Tag: LSU Women’s Golf

Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – When Saturday’s very early morning started, LSU senior Latanna Stone really wasn’t sure what her second round in the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships would look like.

Stone apparently slept with her left arm in an awkward position overnight and that caused problems when she woke up and tried to extend her arm.

Now to top everything else off, that wake up came around 4 a.m. Scottsdale time in preparation for the start of LSU’s second round wave at 6:10 a.m. with Stone in the fourth group off at 6:40.

How did it work out? Just fine, thank you.

Stone, from Riverview, Florida and coming off a 1-over 73 in Friday afternoon’s opening round, made 10 consecutive pars, then five consecutive birdies and three more pars to complete a clean card 67 in the second round to stand at 4-under par 140 after 36 holes (73-67).

At the end of Saturday’s play, Stone was in a group tied for ninth place as she moved up 42 spots in the standings as the No. 24-ranked collegiate golfer in the Golfstat rankings is just six shots out of the tournament lead held by Wake Forest’s Lauren Walsh who has fired back-to-back 67s to stand at 10-under 134.

Catherine Park of USC posted an 8-under 64 to tie former Tiger Megan McChrystal’s aggregate scoring mark in the NCAA Championships back in 2010. Park is at 9-under after 36 holes.

But back to Stone. Let’s let her take us through the morning.

“I slept with my (left) arm bent and when I woke up, I went to extend it and I had this weird shooting pain in my arm. So (trainer Cory Couture, traveling with the team) fixed me up. He put a heating pad on it which numbed it, took some medicine and put a (compression) sleeve on it. It was okay. On the back nine it began to hurt. I told (Coach Garrett Runion) that basically today I made a ton of pars and five putts. And those five putts were for birdie and that really helped. I was not thinking about making birdies. I was just like let’s just get through today. I didn’t know how I was going to be when I started out.”

It was a variance of holes that were part of the five-hole birdie streak – the par 5 11th hole (539 yds); the par 4 12th (390 yards); the par 3 13th (156 yards) and par 4 14th (374 yards) and 15th (415 yards).

In the last 22 holes, Stone has six birdies and 16 pars with no bogeys.

Stone’s round of 67 was the fourth lowest round ever posted by an LSU women’s golfer in the NCAA Championships (final tournament). McChrystal’s 64 came in 2010 while Austin Ernst posted 66 twice (2nd, 4th rounds) in her win in the championships in 2011.

Speaking of top marks, LSU as a team posted an even par 288, the lowest single round LSU has ever posted in an NCAA Championship event. LSU’s previous mark was a 1-over 289 in the final round of the 2011 national championship, the first of LSU’s back-to-back third place team finishes.

The 288 was able to move LSU up four spots to 14th place by the end of the second day. LSU finished the day in 14th place at 6-over 582 (294-288).

Although LSU is lower in the standings with the overall lower scores, LSU’s 582 total after 36 holes is five shots lower than where LSU stood at 587 after 36 holes in 2022, 2021 and 2012.

LSU played the front nine at 3-over par, but with Stone leading the way on the back nine, LSU was 3-under. LSU stayed at 1-over for the day much of the final three holes but Ingrid Lindblad in the last group, came up with a birdie on the par 5 18th hole.

Lindblad had posted her drive to the right off the tee in some trouble but was able to advance the ball to a perfect yardage and got up and down for the birdie putt for an even par 72. She stands at 2-under 142 after 36 holes.

Carla Tejedo was also under part as well at 1-under 71 and is at even par 144 (73-71). Tejedo opened with six pars and birdies on the par 5 7th, the par 3 8th and the par 4 10th.

“It was a solid round,” said Coach Runion, who has taken the Tigers to the NCAA Championship for the third straight year. “Our goal all year has been whatever we shoot the first round we want to improve the next round and we did that today. Ingrid’s birdie on the last to make it an even par round was good. Made lunch taste a little bit better. I’m very pleased with this round, especially with the way they started. I’m proud of the way they competed and kept going. A couple of them didn’t start off the greatest and they just kept fighting and showed a lot of competitive toughness.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Latanna (Stone). Five straight birdies. No bogeys. Just really put the team on her back and carried us across the finish line today and I was proud of the way Carla (Tejedo) played. She was playing with the No. 1 amateur in the world (Rose Zhang of Stanford) and that can be a challenge sometimes and she held her own, a 1-under 71. Ingrid didn’t drive it very well today and still managed an even par round.”

LSU also counted a six-over 78 from graduate student Alden Wallace, who was making her first start for LSU since September in this event.

Through two days, with play still on the course Saturday, the Tigers were still not what Coach Runion hoped for on the par 5s at 5-over for the five players, but they have improved to 2-over after 36 holes on the par 3s. LSU has 28 birdies over the two days, including 12 on Saturday.

