BATON ROUGE — The 13th-ranked LSU women’s golf team played some of their best golf ever in a season opening tournament, placing themselves in position to possibly capture the College of Charleston Cougar Invitational after the first 36-holes on Monday at the Yeamans Hall Country Club.
The Lady Tigers opened play Monday with an even par round of 288, only the fifth time in school history the women’s golf team has shot even par or lower in a single round. After a seven-over 295 in the second round, LSU’s 36-hole total of 583 is the third lowest 36-hole score in the history of the LSU women’s program.
LSU’s 36-hole total of seven-over 583 is second entering Tuesday’s final round of the 54-hole event, just two shots behind Tennessee at five-over on rounds of one-over 289 and four-over 292.
The Tigers are four-shots up on Virginia at 11-over 487 with Furman at 588 and Wake Forest at 589.
Brazilian junior Vicky Meyer of LSU, had back-to-back rounds of one-under par 71 to stand at two-under 142 after 36 holes, in a tie for third in the individual competition, just three shots out of the lead of Tennessee’s Violeta Retamoza at five-under after rounds of 70-69. Leah Wigger of Virginia is second at three-under 141.
Freshman Rebecca Kuhn and Brooke Shelton are tied for 15th place at three-over 147, while Melissa Eaton is tied for 19th at 148, four over. Eaton shot rounds of 74-74 and ironically, her two-over first round wasn’t good enough to count for LSU’s team score of 288 as two players shot one-under par (Meyer and Shelton) and two players shot one-over (Kuhn and Kimberly Meck) in the opener.
“It was just a tremendous start for our team,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “We are in a very good position going to Tuesday’s final round and all our team contributed a lot throughout the day. It was long and we got a little tired at the end, but we have put ourselves in a wonderful position with a chance to start off on a very positive note.”
Live scoring of Tuesday’s final round can be found at www.golfstat.com.
Cougar Classic
Team results after 36 holes (Par 288-576)
1. Tennessee 289-292 — 581 +5; 2. LSU 288-295 — 583 +7; 3. Virginia 294-293 — 587 +11; 4. Furman 290-298 — 588 +12; 5. Wake Forest 296-293 — 589 +13; 6. Ole Miss 294-299 — 593 +17; 7. North Carolina 290-305 — 595 +19; 8. Charleston 299-303 — 602 +26; 9. East Carolina 295-312 — 607 +31; 10. North Carolina State 299-311 — 610 +34; 11. Campbell 307-304 — 611 +35; 12. Maryland 306-311 — 617 +41; 13. Kentucky 302-317 — 619 +43; 14. Richmond 312-310 — 622 +46; 15. Florida State 316-313 — 629 +53; 16. Charleston Southern 347-350 — 697 +121.
Top 5 Individuals (Par 72-144)
1, Violeta Retamoza, Tennessee 70-69 — 139 -5; 2. Leah Wigger, Virginia, 70-71 — 141 -3; t3. Vicky Meyer, LSU, 71-71 — 142 -2; t3. Theresa Paik, Furman, 71-71 — 142; 5. Connor Atkinson, Furman, 72-71 — 143 -1.
LSU Scores
T3. Vicky Meyer 71-71 — 142 -2
T15. Rebecca Kuhn 73-74 — 147 +3
T15. Brooke Shelton 71-76 — 147 +3
T19. Melissa Eaton 74-74 — 148 +4
T35. Kimberly Meck 73-79 — 152 +8