Baylor WGOLF Tied for Fourth After Opening Round of the Big 12 Championship

Thu Apr 18 17:12:19 CDT 2024

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS- April 18, 2024

Baylor WGOLF Tied for Fourth After Opening Round of the Big 12 Championship
BU’s Belsham shoots even-par 71 to climb into the top 10
For more information contact: Matt Roberts, 254-227-2280, WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu<mailto:WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu>

HOCKLEY, Texas — On a windy day at the Clubs at Houston Oaks, Baylor women's golf shot an 8-over 292 to tie for fourth after day one of the Big 12 Championship.

Senior Rosie Belsham tied her career-best Big 12 Championship round with an even-par 71 to finish the day in a tie for sixth. Sera Hasegawa and Silje Ohma closed Thursday tied for 17th, making the Bears one of four teams with at least three players inside the top-20.

As a team, the Bears dropped four shots on the final three holes to fall into a three-way tie with Kansas State and Iowa State, just six shots behind the tournament leader, Texas. Cyclones Karisa Chul-Ak-Sorn and Liyana Durisic are tied with Texas’ Lauren Kim for the individual lead after 18 holes.

THE RUNDOWN
Belsham made a couple of early bogeys at Nos. 2 and 6 before rolling in a birdie putt at No. 8 to make the turn with a 1-over 36. She battled back to even with a birdie at No. 11 but dropped a shot one hole later with a bogey at No. 12. A birdie at 13 highlighted her final six holes, which she played at 1-under.

Hasegawa shot a 2-over 73 to finish the day inside the top 20. The junior opened the round with 12-straight pars until a bogey at No. 13 snapped the streak. She got right back to even with a birdie at No. 14 but ran into some trouble with a double-bogey seven at No. 16, putting her at 2-over on the round.

Ohma got off to a strong start with two birdies in her first four holes at Nos. 1 and 4 to reach 2-under, but she played the final three holes on the front nine at 3-over to turn with a 1-over 36. The 2023 Big 12 All-Tournament team honoree bounced back with a birdie at No. 12, the fourth-hardest hole Thursday, before carding another bogey at No. 15. While taking advantage of the par-5 16th with a birdie, Ohma finished with back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 17 and 18 to fall to 2-over on the day.

Ashleen Kaur finished in a tie for 34th on the heels of a 4-over 75. The freshman struggled a bit to start with three bogeys in her first four holes, but she settled in with a birdie at No. 5 to make the turn with a 2-over 37. Bogeys at Nos. 12 and 17 dotted her card on the back nine to finish with a 4-over 75, just .25 shots above the field average.

BaiMai Seema finished the day in a tie for 45th after a 5-over 76 Thursday. Seema got off to a steady start with six-straight pars but made a bogey at the par-3 seventh. After making the turn with a 1-over 36, the junior added bogeys at Nos. 10, 12, 14 and 18 to close out day one.

HIGHLIGHTS

  *   Baylor's first-round 292 tied the 10th-best Big 12 Championship round in program history.
  *   BU tied TCU for the best par-3 scoring average on Thursday (3.16).
  *   The Bears’ 61 pars were the most in the field on Thursday.
  *   Belsham was one of 11 players to shoot par or better on Thursday.
  *   71 ties Belsham’s career-best Big 12 championship round, matching an opening-round 71 she shot at Houston Oaks in the 2022 Big 12 Championship.
  *   Belsham is the 25th different player in program history to shoot 71 or better in the Big 12 Championship.
  *   Sera Hasegawa finished Thursday with 15 pars, the most in the field in round one.
  *   Silje Ohma was one of just five players to make a birdie at No. 12, which played as the fourth-hardest hole on day one.

QUOTABLE:
Head coach Jay Goble — “We did a lot of good things out there today. Houston Oaks is a great golf course, but if you lose focus for a minute out here, it can jump up and bite you, especially when the wind is up like it was today. I'm not super happy with how we finished, but I also know we are six shots out of the lead, and we didn't play our best golf today. With two rounds left to play, if we come out here and play good golf for the next two days, we're going to creep up the leaderboard and where we need to be."

WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears will play alongside Oklahoma and Oklahoma State again on Friday in the second round, with tee times beginning at 9 a.m. Full tee times, live scoring and stats can be found at Golfstat.com.<https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=28825>

For more information on Baylor Women’s Golf, follow @BaylorWGolf on X, Instagram and Facebook.

—BaylorBears.com—

Matt Roberts | Associate Director of Athletic Communications (MBB/MGOLF/ WGOLF)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-227-2280
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