ATHENS, Ga. — The LSU women’s golf team followed up a win last week in the LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic with a strong second place finish in a big field in the Liz Murphey Classic Sunday at the University of Georgia Golf Course.
The Lady Tigers, on a sloppy day that made the lengthy par-72 course play even longer, moved from third to second on the final day, beating all but host Georgia in the final standings. LSU finished at 41-over par 905 after a final day 17-over 305 (300-300-305). Georgia came in with a winning total of 28-over 864 after rounds of 298-294-300.
The Tigers were three strokes better than Auburn and Tulane at 44-over 908 with Tennessee rounding out the top five at 909.
The LSU women have adopted a new strategy in the last two tournaments of worrying about individual play on the golf course and trying not to pay attention to leaderboards and what other teams are doing and so far so good for LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen.
“The girls have really bought in to what we have tried to teach them regarding just playing their own round of golf and not worrying about what is happening around them,” said Bahnsen. “We try not to worry about the leader board until the entire tournament is done. The girls have worked very hard the last few weeks and it certainly has shown and now we look forward to the SEC Championships next month.”
Junior Vicky Meyer had the best round of the day for the Tigers with a 74, while Brooke Shelton, Kim Meck and each had 77 for the Tigers. Meyer, Shelton and Rebecca Kuhn all finished in the top 20 for the tournament.
The Tigers are off until the Southeastern Conference Women’s Championships scheduled for mid-April at the Tunica National Golf Club in Tunica, Miss.
Liz Murphey Collegiate — Final Team Results (Par 288-864)
1. Georgia 298-294-300 — 892 +28; 2. LSU 300-300-305 — 905 +41; 3. Auburn 304-297-307 — 908 +44; 3. Tulane 301-298-309 — 908 +44; 5. Tennessee 311-296-302 — 909 +45; 6. Wake Forest 301-306-303 — 910 +46; 7. Mississippi State 309-305-305 — 919 +55: 8. Ohio State 307-308-306 — 921 +57; 8. Michigan State 315-308-298 — 921 +57; 10. Furman 321-292-309 — 922 +58; 11. Arkansas 306-313-306 — 925 +61; 12. Kent State 322-301-308 — 931 +67; 13. Ole Miss 325-312-306 — 943 +79; 14. South Carolina 313-310-322 — 945 +81; 15. Kentucky 327-316-311 — 954 +90; 16. East Carolina 324-313-318 — 955 +91; 17. Alabama 319-311-326 — 956 +92; 18. Florida State 308-329-326 — 963 +99.
Top 5 Indivduals (Par 72-216)
1. Kelly Froelich, Georgia, 74-73-71 — 218 +2; 2. Violeta Retamoza, Tennessee, 78-68-74 — 220 +4; 3. Gabby Wedding, Kent State, 77-57-69 — 221 +5; 3. Ashley Hoagland, Wake Forest, 72-75-74 — 221 +6; 3. Diana Ramage, Auburn, 74-72-75 — 221 +6; 3. Lindsay Hulwick, Tulane, 73-72-76 — 221 +6.
LSU Scores
T14. Vicky Meyer 75-77-74 — 226 +10
T17. Brooke Shelton 75-75-77 — 227 +11
T20. Rebecca Kuhn 74-72-82 — 228 +12
T31. Kim Meck 76-77-77 — 230 +14
T35. Melissa Eaton 78-76-77 — 231 +15