LSU will be in the final wave off the front nine on Sunday as the top 15 teams in the competition will be back on course first. LSU will be with Arizona and Duke at 8 a.m. Scottsdale time (10 a.m. Baton Rouge time). The field will be cut in half at the end of the third round and the 15th remaining teams and the nine top individuals not on the 15 teams will compete on Monday for the eight match play spots and to decide the NCAA individual champion.

Live updates will be available on Golfstat.com and updates on the round can also be found on Twitter @LSUwomensgolf and notes @LSUKent.

NCAA Women’s Golf Championship
Grayhawk Golf Club – Raptor Course
Scottsdale, Arizona
Second Round Team Results (Par 288-576)
1 Wake Forest 279-820 – 559 -17
2 Stanford 288-273 – 561 -15
3 South Carolina 286-276 – 562 -14
4 Texas 292-276 – 568 -8
T5 Oklahoma State 280-291 – 571 -5
T5 Texas A&M 287-284 – 571 -5
7 Southern California 296-276 – 572 -4
T8 Pepperdine 2985-279 – 574 -2
T8 Florida State 288-286 – 574 -2
10 New Mexico 287-288 – 575 -1
11 Georgia 286-290 – 576 E
12 Baylor 289-290 – 579 +3
13 Arizona 292-288 – 580 +4
14 LSU 294-288 – 582 +6
15 Duke 288-296 – 584 +8
16 San Jose State 292-293 – 585 +9
T17 SMU 291-295 – 586 +10
T17 Clemson 299-287 – 586 +10
19 Michigan State 293-294 – 587 +11
T20 TCU 293-295 – 588 +12
T20 Ole Miss 300-288 – 588 +12
T22 Texas Tech 291-298 – 589 +13
T22 Mississippi State 301-288 – 589 +13
24 Oregon State 297-293 – 590 +14
25 Virginia 298-293 – 591 +15
26 Augusta 296-297 – 593 +17
27 Northwestern 303-291 – 594 +18
28 Vanderbilt 305-292 – 597 +21
29 Tulsa 301-306 – 607 +31
30 North Carolina State 305-304 – 609 +33

Individual Top 5 (Par 72-144)
1 Lauren Walsh, Wake Forest – 67-67 – 134 -10
2 Catherine Park, Southern California – 71-64 – 135 -9
3 Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, Oklahoma State – 66-70 – 136 -8
T4 Adela Cernousek, Texas A&M – 69-68 – 137 -7
T4 Lucia Lopez-Ortega, San Jose State – 71-68 – 139 -5

LSU Scores
T9 Latanna Stone 73-67 – 140 -4
T24 Ingrid Lindblad 70-72 – 142 -2
T38 Carla Tejedo 73-71 – 144 E
T137 Alden Wallace 78-78 – 156 +12
T140 Aine Donegan 78-79 – 157 +13

Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – The third-ranked LSU women’s golf team looks to break through to the top eight and advance to match play when the 2023 NCAA Championships begins its run Friday at the Grayhawk Golf Club’s Raptor Course.

But there is a lot on the road to that top 8 that has to happen for the Tigers.

This is the third and final year that Scottsdale will play host to the championship before it moves to California for a three-year stay. LSU is also making its third straight appearance here in Scottsdale, one of 10 teams in this year’s field to advance to the championships all three years.

For LSU, it is the first time the Tigers have made it to the championship tournament in three straight years since 1999-2001.

In fact, another 10 teams are making their second appearance in Scottsdale and the remaining 10 teams are traveling the “Road to Grayhawk” for the first time.

The Tigers are No. 3 in both the Golfstat performance rankings and the Women’s Golf Coaches Association coaches’ poll and will be in the preferred afternoon-morning pairings for the first two rounds of the tournament.

This year’s event is also bigger as 30 teams will take part in the championships, equaling what the men’s field has been for the last several years.

LSU comes in off a somewhat dramatic rally in the final nine holes that qualified them for the championships from the NCAA Regional in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. With five qualifying spots on the line, LSU started the day in a tie for seventh place, five shots off the number.

LSU was eight shots behind the fifth spot entering the final nine holes and slowly rallied with an under par final nine holes to end up getting the fifth spot by one shot.

LSU senior Latanna Stone fired three consecutive rounds of 1-under par 71 to earn co-medalist honors, her second title of the 2022-23 golf season.

Senior Ingrid Lindblad would birdie three-of-the-last-six holes in the run for a 1-under round of 71, while junior Carla Tejedo had a 3-under par 69 in the final round.

Lindblad, Stone and Tejedo and grad student Alden Wallace has played the Raptor Course over the course of two years in the NCAA Championships and will have experience with a course that doesn’t look much different other than the rough appears to be more penal, similar to 2021. Lindblad was third a year ago (72-hole score of 1-under 287) and Tejedo has been in the top 25 both years.

