Southern California; 2. Washington; 3. UCLA; 8. Arizona; 19. Stanford; 25. Arizona State; 32. Oregon; 34. California; 39. Colorado; 73. Oregon State; 76. Washington State. (Note: Utah doesn’t have a women’s golf program.)

Top Individuals (with national Golfstat ranking): 4. Bronte Law, UCLA; 7. Kyung Kim, USC; 10. Jennifer Yang, Washington; 14. Erynne Lee, UCLA; 17. Ying Luo, Washington; 20. Eimi Koga, Washington; 22. Monica Vaughn, Arizona State; 26. Esther Lee, Colorado; 28. Noemi Jimenez, Arizona State; 29. Lauren Kim, Stanford; 30. Manon Gidali, Arizona.

Defending Team Champion: Stanford.

TV: Final-round highlights will be carried on a tape-delayed basis by the Pac-12 Networks, on May 10 from 11 a.m.-noon (MT).

Streaming of the Event: Some of the action during the first two rounds will be streamed live by CU on Pac-12 Digital.