Women's Golf Finishes Ninth In Nanea Invitational - University of Colorado Athletics

Tuesday, October 27

Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i

All Day

Colorado

Third Round

October 27, 2026 | Women's Golf

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By: David Plati, Athletic Historian

KAILUA-KONA, Hawai'i – The Colorado women's golf team scored its best round of the three here Tuesday but still finished ninth in the Nanea Invitational, CU's final competition of the fall season.

No. 15 Arizona State shot the low round of the day – a 12-under 280 – to pull away for a seven-stroke win with a 33-under par team score of 843. No. 14 UCLA finished second (850), followed by No. 5 Stanford (853), No. 11 Texas (856) and No. 16 Texas A&M (882) to round out the top five. The Buffaloes shot the sixth-best score Tuesday – a 1-over 293 – and finished ninth with an 899 total.

"I was happy to see the team play better today," CU assistant coach Mia Landegren said. We did a much better job on the par 5's and were under par as a team for a stretch. Unfortunately, we had a lot of ground to make up heading into the final day, and a few errant shots down the stretch ultimately cost us.

"I believe this is a very talented team with much more potential than our scores have reflected," she added. "This offseason will be critical in identifying what each player needs to prioritize and improve before heading into the spring. They have all the tools to be successful – now it's about taking ownership of their development, and committing to the areas that need the most attention."

Senior Maya McVey finished with a 3-under 69 which brought her back down to an even-par 219 overall, which placed her 24th in the standings as she was the only player to finish with an even scorecard. After starting the day with a bogey on the 176-yard, par-3 11th hole, over the next 13 holes, she made five birdies with eight pars to stay on the happy side of par the rest of the round. A bogey on 7 kept her from finishing in the red overall.

In leading the Buffaloes for the third time this fall, she recorded seven birdies, 40 pars – tied for the fourth-most in the field – and seven bogeys. She was one of 14 players in the 60-woman field to not score a double bogey or worse, and the only Buff not to have one. She had the most balance by a Buff across all the par configurations, 3-under on the 5's, 1-pver on the 3's and 2-over on the 4's.

"I was especially proud of Maya for her 3-under round today," Landegren said. "She has demonstrated a high level of consistency throughout the season, and her ability to stay within herself and trust her game has made her a valuable contributor to this team. It's great to see her continued growth and the impact she's making."

Senior Carolyn Fuller tied for 41st with a 6-over 225 effort after closing with a 3-over 76. She was behind the 8-ball from the start after opening with a double bogey on No. 12, but quickly gathered herself and played the next eight at 2-under to land back at even, where she still was with five holes to play. However she went bogey-bogey-par-double but rebounded to end the fall with a birdie on the 176-yard, par-3 11th. She had 10 birdies, 31 pars against nine bogeys and four doubles, and also was 6-under on the par-5's, tied for the eighth-best in the field, and was 1-over on the par-3's and 11-over on the par-4's.

Junior Ellen O'Shaughnessy closed with a 2-under 71, enabling her to catch Fuller to tie for 41st with an overall 6-over 225. She had a consistent final round with three birdies, a team-high 14 pars and just one bogey, the fewest holes over par by any Buffs in the three rounds here. As with Fuller, she also ended the fall on a good note, birdying her final hole, the 400-yard, par-4 12th. Overall, she had seven birdies, 38 pars, five bogeys and four doubles, playing the par-5's her best at 1-under (she was 3-over on the par-3's and 4-over on the par-4's).

Sophomore Ananthi Vivek finished in a tie for 51st after closing with an 8-over 81, which gave her a 15-over 234 total overall. She fell behind early and was 5-over after four holes but would settle down and remained at that figure 11 holes in before enduring a triple bogey. She finished the meet with six birdies and 33 pars opposite nine bogeys, five doubles and that triple. She played the par-3's the best of all the Buffs at 1-under, which also tied for the 10th-best in the field.

Sophomore Brenna Higgins wound up 55th, as she closed with a 3-over 76 for a 20-over 239. She got off to a hot start Tuesday and was 4-under after nine holes with an eagle and four birdies within that span, but lost seven strokes coming home. In the end, she had an eagle, five birdies and 26 pars with 17 bogeys and five double and played the par-5's the best at 2-over. The eagle on the 536-yard, par-5 18th hole – the only player to make one out of 180 tries – was her second of the fall (and career), tying her for the team lead with McVey. After a second round 83, her final round 76 was a seven-stroke improvement from one round to the next, the second largest decrease this fall behind by Fuller in the Golfweek Red Sky Classic (77 to 69 between the first and second rounds).

Stanford's Meja Ortengren shot a final round 66 to finish with an 18-under 201, breaking a second round tie with Arizona State's Patience Rhodes, who shot 70 and finished second.

After a three month hiatus, Colorado will resume its '26-27 season in Florida Atlantic's Paradise Invitational, which will take place Feb. 1-3 in Palm Beach Gardens. Fla.

NOTES: Landegren filled in for head coach Madeliene Sheils, who remained behind as she is expecting the birth of her second child in three weeks; longtime CU head coach Anne Kelly (1997-2024) accompanied the team as an assistant coach … With a major storm lurking that was supposed to reach the Big Island late Tuesday, three original three-day event was shortened to 36 holes on Monday and the final 18 Tuesday … At the start of Tuesday's play, it was 75 degrees under partly cloudy skies, with a slight breeze of 6 miles per hour … The average score for the 60-woman field for all 180 rounds was 74.14; 22 players ended under par with McVey the only even one in the books … Eleven holes played over par in the end, the par-4 9th the toughest (+0.53); Fuller parred it all three rounds … Higgins had just one of eight eagles in the entire tournament … McVey ended the fall with a team-best 71.73 stroke average for 15 rounds, the fourth-best fall average in CU's 33-year history; she lowered her final round average to 70.8, also a team-best … CU played the par-5's the eighth-best at 6-under (Stanford was 26-under to lead all); the par-4's at 41-over (ninth; UCLA was the best at 1-under) and the par-3's ninth as well at 7-over (even on Tuesday; Stanford led at 3-under) … Colorado was 10th in birdies (36, half of those in the final round; Texas topped all with 64), and was sixth in pars (171, Oregon State had the most, 185).

BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS
24. Maya McVey (Colorado) 75-74-70—219; T41. Carolyn Fuller (Colorado) 73-76-76—225; T41. Ellen O'Shaughnessy (Colorado) 76-78-71—225; T51. Ananthi Vivek (Colorado) 74-80-81—234; 55. Brenna Higgins (Colorado) 80-83-76—239.

TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS

1. Meja Ortengren (Stanford) 70-65-66—201; 2. Patience Rhodes (Arizona State) 65-70-70—205; 3. Kate Dillon (Arizona State) 68-76-64—208; 4. Kacey Ly (UCLA) 70-69-69—209; 5. Farah O'Keefe (Texas) 67-72-71—210.

TEAM SCORES

1. Arizona State 274-291-280—843; 2. UCLA 284-280-287—850; 3. Stanford 283-280-289—853; 4. Texas 279-288-289—856; 5. Texas A&M 287-287-289—862; 6. California 292-283-301—875; 7. Oregon State 289-290-298—877; 8. San Jose State 296-298-301—895; 9. COLORADO 298-307-293—899; 10. Washington 301-313-294—908; 11. Hawai'i 307-302-313—922.