COLUMBUS, IND. --  Drake senior Olivia Lansing (Dellwood, Minn.) shot a seven-over-par 79 to stand in tie for 59th in the opening round of the NCAA Women's Central Regional Golf Tournament Thursday.

The par-72, 6,417 yard Otter Creek Golf Club proved to be challenging for the 123 golfers with only three players managing to break par.

Lansing was just two strokes behind Southern Cal's Jennifer Song, ranked No. 2 nationally, who shot a five-over-par 77.

Purdue's Thea Hoffmeister and Oregon's Kendra Little shared the first round lead at 70. Arizona State's Juliana Murcia was the only other player to break par with a 71.

Lansing started off on the 10th tee and was even through six holes, thanks to an eight-foot birdie putt on the par-three, 151-yard No. 13 hole.

"That birdie kind of calmed me down and reasserted to me that I deserved to be here," said Lansing. "I thought I drove the ball well, so if I can work on some other things, I think I can be in good shape."

"She didn't play a bad round," added Drake golf coach Scott Bohlender. "It is a challenging long golf course, playing about 400 yards longer than we're use to playing."

Lansing will tee off at 12:20 p.m. Friday with Julia Potter from Missouri and Ashley Bauer of Michigan.

"It is such an honor to be here," said Lansing, who was named the 2009 and 2010 Missouri Valley Conference Golfer of the Year. "I'm just trying to have a good time and be positive in one of my last college tournaments."