Also on the traveling roster for the Tigers is sophomore Aine’ Donegan, who earned second-team All-SEC honors after transferring from Indiana, and All-SEC freshman Edit Hertzman.

Lindblad, the No. 2 ranked amateur in the world, was named this week to the final 10 watch list for the ANNIKA Award and Stone earned first-team All-SEC honors and is ranked 29th in the World Amateur Rankings, moving up eight spots after her win in the regional.

“We’ve played the par 3s there really well,” said LSU fifth-year coach Garrett Runion earlier this week on the LSU Podcast Play-by-Play as he referenced LSU’s numbers in the previous two visits to Grayhawk. “We’ve play the par 5s okay. We know we need to make our money on the par 5s and play the par 4s a lot better to advance. For us, it’s a lot different. We have some girls who have never seen the dessert. So just staring at the dessert to some people it looks wide open, some people make it more narrow for them. It’s a good course; it’s a fair course. You have to watch how the ball flies, especially in the afternoon.

“You’ve got the mountains out there. You know it is going to be hot. You have to drive it well. One year they had a lot of rough and it was mowed in really narrow. You have to play well no matter where you go and have all aspects of your game,” said the 2023 SEC Coach of the Year.

LSU will play in the first group off the 10th hole in the afternoon wave of 15 teams on Friday in an all-star pairing with top two seeds Stanford and Wake Forest. The wave will begin at 11:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. Baton Rouge time) and will feature seven of the 30 golfers in the Golfstat rankings.

The three teams will play together again on Saturday morning at 6:10 a.m. local time.

Teams will be trying to make the first cut after 54 holes when the field is cut in half to 15 teams for Monday’s nationally-televised final round of stroke play when the Top 8 teams for match play and the national individual champion will be crowned. The match play quarterfinals and semifinals will be contested on Tuesday and for two teams the national championship match is set for next Wednesday.

Live scoring updates for the tournament can be found at Golfstat.com under the NCAA D1 Championship block and updates for the LSU team will be available @LSUwomensgolf. Notes during the round and the “Geaux Lowe” column throughout the tournament can be found @LSUKent.

First Round Tee Time Waves (Friday, May 19)
Time Listed Is Arizona Time (Add two hours for Baton Rouge time)
Morning Wave
No. 1 Tee
6:10 a.m. — Arizona, Oklahoma State, Virginia
7:27 a.m. — TCU, Tulsa, New Mexico
No. 10 Tee
6:10 a.m. — Clemson, SMU, Duke
7:05 a.m. — Georgia, Texas Tech, Michigan State
8 a.m. — NC State, Oregon State, Augusta

Afternoon Wave
No. 1 Tee
11:52 a.m. — South Carolina, Mississippi State, Texas A&M
12:47 p.m. — Texas, Baylor, Northwestern
No. 10 Tee
11:30 a.m. — Stanford, Wake Forest, LSU
12:25 p.m. — San Jose, Florida State, USC
1:20 p.m. — Pepperdine, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss

Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.

BATON ROUGE – LSU senior Ingrid Lindblad was named for the third time to the final watch list of players eligible for the ANNINA Award presented by Stifel.

The group of players were announced Monday morning by The Haskins Foundations and media partners of the award, Golfweek and Golf Channel.

The Final Watch List has been narrowed down to the top 10 players in women’s college golf. In addition, voting for the 2023 ANNIKA Award will open on Monday. Voting will remain open until the completion of the stroke play portion of the NCAA Championship on Monday, May 22. Voting is done by D1 coaches, players and media.

The 2023 ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel will be presented Tuesday, May 23 on Golf Channel. The 2023 ANNIKA Award winner will also be awarded an exemption into the 2024 Amundi Evian Championship.

Lindblad, who was a finalist in 2020 and 2022 as well, averaged 70.70 for the season’s nine events she participated in with two wins that upped her career high to 11 at LSU. She has finished in the top 10 in eight of the nine events she started. That includes a ninth place finish this past week in the NCAA Regionals as she birdied three-of-the-last-six holes to help LSU advance to the NCAA Championships which begins this Friday.

The final ANNIKA Award Watch List (listed alphabetically):

Jenny Bae, Georgia
Zoe Campos, UCLA
Hannah Darling, South Carolina
Charlotte Heath, Florida State
Rachel Kuehn, Wake Forest
Andrea Lignell, Ole Miss
Ingrid Lindblad, LSU
Julia Lopez Ramirez, Mississippi State
Amanda Sambach, Virginia
Rose Zhang, Stanford

About the ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel:
Created in 2014, the ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel is annually given to the top female Division 1 collegiate golfer; the winner voted on by players, coaches and members of the college golf media. Named for Annika Sorenstam, the award was created in partnership with the Haskins Foundation to acknowledge the top female golfer and to match the Haskins Award presented by Stifel, which acknowledges the top male Division I collegiate golfer. Rose Zhang (Stanford) became the 9th ANNIKA Award winner in 2022, and the second consecutive winner from Stanford.

