GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The LSU women’s golf team, eighth-ranked in the latest Golf Week/Sagarin ratings, opens the spring portion of the college golf season Friday in the first round of the Sun Trust Lady Gator Golf Invitational.
The three-day, 54-hole event will be contested over the par 72, 5,821 yard University of Florida Golf Course.
The Tigers and host Gators are joined in the field by 12th-ranked Auburn, 18th-ranked South Carolina and 19th-ranked Mississippi State. Also in the field are Arkansas, South Florida, Furman, Central Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida State, Miami and Vanderbilt.
LSU finished fourth in this event a year ago. LSU finished in the top half of each of its four fall tournaments, including a fifth behind Arizona, Duke, Arizona State and Southern California in the prestigious Golf World/Palmetto Dunes Invitational in South Carolina in its last start in November.
“We feel we had a great fall and are really looking forward to getting the season back going again,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen, whose Tigers have finished in the top 10 in the NCAA Championships each of the last two years. “Getting back again to the Championships is our primary goal and the team has been practicing hard to get ready to resume that climb back to that event.”
LSU will be a little more at full strength in Florida as sophomore Tina Howard from New Zealand makes her first appearance this season. Howard cut a tendon in her hand just days prior to the start of the fall season and missed all four tournaments undergoing rehabilitation after surgery. Howard led the team in stroke average a season ago, averaging 76.00 for 26 rounds. She ended up her freshman year ranked 31st nationally in the GolfWeek/Sagarin rankings.
Joining Howard on the trip will be Kenner senior Lisette Lee, Gretna sophomore Lindy Hitdlebaugh, Shreveport sophomore Meredith Duncan and South Bend, Ind., junior Katy Wilkinson.
Lee led the team in stroke average in the fall at 75.08 with three top 15 finishes, while Duncan posted two top 10s in earning a 75.25 stroke average in the four fall events. Katy Wilkinson had the team’s other top 10 finish in the fall and averaged 76.92 strokes per round.
The highlight of the LSU spring schedule will be the LSU/Cleveland Classic set for the University Club, the team’s home course, on April 7, 8 and 9.