Rams Fade on Final Day of Home Tournament

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Oct 17

Women's Golf

at Evie Odom Invitational Day 2

Oct 18

Women's Golf

at Evie Odom Invitational Day 3

Feb 2

Women's Golf

at Paradise invitational Day 1

Feb 3

Women's Golf

at Paradise invitational Day 2

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Women's Golf

at Paradise invitational Day 3

WINDSOR, Colo. – On Monday, the course gave the team hope.

On Tuesday, it became a classroom for a young Colorado State women's golf team. Entering the final round of the Colonel Wollenberg Ptarmigan Ram Classic at Ptarmigan Country Club, the Rams were just four strokes behind Nevada on the team leaderboard, well within striking distance.

All the work came on a perfect day for golf, but Tuesday was a different story. The temperatures dropped, the wind arrived and occasionally, a bit of rain. The Rams were 1-over on Monday during the play of two rounds, but swelled to 21-over on the final 18, leaving team in second place on the board. Nevada slipped, too, and Cal Poly, shooting a final round of 3-over 291, left town with the title.

Coach Laura Cilek was disappointed, but she's hopeful the lessons learned will serve her team down the road.

"I actually had a little higher expectations than what transpired," she said. "I don't think we're ever out there not trying, but I definitely think we got schooled in mental toughness today. We let the golf course play us more than we played it, and we felt short of winning. We had a great chance to take advantage of a hard day on a golf course we know well."

Just five individuals shot par or better on the final round, including individual titlist Ellen Nicholas of Incarnate Word, who finished even on the day and 4-under for the tournament at 212. Colorado State's best round on the day came from Panchalika Arphamongkol as she was 3-over for the round, 4-over 220 for the tournament. Cilek called it the "curse of the individual," as she was independent and not a scoring member of the roster.

Officially, it was Gabby Minier who led the team, her 6-over round of 78 leaving her at 5-over 221 for the tournament, putting her in 11^th place. Pemika Arphamongkol had the team's best scoring round of the day, a 3-over 75 to move her up 14 spots and finished tied for 26^th at 227.

Andrea Bergsdottir finished tied for 12^th at 6-over 222. She's played on days like this before, and she would have preferred a better round, but she felt she did the best she could in terms of not letting bad shots multiply.

The temperature made her bundle up, but that wasn't what she battled most.

"The wind, definitely. It was hard, both down wind and against it," she said. "You have to control the shots you were hitting. It's kind of like Sweden; I should be used to this, but it's always hard. You need to be on track to shoot low today, because it was really tough.

"I'm just trying to make it simple, because I know bogies will come and it's hard to make birdies. I was just trying to hit fairways and greens and be happy with the shots that are not hard and complicated."

There isn't a senior on the roster, and there were two freshmen in the lineup, with Lacey Uchida joining Pemika. She came in 7-over 223 after playing the first day even. Sofia Torres, who came in with Panchalika last year, closed at 11-over, as well.

As for Panchalika, she would have preferred to be part of the scoring roster, but she had a rough week last week. That gave her a bit of motivation for the tournament, to earn her way back after being the team's scoring leader a year ago. Still, she spent time keeping tabs on her teammates, waving to her sister often as the two played in back-to-back groups. She joked she didn't miss her last year, but she's definitely glad to have her as a teammate now.

Even on a gloomy day, she found bright spots.

"I did putt really well today," she said. "I think I made almost every putt that was close, and my short game was pretty good too. The wind made it so hard. I think it will help with my toughness. I need to adjust a lot between a day or two, because it can change every day."

This was the Rams' final tournament before the spring season, when they resume play on Feb. 7 in Boca Raton, Fla., in the FAU Paradise Invitational. The break will give the team ample time to reflect on what happened in Tuesday's final round and how to make adjustments.

Cilek is absolutely positive her team will grow from the experience, and there were times she gave them room to figure out things on their own.

"They're young. They need to learn how to play in wind and cold and rain," she said. "It's part of playing an outdoor sport. We knew it was going to be harder. There were definitely some moments of teaching today. They're not going to learn unless they make the choice and see the difference in outcome. It was definitely a day where we learned a lot, and sometimes those are hard and disappointing, but those are the days where you get the most out of it."

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