Stifel, one of the nation’s leading wealth management and investment banking firms, serves as the presenting sponsor of both the ANNIKA and Haskins Awards, recognizing annually the most outstanding NCAA Division I female and male college golfers. Stifel also serves as a presenting sponsor for the NCAA Division I Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships on GOLF Channel.

Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida –The No. 3 ranked LSU women’s golf team played its final eight holes (holes 2-9) in 8-under par to rally to get one of the five qualifying spots for the NCAA National Championship Wednesday at PGA National Champion Course at the NCAA Palm Springs Garden Regional.

Also, Latanna Stone captured her second medalist honor of the season with a third straight round of 71 to finish at 3-under 213 for the 54-hole event tied for the top with Brooke Bierman of Michigan State.

Carla Tejedo posted the best round of the tournament for LSU with a clean card with three birdies for a 3-under 69 and Ingrid Lindblad posted a 1-under 71 on the final day. Aine Donegan was the other final counting score for LSU with a 2-over 74.

The Tigers shot a final round of 3-under par 285 on the par 72 layout that hosts the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic, and moved from a tie for seventh to a final finish of fifth in a day full of drama that had LSU edging Arkansas for the last qualifying spot.

LSU finished at 15-over par 879 (298-296-285).

LSU started the day five shots out of fifth place in a tie with the Arkansas Razorbacks at 18-over par. The Tigers started on the 10th hole and really wasn’t able to get much going on the front nine, falling to 22-over par at one point in the round and eight shots off the cut line.

But as the action moved to the par 5 third hole (the 12th of the day), Stone, Tejedo and Donegan all birdied the 510-yard hole. It was Tejedo’s second straight birdie as LSU played the front side last.

Lindblad’s game hit stride and she birdied the par 4 fourth, the par 5 sixth and the par 4 eighth. Donegan also posted birdies on the sixth and the par 3 seventh holes and slowly but surely LSU found themselves inching into a competition with Arkansas for the final spot.

Making matters more complicated was that the walking scorers for Tejedo and Donegan had posted bogeys instead of pars on three holes that forced some manual math until the official cards were posted showing LSU with the one-shot advantage.

With the possibility of a playoff looming, both LSU’s Stone and Arkansas’s final player had birdie putts with Arkansas having the closer putt. Stone from long-distance put hers on the left lip and tapped in for par, while the Razorback putt to force a playoff horseshoed the cup and stayed out.

“At the beginning of the year, we said this was the place we wanted to go for regionals and we were fortunate to get here,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “One thing we focused on all year was our final five holes. The first two rounds we struggled a little bit. Today that proved to be the difference. Ingrid, Latanna and Carla did not make a bogey on the final nine holes. They showed up big when the most pressure was on. They knew where we stood and they stepped up and hit golf shots and some big putts in the big moments.

“I’m proud of the way they showed up when they needed it most. A lot of regionals have some funny things. There are some crazy moments at the end and if you look at our roster, it looks like an older roster, but the reality is we haven’t really had too much regional experience,” Coach Runion noted.

In 2020 the NCAAs were canceled by COVID, the 2021 regional was never started by the NCAA because of weather and last year was the first regional that Lindblad, Stone, Tejedo and Donegan (at Indiana) played.

“I’m proud of the way they never gave up, fought to the end and got it done,” Runion said.

LSU advances to the national championship in Scottsdale, Arizona for the third consecutive year, the first time the LSU women’s golf program has advanced to the national championship three straight years from the regional format since the 1999-2001 seasons.

Also advancing from the Palm Beach Gardens Regional, one of six that finished Friday with five teams advancing from each regional, were Michigan State (the winner at 8-over 872, with Duke at 875 in second and Texas and Northwestern tied for fourth ahead of LSU at 878. The Tigers were one shot back in fifth, a shot ahead of Arkansas.

With Stone in the tie at the top, Lindblad finished in a tie for ninth at 2-over 218 (74-73-71), her 32nd career top ten finish. Donegan finished at T25 with 75-74-73 – 223 (7 over). Tejedo moved up 18 spots with her 69 to finish at T33.

“Latanna, it seems she shoots 71 every time,” Runion said. “She’s been so consistent this year and she proved that this week. She plays tough golf courses well. She proved that. To have that anchor for all three rounds. Carla stepped up big today. She didn’t play as well as she would have liked the first two days, but when she needed it the most, she showed up which is a huge reason we are advancing. Ingrid birdied three-of-her-last-six holes and we advance by one, that’s big-time playing. That’s stepping up. Aine was there all three rounds playing consistent golf that helped up through.”

The rally by LSU was the biggest margin since the 2015 LSU men’s team had to rally from 11 down in the final round to get the last qualifying spot in the New Haven Regional. LSU won the national championship that year.

