Baylor WGOLF Tied for 25th after Day One of NCAA Championship

[Roberts, Matt]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS- May 17, 2024

Baylor WGOLF Tied for 25th after Day One of NCAA Championship
BU’s Kaur cards red-figure round in championship debut
For more information contact: Matt Roberts, 254-227-2280, WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu<mailto:WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu>

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Baylor women’s golf wrapped day one in a tie for 25th at the NCAA Championship Friday on the Champions Course at the Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, Calif.

Ashleen Kaur led the way for BU with a 1-under 71, the first freshman in program history to break par in the opening round of their NCAA Championship debut. Bogey free through 13 holes, Kaur ended the day in a tie for 18th, six-shots behind the overnight leader, Lottie Woad and her 7-under 65.

Clemson leads the team standings after Friday on the strength of an 8-under 280. After Sunday's third round, the field will be cut from 30 teams to just 15. When the dust settled Friday, UCLA and Pepperdine ended up tied for 15th place, nine shots ahead of BU’s 12-over 300.
THE RUNDOWN
Kaur showed no fear in her NCAA Championship debut, carding a birdie at the par-4 first. She added another birdie at No. 5 to make the turn with a bogey-free 36. Back-to-back birdies at Nos. 11 and 12 lifted the freshman into third place on the leaderboard and kept her bogey-free through 13 holes. Starting at No. 14, Kaur played her next three holes at five-over par with double bogeys at Nos. 14 and 16 around a bogey at No. 15. The hiccup was only momentary, though, as Kaur finished strong with birdies at Nos. 17 and 18 to finish the round in red figures.

BaiMai Seema finished tied for 75th with a 2-over 74. After four-straight pars to start, Seema traded bogeys for birdies at Nos. 5 and 6, then again at Nos. 8 and 9 to make the turn at even. Three more bogeys on the back side at Nos. 10, 13 and 17 dropped her to 3-over, before she clawed back a shot with a birdie at No. 18.

Sera Hasegawa ended day one in a tie for 116th place after a 5-over 77. A bogey, double-bogey start dropped her to 3-over through her first two holes, making the turn at 5-over after two more bogeys at Nos. 6 and 7. Hasegawa settled in on the second nine with the help of her first birdie of the day at No. 11 to get back to 4-over until a bogey at No. 14 dropped her back to 5-over for the day.

Rosie Belsham shot a 7-over 78 to finish the first round in a tie for 132nd. The senior opened with a bogey at No. 1 but settled in with five pars and a birdie at No. 7 to get back to even. She closed the front nine with back-to-back bogeys to fall back to 2-over. After a par at No. 10, Belsham made bogeys on four of the next five holes to drop to 5-over, where she would finish the day.

Silje Ohma shot a 10-over 82 in round one and is tied for 154th as the sun set on La Costa Friday night. A bogey at No. 1 quickly put her over par, but she battled back to even with a birdie at No. 5. A bogey at No. 9 saw her turn at 1-over. Ohma played her final seven holes at 9-over with bogeys at Nos. 12, 13, 17 and 18, a double bogey at No. 14 and a triple bogey at No. 16.

HIGHLIGHTS

  *   Kaur’s 1-under 71 is the lowest score by a freshman in an NCAA Championship debut in program history.
  *   It's the lowest NCAA championship first-round score by a Bear of any classification in their championship debut since Elodie Chapelet’s 71 in 2021.
  *   Kaur’s six birdies tied for the third-most in the field on Friday.
  *   With her start on Friday, Rosie Belsham became the only player in program history to participate in four NCAA Championships.

QUOTABLE:
Head coach Jay Goble on the team’s performance and outlook— “We played the front nine well. I do think the back nine is more challenging than the front, but I also think that we need to go back to the drawing board a little bit on some of those plans. But I feel that we still have some good golf left in us for the next two days. This position is not anywhere that we haven't been before. I think if we start creeping up that leaderboard and just do a little better each day and work our way down the leaderboard to where we need to be to make Monday, then anything can happen after that.”

Goble on Kaur’s Play — “I walked all day with her, and it was really impressive. I would say she didn't miss a shot until the 16th hole. She got a little unfortunate on a bounce on 14 and had a three-putt on 15. But besides that, to finish birdie-birdie to get back under par and shoot an under-par round, that's what great players do. That's what champions do, and she's proved this postseason that she's one heck of a golfer.”

Kaur on NCAA Championship Debut — “It was really fun. I started off with a birdie right off the bat, so I just kept it rolling and kept it going. I think I just got a little too quick on myself on the back nine, but finished well so I'm really proud of that.”

WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears will play alongside Michigan State and Purdue once again, with tee times beginning at 3:17 p.m. CT. Specific tee times, stats and live scoring are available throughout the tournament at Golfstat.com.<https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=29165>

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
[signature_339785252]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20240518/13b4da8d/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001[87].png
Type: image/png
Size: 14099 bytes
Desc: image001[87].png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20240518/13b4da8d/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: WGOLF NCAA Rd1 Stats.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 204026 bytes
Desc: WGOLF NCAA Rd1 Stats.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20240518/13b4da8d/attachment-0001.pdf>