BATON ROUGE — Two sets of Tigers, Auburn and LSU, matched each other almost stroke-for-stroke and stand one-two after the first round of the women’s LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic Friday at the University Club.
Auburn, ranked fifth in the latest GolfWeek/Sagarin Performance Index, and LSU, ranked 12th, stayed just about even throughout the day’s first 18 holes of the three-day 54 hole event played under some of the warmest weather in the 20-year history of the event. Auburn finished with a 5-over total of 293, two shots better than LSU at 7-over 295. Auburn is eight shots ahead of Mississippi State, ranked 41st in the country, as the Bulldogs came in with a strong 301 to get in the final grouping on Saturday with LSU and Auburn.
Auburn’s 293 total is 11 shots better than the best round of a year ago in the first Classic at the U-Club and is just three shots shy of the best all-time in the event (290) shot in 1996 at the Fairwood Country Club by Arizona. For defending champion LSU, it is its best round in the Classic since shooting 294 in the second and third round of the 1998 event, also at Fairwood.
“It was a great opening round,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “It was nice to watch. We handled the conditions very well and put ourselves in a very nice position. Auburn also had an outstanding round and we must continue to play like we did (Friday), taking each shot as it comes and not letting a minor mistake bother us and spoil the whole round.”
Auburn toured the front nine of the University Club in even par with LSU right behind at one over, Alabama 2-over and Georgia 4-over. But the wind picked up a bit on the back nine in the afternoon and scores began to move upward a bit, but LSU lost only one more stroke to Auburn over the final nine holes.
After Mississippi State is Alabama in fourth at 303, with seventh ranked Georgia in fifth after a 16-over par 304, 12 over on the back side.
Auburn was the only team to play the par 5s under par, one under. Auburn and LSU were both 8-over on the par 4s. Auburn had more birdies than any of the teams, 12, compared to nine for LSU.
Four players had it to red figures at the turn, but only two could get around the 6,265-yard, par-72 layout under par: Celeste Troche of Auburn and Lina Thoren of Mississippi State. Both had identical nine hole scores but in opposite fashion. Troche opened two under on the front nine, but was 1-over on the back, while Thoren (playing the back nine first, was 2-under on holes 10-18, but one over on the front side.
Lesley McClurg of LSU continues her strong play in the spring with an even-par 72 on the day, her first even par round in the senior’s LSU career. Louisiana native Sarah Johnston of Benton, who plays for Alabama, is also at even par as is Courtney Swaim of Auburn.
LSU also counted a one-over 73 from senior Katy Harris (tied for sixth) and three-over 75s from freshman Isabel Dornellas and junior Meredith Duncan (tied for 11th). LSU freshman Devon Day, playing in the indvidual competition only, is alone in 10th place after a 2-over 74.
“I’m very pleased with all the scores,” said LSU’s Bahnsen. “Again we were able to put together four strong scores as we did in Hawaii and again someone came through when we needed us to allow us to post a good number. We are really looking forward to trying to do it again on Saturday.”
Tulane is also in the tournament and is eighth after the first day at 28-over 316. Mary Jan Fernandez was the best for the Wave with a 4-over 76, tied for 15th place.
The average score on the first day was 79.13.
The tournament begins its second round at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday with LSU, Auburn and Mississippi State starting the final wave at 9:15 a.m.
The final round is set for Sunday and spectator admission is free.