It also with playoff implications possible the 2008 season when now Assistant Coach Alexis Rather chipped in for birdie in a sudden death playoff that got LSU the final qualifying spot in the Austin Regional.

The Tigers qualify for the 16th time in program history to the NCAA championship finals and LSU will be one of the teams that will have played in all three years the championships have been held at Grayhawk in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Tigers ended up leading the field in par 3 scoring at 2-over par and led the field by seven in pars with 179 for 54 holes. LSU finished with 31 birdies and the 10 on the final nine holes (holes 1-9) was more than LSU had in either of the first two rounds. Stone led the field as she did all week on the par 5s at 6-under par and Lindblad, Stone and Tejedo tied for second in pars with 39.

The championships will start on Friday, May 19 with for the first time in the history of women’s golf, 30 teams taking part. There will be a cut after the May 21 third round to 15 teams who will compete in the first of the nationally-televised Golf Channel rounds for the eight spots in the match play finals which are set for May 23 and 24.

The Tournament will move to California beginning with the 2024 event.

NCAA PALM BEACH GARDENS REGIONAL
PGA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS COURSE
Final Team Results (Par 288-864)
TOP 5 Teams Advance To National Championship
1 Michigan State 285-296-291 – 872 +8
2 Duke 298-290-287 – 875 +11
T3 Texas 298-291-289 – 878 +14
T3 Northwestern 300-284-294 – 878 +14
5 LSU 298-296-285 – 879 +15
6 Arkansas 297-297-286 – 880 +16
7 UCF 300-291-300 – 891 +27
8 South Florida 296-293-306 – 893 +29
9 Alabama 299-303-296 – 898 +34
10 California 302-299-301 – 902 +38
11 Penn 306-306-298 – 910 +46
12 Quinnipiac 315-322-300 – 937 +73

Individual Top 5 (Par 72-216)
(Byrne qualifies for national championships as top finisher not on a qualifying team.)
T1 Latanna Stone, LSU 71-71-71 – 213 -3
T1 Brooke Biermann, Michigan State 69-73-71 – 213 -3
3 Sara Byrne, Miami 70-70-74 – 214 -2
4 Andie Smith, Duke 73-73-69 – 215 -1
5 Kajal Mistry, Arkansas 74-73-69 – 216 E

LSU Scores
T1 Latanna Stone – 71-71-71 – 213 -3
T9 Ingrid Lindblad – 74-73-71 – 218 +2
T25 Aine Donegan – 74-75-74 – 223 +7
T33 Carla Tejedo – 79-77-69 – 225 +9
63 Edit Hertzman – 79-83-80 – 242 +26

Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida – LSU saved a counting stroke on the 17th hole and then posted three birdies on the 18th and final hole Monday in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Golf Regional to stand in a tie for fourth at PGA National Champion Course.

LSU is tied with Duke and Texas at 10-over par 298, the number for qualifying for nationals in Scottsdale, Arizona later this month. The top five at this and five other NCAA women’s golf regionals will advance.

Michigan State, the No. 6 seed, is the first-round leader at 3-under 285, followed by 10th seed South Florida at 8-over 296. No. 8 seed Arkansas is third at 9-over 297 and then No. 1 seed LSU is joined by No. 5 seed Duke and No. 2 seed Texas at 10-over 298.

Alabama is one more shot back in seventh at 299, followed by UCF and No. 3 seed Northwestern at 300 with California 302, Penn 306 and Quinnipiac at 315.

LSU senior Latanna Stone shot 2-under 34 on the back nine in a 1-under round of 71 on the course that hosts the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic. Stone punctuated the LSU momentum swing by getting up and down for par from distance on the par 3 17, saving an LSU stroke, and then hit a great approach to close distance on the par 5 18th hole.

Stone, playing some three hours from her home city of Riverview, Florida, had four of LSU’s eight total birdies on the day and is co-leader in par 5 scoring at 3-under par. Stone is tied for fourth in the individual competition after 18 holes, just two shots out of the lead held by Brooke Biermann of Michigan State, who had five birdies in her 3-under round of 69.

Kelly Sim of Northwestern and individual entrant Sara Byrne are tied for second at 2-under 70 with Stone tied with Bohyun Park of Texas and Katie Lu and Valentina Rossi, both of Michigan State.

On 18, Aine Donegan finished with birdie to finish at even par for the final nine holes and post 2-over 74, while Ingrid Lindblad hit a near perfect approach shot to tap in distance on 18 for birdie to close her round to also post 2-over 74 and stand in a group at T16. Donegan is tied for the tournament lead with 15 pars in the opening round.

Lindblad had two birdies in her round on 18 and earlier on the par 5 sixth hole.

“Statistically this semester, our first round has been our highest round,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “We haven’t gotten off to strong first days. The good thing is we have played better the second and third rounds and I would say this round was really no different. The teams that are leading teed off on the back nine and got through “The Bear Trap” (Holes 15-17) early. We played it in a little more wind, even though there wasn’t a ton of wind most of the day. I’m proud of the way we finished on 18. That gives you a little momentum going into the second day.

