Sewell Leads Beavers On Day One At Pac-12's

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CORVALLIS, Ore. – Senior Lauren Sewell took advantage of playing on familiar turf as she birdied the first two holes, which helped her fire a 1-over 73 and lead the Oregon State women's golf team in the opening round of the Pac-12 Championship on Friday.

The host Beavers finished their round before a hail storm delayed the action for more than an hour-and-a-half, as they shot a 12-over 300 at the par-72, 6,256-yard Trysting Tree Golf Club to put them in a tie for eighth place with Oregon. UCLA leads the three-day, 54-hole tournament with a 3-under 285, while Stanford is second with a 2-under 286 and Arizona is third with a 1-under 287.

The second round will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday with tee times off the first and 10^th holes. Admission is free to the public. Oregon State will start on the 10^th hole at 9:50 a.m. and be paired with Colorado and Washington State.

“They were nervous and a little tense when they started their rounds this morning, especially Seshia and Anica,” Oregon State head coach Risë Alexander said. “They slowly kind of relaxed and used some of the tools that they have for emotional management, and they kind of brought it back around. You could see it from the scores on the front nine and the back nine. It was a lot different. So I was proud of them for doing that and just really hanging in there and fighting for their score.

“This golf course looks pretty benign, but it was pretty fierce today. And then, of course, the rain and hail in the afternoon is going to make it more so. As far as the team goes, I thought they did a great job of just kind of hanging in there. We will see how tomorrow goes.”

Sewell got off to a great start with birdies on the par-4 first and par-4 second holes to get to 2 under. She bogeyed the par-4 third and par-5 fifth holes but got back to 2 under with birdies on the par-5 ninth and par-4 10^th holes. The Renton, Wash., native finished her round with five pars and three bogeys for her 1-over 73.

“I felt like my round was pretty solid,” Sewell said. “I just tried to stay patient and play one shot at a time and just try my best. I made a couple of long putts on the first two holes that was kind of lucky and happened to go in the hole. It was good to start off like that because it kind of got me in a good momentum. It was an up and down day for me, but I'm happy with my round. I need to keep doing what I need to do and make good choices the next two days and hopefully the rest will take care of itself.”

Junior Anica Yoo shot a 4-over 40 going out but caught fire on the back nine with eight pars and a birdie on the par-5 15^th hole to finish with a 3-over 75. Senior Seshia Telles and sophomore Chelsea Saelee each carded a 4-over 76 to make up the Beavers' first round score, as Telles had two birdies, four bogeys and a double, and Saelee had one birdie and five bogeys.

Sewell is tied for 15^th, Yoo is tied for 29^th and Telles and Saelee are both tied for 36^th with 36 holes left to play.

Sophomore Ashlee Pickerell had birdies on the par-4 10^th and par-5 14^th holes, to go with six bogeys and a double, for a 6-over 78 that has her in a tie for 51^st place.

Ten players shot in red figures on Friday led by a 5-under 67 by Stanford's Mariko Tumangan. Arizona's Lindsey Weaver is second with a 4-under 68 and a pair of UCLA golfers -- Erynne Lee and Louise Ridderstrom -- are tied for third with a 3-under 69.

The best action from all three days of the Pac-12 Championship will be packed into one hour at 10 a.m. PT on Sunday, May 11 on the Pac-12 Networks and online via Pac-12 Now.