HILTON HEAD, S.C. — The LSU Lady Tigers golf team, ranked 13th in the country in the latest MasterCard Collegiate rankings, completes the fall portion of its schedule when it tees off Friday in the prestigious 14th annual Rolex/Golf World/Palmetto Dunes Collegiate Invitational.
The Lady Tigers are making their fourth straight appearance in this by invitation only event which features the country’s top men and women’s teams competing at the same time on different courses. The women will play the very tough Arthur Hills Golf Club at Palmetto Hall Plantation, a par 72-layout which will cover some 6,257 yards.
It’s been primarily the two Arizona schools which have owned the event in recent years with Arizona winning last year and Arizona State the two years prior. In fact, Arizona State has won four times in the nine years the women have been competing as part of this event.
LSU, which already has the seventh toughest schedule in the country according to the GolfWeek/Sagarin rankings, will face another top-quality field which includes top-ranked Duke, second-ranked Arizona, Southern California (3), Arizona State (4), Georgia (5), Stanford (6), Pepperdine (9), Texas (10), Tulsa (16), TCU (24) and Furman.
“We’ve been very competitive in our three fall events and we want to end with another good performance,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “The team has responded well to playing without two of the main players who were on the team when we went to the championship last year and we need to continue that for one more weekend and then start thinking about the spring.”
Sophomore Tina Howard (tendon surgery on her hand) and senior Lesley McClurg (wrist surgery)will miss the event.
“This is always a very good tournament on a very tough golf course and we need to stay focused and concentrate on our game. This is a course where you can grind out some good scores if you are mentally sharp and thinking carefully about each shot,” Bahnsen said.
LSU will go with its normal quintet led by Kenner senior Lisette Lee (75.44 strokes per round), ranked 26th in the country in the Sagarin rankings and Shreveport sophomore Meredith Duncan (76.00, 38th in the Sagarin). LSU will also have South Bend, Ind., junior Katy Wilkinson (78.22); New Zealand freshman Rebecca Barrow (79.77) and Gretna sophomore Lindy Hitdlebaugh (80.33) to complete the lineup.
The Lady Tigers are coming off a sixth-place finish in their last start the Mercedes-Benz Women’s Championship at Knoxville, Tenn., last month.