“All-in-all, we just didn’t make as many birdies, but we made a lot of pars which is keeping us in it. We just need to take care of our business the next two days. Latanna played really well. A 71 out here that’s a real strong round on a big course. Aine, I know she was a little frustrated but she stayed patient all day and made her only birdie on the last hole and had another solid round.”

Carla Tejedo and Edit Hertzman both shot 7-over 79 for their opening rounds.

The three teams tied for fourth will lead off the second round on the first hole again at 8 a.m. local time (7 a.m. Baton Rouge time) with LSU joined by Duke and Texas. The three leading teams will follow in a wave beginning at 9:06 ET.

Live scoring for the round will be available on Golfstat.com on the Palm Beach Gardens tab and updates during the round on LSUsports.net.

NCAA PALM BEACH GARDENS REGIONAL
PGA NATIONAL CHAMPION COURSE
FIRST ROUND TEAM RESULTS (PAR 288)
1 Michigan State 285 -3
2 South Florida 296 +8
3 Arkansas 297 +9
T4 Duke 298 +10
T4 LSU 298 +10
T4 Texas 298 +10
7 Alabama 299 +11
T8 UCF 300 +12
T8 Northwestern 300 +12
10 California 302 +14
11 Pennsylvania 306 +18
12 Quinnipiac 315 +27

Top 5 Individuals (Par 72)
1 Brooke Biermann, Michigan State, 69 -3
T2 Kelly Sim, Northwestern, 70 -2
T2 Sara Byrne, Miami, 70 -2
T4 Valentina Rossi, Michigan State, 71 -1
T4 Katie Lu, Michigan State, 71 -1
T4 Bohyun Park, Texas, 71 -1
T4 Latanna Stone, LSU 71 -1

LSU Scores
T4 Latanna Stone 71 -1
T16 Aine Donegan 74 +2
T16 Ingrid Lindblad 74 +2
T53 Carla Tejedo 79 +7
T53 Edit Hertzman 79 +7

Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida – The LSU women’s golf team tees off Monday morning in the first round of the NCAA Regional Golf tournament at the prestigious PGA National Champions Course, home of the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic.

The tournament is the first step for the Tigers and a possible return to the NCAA Championships for the third straight year in Scottsdale, Arizona later this month. LSU must finish in the top five in this 54-hole event that runs through Wednesday to advance to the final tournament of the year. It LSU advances, it would be the first time since 1999-2001 that LSU has gone to the event three straight times.

The team went through their practice round Sunday morning and in to the early afternoon as winds held steady between 15-25 miles per hours throughout.

When LSU tees off at 8 a.m. local time (7 a.m. in Baton Rouge), the temperature will be in the mid-70s and winds will start out at less than 10 miles per hour, but will get to double figures by the later stages of the round with temperatures in the low 80s.

LSU was able to test itself with the heavy east winds on Sunday as they learned about the course and its many areas of water and sand.

“We knew it was going to be windy down here,” said fifth-year LSU women’s golf head coach Garrett Runion. “But anywhere we go for a practice round we 1) try to get the speed of the greens and 2) get the distances and the lines off the tees. Out here, we hit a lot of different clubs other than driver off the tees and they are going to have a couple of holes with different tee boxes so it is figuring out the yardage of what to hit off the tee because water comes into play on so many holes. You also want to stay short of bunkers and trouble or carry bunkers and carry trouble. So, the two main things are the speed of the greens and clubs and distances off the tee box.

“Luckily for us the wind was blowing out of the east (on Sunday),” the SEC Coach of the Year said. “It will blow out of the same direction for us (on Monday). We will play in a similar wind and that helps.”

LSU has appeared in 26 regionals since the regional qualifying began with just two tournaments in 1993, ironically with one of those in Baton Rouge. Last year, LSU easily advanced in a year when only four teams qualified from each of six regionals, tying for second in the Stanford Regional with a 54-hole score of 845 (-7).

For the first time, the women’s NCAA championships will have the same number of teams as the men’s championships with 30 teams and five will qualify from each of the six regionals being held Monday through Wednesday. So, finishing first is good, but not the be all, end all as fifth place is just as important for future golf for the teams.

LSU has four golfers that have regional experience in its lineup this week led by first-team All-SEC selections Ingrid Lindblad and Latanna Stone. Also, junior Carla Tejedo has teed it up in regional play as has sophomore transfer Aine Donegan, who participated as in dividual entrant in last year’s NCAA Regionals while in Indiana.

Freshman Edit Hertzman, who stared down some of the best in the women’s game in finishing second in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, will make her first NCAA regional appearance.

LSU, as the top seed, will be in the opening team wave of the event Monday with the second seed Texas and No. 3 seed Northwestern.

