SAN DIEGO -- The Dakota Wesleyan women's golf team is sitting in 19th place after the first day of competition at the NAIA national tournament.
The Tigers shot a team score of 344. Two-time defending champion Oklahoma City University is tied for first place with British Columbia after both teams shot 314s.
DWU head coach Adam Anderson said it was a tough day all around for the Tigers.
"I don't know what happened," he said. "We have to do better the next three rounds. We have to take a strong mindset into the next couple of days. We know we can improve. We belong here and we need to go up further."
Individually for DWU, redshirt freshman Kelli Baseley and freshman Nora Quinters both shot 79s to tie them for 17th place. Their scores put them at 7-over par.
ADVERTISEMENT
Baseley was cruising through the first 14 holes before finding difficulty on the last four. Baseley triple-bogeyed her second-to-last hole.
"I just had bad luck the last four holes," Baseley said. "I had some bad bounces and I got a little tired. The sun's a little more brutal down here. The first 14 I was hitting everything straight and everything was going prefect. I got up and down a little bit."
Baseley also said some of the pin placements were "brutal. That contributed to a lot of higher scores. Hopefully I can keep shooting in the 70s. We all know we can play better and get more scores in the 70s and 80s. Now we know the course a little better. I'm just happy I broke 80. That's not bad for the first time golfing in a national tournament."
Quinters said she had a tougher time with the fast greens.
"Other than that it was pretty straightforward for me," she said. "I was glad I shot in the 70s, but I could've had a 75 if I would've saved a few strokes here and there. You can always improve and I know everybody's hoping for that. I'm going to try for a top-20 finish now. I want to play my best and get through it. That's all you can do."
Also for DWU, Krystle Alexander shot a 92, Heather Snavely had a 94 and Heather Love fired a 96. Alexander's at 20-over par, Snavely's at 22-over par and Love's at 24-over par.
Snavely's round was her highest of the year by seven strokes.
DWU will tee off at 1 p.m. (PST) today at Lake San Marcos Country Club.
