Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – LSU senior Ingrid Lindblad called her 4-under par 68 Sunday in the third round of the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships “a bit of a grind” on a day when Grayhawk’s Raptor Course flexed its muscle after two days of record setting scores for many in the field of 30 teams.
The Tigers played the last three holes of their third round at 4-under par and came home at 7-over par 295 to post a three-round score of 13-over par 877 to move up one spot to 13th place entering Monday’s final qualifying round.
LSU will need to be in the top eight after Monday’s round to advance to match play for the first time in the women’s championship. But in this survive and advance round when no team in the field of 30 broke par on Sunday, the Tigers were able to get pars and key birdies when needed.
Meanwhile, Lindblad after a four-birdie, no bogey round of 68 has moved into a tie for third in the individual competition. The senior from Sweden is just four shots out of the lead held by Southern California’s Catherine Park at 10-under par 206 (71-64-71). Lindblad moved up 21 spots in the standings.
Lucia Lopez-Ortega of San Jose State is second at 8-under 208 (68-69-71) with Lindblad, the world No. 2 in the amateur rankings, tied with world No. 1 Rose Zhang of Stanford and Maddison Hinson-Tolchard of Oklahoma State.
Lindblad has rounds of 70-72-68 for her 210 total, while Zhang has posted 72-67-71 and Hinson-Tolchard’s rounds are 66-70-74.
Lindblad birdied the par 4 3rd hole, the par 4 fifth and the par 4 ninth holes on her front nine then posted eight straight pars before a birdie on the final hole to complete her lowest round in an NCAA Championships. Four times she has posted a 2-under 70 at Grayhawk, including in the opening round of this event.
“To be honest if you look at the scorecard it looks like it was one of those easy rounds, but it was actually a little bit of a grind,” Lindblad said of the day. “I chipped in for par on five and made like a good up and down on six so it wasn’t like it was just hitting greens and everything. I think today was the least amount of greens I’ve hit this week, but I did have a lot of putts just kind of from the fringe and just lagged it to the hole. I drove it a lot better than (Saturday) because when you drive it well here you can go for more pins. I gave myself a few more looks.”
“Having the only clean card in the morning wave is so impressive,” LSU Coach Garrett Runion said of Lindblad. “She played well the second round just didn’t make any putts. Today, having some putts fall. I know she enjoyed having Chuck (LSU Director of Golf Chuck Winstead) out here and being her hype man and following her around. Big time player making big-time plays when they need to. She played an excellent round of golf and hopefully we can get one more tomorrow.”
LSU turned the front nine at 5-over par and was at one point 11 over par entering the final three holes for the round. But Carla Tejedo birdied the par 3 16th then grad student Alden Wallace birdied the par 4 17th and the par 5 18th and Lindblad finished things off with her birdie on the final hole.
“You can’t win the national championship if you don’t have a tee time (Monday) and we have a tee time. I’m proud that this is three straight years we’ve made it to Grayhawk and three straight years we have advanced through the top 15,” said Coach Runion. “You’ve heard me say it a hundred times, we don’t just want a good team, we want a good program. To have a good program you have to be around it and be consistent. We’ve done that the last three, four years.
“Monday, we are eight back and have a realistic shot to make the top eight. It will be a little different as we are chasing instead of being chased. We’re healthy compared to last year. I’m really proud of Alden (Wallace). Her play the last three days has held us in there. Her birdies on the last two holes were huge for us.”
Runion also noted, “The course played a lot firmer and faster (Sunday) and they had some tricky pins where the ball was going away from the hole and they were in some speedy spots. We handled it well for the most part and I’m glad we have a chance to make the eight Monday.”
LSU counted a 75 from Wallace, as well as Tejedo and a 77 from Latanna Stone. Stone is tied for 30th after 54 holes at 1-over par 217 (73-67-77).
Stanford has moved to a seven-shot lead in the team standings at 13-under par after a 2-over round of 290, while Wake Forest, despite posting 11-over on the day, is tied for second with Texas at 6-under 858. Southern California is at 2-under 862 and Florida State in fifth the other under par team for 54 holes at 863.
Arizona and Texas are tied for the seventh and eighth spots at the moment at 5-over 869. LSU was 4-shots clear of the cut as Mississippi State finished 14th at 16-over par 880 and SMU finished 15th at 17-over 881. Those three teams will play together on Monday. San Jose State missed the cut by one shot at 18-over par.
The Monday round is set to begin at 10 a.m. local time (Noon Baton Rouge time) with the Tigers wave to lead the field off the first tee. Live scoring will be available on Golfstat.com and coverage will begin on College Central at 3 p.m. CT followed by live coverage at 4 p.m. CT. Bob Papa will lead the broadcast with Paige McKenzie and Steve Burkowski also in the booth with Billy Ray Brown, Jim Gallagher, Jr., and Julia Johnson on the course.
There will also be updates during the round @LSUwomensgolf on Twitter and @LSUKent.