The rest of the team field in seed order is No. 4 UCF, No. 5 Duke and No. 6 Michigan State. The seventh seed is California and then two other SEC teams, No. 8 Arkansas and No. 9 Alabama. The final three seeds are South Florida (10), Penn (11) and Quinnipiac (12).

Lindblad averaged 70.46 on the season with two wins this year (11 for her career), while Stone is at 71.56 with a win and an eighth place finish in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Donegan, a second-team All-SEC selection, comes in with a 72.33 average, with Tejedo at 73.78 and Hertzman, a freshman All-SEC selection, is at 74.14.

LSU has four wins this 2022-23 wraparound season, just one off the school mark of five set in the 1985-86 season under Coach Runion who has 10 victories as the head coach of the Tigers. Runion was named the SEC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year.

The course the regional will be contested on has been the home of the PGA Senior Championship and now the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic. Originally designed by Tom and George Fazio, the Champion course was redesigned by Jack Nicklaus in 2014. The course features one of the signature stretches in golf, “The Bear Trap” which spans three demanding holes over water designed by Nicklaus – the par 3 15th, the par 4 16th and the par 3 17th.

Coach Runion knows what has to happen for LSU to be successful this week.

“We have to eliminate the big numbers,” said Runion. “I looked back, the men played a regional here last year and the scores were everything from 20-under to 20-over made it. Florida Atlantic (tournament hosts) played their Conference USA championships out here the last two years and we looked at those scores. The wind will be a big impact. I believe the wind will stay strong this week and it will be more of a hang-on type tournament. So, we just need to eliminate the big numbers. Bogeys are okay. Stay out of the water, especially on the par 3s, and we’ll be fine. Make conservative lines with aggressive swings.”

Live scoring for the event will be available at Golfstat.com under the Palm Beach Garden regional and updates will be available @LSUWomensGolf on Twitter.

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Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.

BATON ROUGE – For the 26th time in the 30 years an NCAA Golf Regional Round has been part of the post-season, the No. 3 ranked LSU women’s golf team has been selected to participate in a chance to advance to the NCAA Championship Tournament later next month.

The Tigers are the No. 1 seed in the Palm Beach Gardens regional to be held, May 8-10 at PGA National. The top five teams from each of six regionals will advance to what will be the largest NCAA Championship event field in women’s golf history.

The teams advancing to the regional competition were announced in a program Wednesday on The Golf Channel. Joining LSU, No. 3 in the Golfstat rankings, in seed order 2-12 (Golfstat rankings in parenthesis) are: Texas (10), Northwestern (15), UCF (19), Duke (28), Michigan State (36), California (39), Arkansas (45), Alabama (48), South Florida (57), Penn (100) and Quinnipiac (145).

In all, 72 teams advanced to the six regional sites where will be held on the same dates as well in Athens, Georgia; Pullman, Washington; Raleigh, North Carolina; San Antonio, Texas and Westfield, Indiana.

Originally designed by Tom and George Fazio for major tournament play, The Champion course
at PGA National Resort was redesigned by Jack Nicklaus in 2014 and hosts The Honda Classic
each spring on the PGA Tour. It is most famously known for “The Bear Trap” which spans the 15th, 16th and 17th holes, all designed by Nicklaus himself.

LSU knew it would be advancing to the regional round as a No. 1 seed because of its performance ranking in both Golfstat and the Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll, but which of the six locations, proved to be a bit of a surprise.

“I usually don’t play the game of trying to figure out where we want to go,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion, whose team advances to the NCAA regionals for the fourth straight year. “But in this case, being the No. 3 team in the country, I figured we were going to San Antonio and I thought it was kind of cut and dried. So, I was shocked to see Palm Beach Gardens and PGA National, but I’m very excited. It’s a course that some of our ladies have played before. It’s a tough course and that’s what we wanted. There is similar weather, similar grass, so it’s a good spot for us.

“I think it’s a very comfortable spot for us and now we just have to perform,” he said. “No matter where you go, you still have to play well. Our girls are excited and looking forward to it.”

A total of 11 women’s golf teams from the Southeastern Conference advanced to NCAA play.

The regional round started in 1993, ironically here in Baton Rouge at Santa Maria Golf Course as one of just two regionals that sent teams to a women’s national championship.

LSU has advanced from regional qualifying 12 times in its history, including each of the last two seasons. Last year at Stanford, LSU tied for second in the event. The tournament has been scheduled in Baton Rouge five total times, the last four times at the University Club.

The NCAA Championship was not conducted in 2020 after the suspension of all sports during the pandemic.

LSU will be trying to advance to the championship for the third straight year, marking the first time since the 1999-2001 seasons that LSU has made it on three consecutive occasions.

