HONOLULU, HAWAII — Three trips to Hawaii and three third place finishes as LSU again finished third in the Dr. Donnis Thompson Classic Wednesday at the Kaneohe Klipper Military Course.
The second round on Tuesday hurt LSU in the overall scheme of the tournament and probably cost the Tigers a second place finish as LSU had bookend rounds of 294 in the opening round and 293 in Wednesday’s solo round over the course which was shortened to a par 71 because of unplayable conditions over much of the first hole.
LSU’s 318 round in the afternoon Tuesday put the Lady Tigers in fourth place after 36 holes. LSU nine-over total on Wednesday put LSU at 905, 53-over par for the tournament. Tennessee’s nationally-ranked women’s golf team put the tournament away quite easily with rounds of 288-288 on Tuesday and a four-under total of 280 on the final day to finish at four-over 856. The Lady Vols were 38 shots better than New Mexico at 42-over 894 and then it was 11 shots back to LSU.
The Lady Tigers edged Notre Dame by one shot for third and Hawaii by two shots to round out the top five.
Tennessee’s top four golfers finished one through four in the individual competition with Marci Turner the individual winner at three-under 210 after shooting a seven-under 64 in the final round (75-71-64).
LSU freshman Caroline Martens fired a one-over 72 on the final round and posted a top 10 finish, bringing home the ninth spot at 10-over 223 (73-78-72). Rebecca Kuhn tied for 13th at 13-over 226 and Alexis Rather tied for 20th at 15-over 228.
The Tigers go back to action in a little over a week at the Bryan National Collegiate in Browns Summit, N.C.
Dr. Donnis Thompson Classic
Honolulu, Hawaii
Final Team Results (Par 284-852)
1. Tennessee 288-288-280 — 856 +4
2. New Mexico 301-295-298 — 894 +42
3. LSU 294-318-293 — 905 +53
4. Notre Dame 299-304-303 — 906 +54
5. Hawaii 310-302-295 — 907 +55
6. UTEP 313-299-303 — 915 +63
7. Kansas St. 303-313-302 — 918 +66
8. Princeton 308-308-308 — 924 +72
9. British Columbia 312-309-316 — 937 +85
10. Osaka Gakuin 307-309-323 — 939 +87
Top 5 Individuals (par 71-213)
1. Marci Turner, UT, 75-71-64 — 210 -3; 2. Golda Johansson, UT, 70-73-71 — 214 +1; 3. Nicole Smith, UT, 72-72-72 — 216 +3; 4. Violeta Retamoza, UT, 72-72-73 — 217 +4; 5. Mikaela Backstedt, New Mexico, 74-73-71 — 218 +5
LSU Scores
T9. Caroline Martens 73-78-72 — 223 +10
T15. Rebecca Kuhn 74-79-73 — 226 +13
T20. Alexis Rather 73-80-75 — 228 +15
T26. Melissa Eaton 75-81-74 — 230 +17
37. Vicky Meyer 74-86-74 — 234 +21