STANFORD, Calif. -- A surprising 1-under 70 by UW freshman Kelli Bowers led an upstart Husky squad that is fourth out of 21 teams after the first round of the inaugural Pac-10/SEC Challenge at Stanford Golf Course.
The Huskies, ranked 30th in the Golfstat.com's rankings, combined for a 3-over 287 on Friday at the par-71, 6,148-yard course and trail tournament leader UCLA by two strokes. Arizona and Auburn each shot a 286 to tie for second.
The loaded field includes 14 teams ranked higher than the Huskies, but only UCLA, Arizona and Auburn backed up their rankings. Washington's strong start, needless to say, has Husky coach Mary Lou Mulflur pleased with her team.
"We played really consistently today," said Mulflur. "We got rid of the big scores. We only had to count one score bigger than a bogey."
"That's what good teams do," she continued. "I was pleased with the effort today."
Bowers, from Chelan, Wash., played perhaps her best collegiate round under perfect conditions at the Bay Area golf course. She got things rolling with a birdie on the first hole and stayed at 1-under until a bogey on No. 14. Bowers answered right back on No. 16 with a birdie and closed things out with two pars to go into the clubhouse tied for seventh with her 70.
Her consistency was amazing on the day as her 15 pars were the second most among the 108 competitors in the field.
"She was really steady," said Mulflur about her long-hitting freshman. "She played intelligently, but she remained aggressive. She chose her spots and just played really smart...definitely smarter than most freshmen would in her situation."
Freshman A Ram Choi is tied for 59th after a 5-over 76.
With such a great start for her squad, Mulflur kept the message simple for her team after the round.
"Keep doing what we're doing," Mulflur told her team. "We really stayed in the moment today and we managed ourselves well. If we keep doing that, we'll continue to have days that we like."
Team Leader Board
Course:Stanford Golf Course: Championship Tees Par 71 - 6148 yards