The complete NCAA Regional fields (The top 5 teams and the top individual not on the qualifying teams will advance to the national championships in Scottsdale, Arizona, May 19-24:

Palm Beach Gardens Regional Site
The Palm Beach Gardens Regional will be played at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens,
Florida with Florida Atlantic and the Palm Beach County Sports Commission serving as co-hosts.
Teams:
1. LSU
2. Texas
3. Northwestern
4. UCF
5. Duke
6. Michigan State
7. California
8. Arkansas
9. Alabama
10. South Florida
11. Penn (The Ivy League)
12. Quinnipiac (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
Individuals:
1. Christin Eisenbeiss, North Florida
2. Sara Byrne, Miami (FL)
3. Yanjun Liu, Princeton
4. Karissa Kilby, FIU
5. Leah Onosato, Old Dominion (Sun Belt Conference)
6. Katherine Lemke, Creighton (Big East Conference)

Pullman Regional Site
The Pullman Regional will be played at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Washington and will
be hosted by Washington State.
Teams:
1. Stanford
2. Baylor
3. Southern California (Pac-12 Conference)
4. Clemson (Atlantic Coast Conference)
5. Kentucky
6. Texas Tech
7. Houston
8. North Carolina
9. UNLV
10. Sacramento State (Big Sky Conference)
11. Cal Poly (Big West Conference)
12. Green Bay (Horizon League)
Individuals:
1. Camille Boyd, Washington
2. Tiffany Le, UC Riverside
3. Harriet Lynch, Fresno State
4. Darcy Habgood, Washington State
5. Stefanie Deng, Washington
6. Cassie Kim, Gonzaga

Westfield Regional Site
The Westfield Regional will be played at The Club at Chatham Hills Golf Course in Westfield,
Indiana and will be hosted by Indiana and the Indiana Sports Corp.
Teams:
1. Mississippi State
2. Oregon
3. Vanderbilt
4. Iowa State
5. Virginia
6. Tulsa
7. Tennessee
8. Michigan
9. Oregon State
10. Xavier (Big East Conference)
11. Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun Conference)
12. Morehead State (Ohio Valley Conference)
Individuals:
1. Isabella McCauley, Minnesota
2. Carmen Griffiths, Louisville
3. Luisamariana Mesones, Minnesota
4. Sofia Torres, Colorado State
5. Lauren Beaudreau, Notre Dame
6. Sabrina Coffman, Cleveland State (Horizon League)

Raleigh Regional Site
The Raleigh Regional will be played at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course in Raleigh, North Carolina and
will be hosted by NC State.
Teams:
1. Wake Forest
2. Arizona State
3. Florida State
4. Florida
5. Arizona
6. North Texas (Conference USA)
7. TCU
8. NC State
9. Purdue
10. Nebraska
11. Campbell (Big South Conference)
12. Richmond (Patriot League)
Individuals:
1. Dorota Zalewska, Chattanooga
2. Kendall Turner, James Madison
3. Mallory Fobes, UNCW
4. Morgan Ketchum, Virginia Tech
5. Becca DiNunzio, Virginia Tech
6. Sarah Kahn, High Point (Big South Conference)

Athens Regional Site
The Athens Regional will be played at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Georgia with
Georgia serving as the host institution.
Teams:
1. South Carolina
2. San Jose State
3. Ole Miss
4. Ohio State
5. Georgia
6. Maryland
7. Kent State (Mid-American Conference)
8. Charleston (Colonial Athletic Association)
9. Kansas
10. Furman (Southern Conference)
11. Augusta (Southland Conference)
12. Sacred Heart (Northeast Conference)
Individuals:
1. Carla Bernat, Tulane
2. Mathilde Delavallade, Penn State
3. Mikhaela Fortuna, Oklahoma
4. Catie Craig, Western Kentucky (Conference USA)
5. Christy Chen, Boston U (Patriot League)
6. Isabella Gomez, Harvard (The Ivy League)

San Antonio Regional Site
The San Antonio Regional will be played at the TPC San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas with UTSA and
San Antonio Sports serving as the co-hosts.
Teams:
1. Texas A&M (Southeastern Conference)
2. Auburn
3. Pepperdine
4. Oklahoma State (Big 12 Conference)
5. SMU (American Athletic Conference)
6. UCLA
7. New Mexico (Mountain West Conference)
8. Denver (The Summit League)
9. Illinois (Big Ten Conference)
10. Sam Houston (Western Athletic Conference)
11. ULM (Sun Belt Conference)
12. Missouri State (Missouri Valley Conference)
Individuals:
1. Victoria Gailey, Nevada
2. Allysha Mae Mateo, BYU
3. Haley Vargas, Kansas State
4. Camryn Carreon, UTSA
5. Jasmine Leovao, Long Beach State (Big West Conference)
6. Alex Giles, Incarnate Word (Southland Conference)

NOTE: Twenty-seven conferences received automatic qualification to the 2023 Division I Women’s Golf
Championships.