No. 12 Baylor WGOLF Readies for NCAA Championships

[Roberts, Matt]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – May 18, 2023

No. 12 Baylor WGOLF Readies for NCAA Championships
BU is making its sixth appearance at the NCAAs in eight seasons
For more information, contact: Matt Roberts, 254-227-2280, WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu<mailto:WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu>

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Baylor women’s golf returns to familiar territory as it opens its third-straight NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club on Friday morning.

On top of having four players on the trip that have played at Grayhawk, the Bears have played three tournaments in the Phoenix area this spring. Head coach Jay Goble feels like the experience in Arizona can only help them going into the NCAAs.

“Yeah, we played out in Arizona a couple times,” he said. “I think that we're also trying to play against great competition on hard golf courses, which is also super important. We tend to like the courses better where a birdie is really, really great and pars are really, really great, which is a little bit more Grayhawk style. We have not played in this wave that we're playing in this year, teeing off in the afternoon and then the morning in the second round. I feel good about our chances to play good in those two rounds and get off to a good start.”

With a stroke average of 70.79 this season, Sera Hasegawa enters the NCAA Championships on pace to break Baylor’s single-season stroke-average record by more than a full shot (71.97). The sophomore transfer is ready to go out with a bang in her first season with the Bears.

“It’s the last tournament of the season, so we are excited to be there,” she said. “At the same time, we are perfectly ready for the competition at the nationals. Hopefully, we make more birdies and stay patient.”

Junior Rosie Belsham will make her third appearance at Grayhawk, with her best finish coming in 2021 when she tied for 59th as a freshman. The junior is in the midst of the best season of her career, boasting a stroke average of 71.39 and a par or better percentage of 84.1%, both of which will be tested on a difficult course like Grayhawk.

“Grayhawk’s not like anything we play, I don’t think it’s like anything anyone plays,” Belsham said. “It’s by far the hardest golf course we play all year, which as Jay (Goble) has said all year, we really do play well on the hard golf courses. But, I think we’ll do well.”

Silje Ohma will make her first trip to Grayhawk. The freshman finished tied for 26th in her first NCAA appearance in Pullman and enters Grayhawk leading the team in birdie or better percentage (20.8%), total birdies (97) and total eagles (8).

Hannah Karg will make her third and final appearance at Grayhawk, with her best finish coming in 2021 when she finished 79th. With a stroke average of 73.04, Karg is enjoying the best season of her career and is on pace to finish with a top-10 career stroke average in program history (74.13).

BaiMai Seema enters Grayhawk, with 13 team rounds this season, with a team-leading 92.3% of them counting towards the team score. Seema has competitive experience at Grayhawk making her debut as a freshman substitute in the third round in 2022.

Britta Snyder is making her third trip to Grayhawk, with her best finish coming in 2021 when she finished 59th. Snyder’s lowest round of the season came in the Phoenix area, when she shot a 5-under 67 at the Match in the Desert in January.

The Bears will tee off beginning at 2:47 p.m. CT Friday, playing alongside Texas and Northwestern. The full lineup will be determined on Thursday evening.

Once available, pairings, live stats and scoring will be available at Golfstat.com.<https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=28078> For more information on Baylor Women’s Golf, follow @BaylorWGolf on Twitter, 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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