COLUMBUS, Ohio — The conditions were cool and rainy, but the 24 teams were on the course for the first of two practice rounds Sunday at the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships at the newly renovated Scarlet Course at Ohio State University.
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Among the teams out were the LSU Lady Tigers, second place in the NCAA East Regional Tournament with a six-over 870 score that was the second lowest 54-hole aggregate score in school history.
The Scarlet Course originally opened in 1938 as remained primarily as Dr. Alister MacKenzie designed it until Jack Nicklaus, who played collegiate golf at Ohio State in 1960 and 1961, and his Nicklaus Design firm donated services to redesign the course. Nicklaus and son Gary, who also helped with the redesign of the course, played the ceremonial first round on Saturday.
“We love it,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen of the new course design. “The redesign was tremendous. It took an already great course and made it better. It’s soft and has a great layout. It will be a true test for the championship.”
Bahnsen is making her third appearance in a championship event at The Scarlet Course having played there in the final AIAW Women’s Championships in 1982 and coaching the Lady Tiger team in 1986 that went to the NCAA Women’s Championships.
“I thought it was a great course,” said LSU sophomore Kim Meck. “It’s in good condition. It’s going to be a good test of chipping and putting. The placement of the pins is great. I think it will come done to who can chip and putt the best.”
LSU will be paired with the teams that finished second in the West and Central region and that happens to be two of the favorites in the tournament, Duke and UCLA.
“It was really neat to be out there and see only one old cup and it was where (Jack) Nicklaus played (Saturday),” said Duke Coach Dan Brooks. “My team has played here a lot. So, seeing how different everything was was great. They have definitely improved the greens. The 17th green has such a big improvement. They made a great course even better.”
There has been much rain in the Columbus area as of late and the early practice round was played in the rain before skies cleared around 11 a.m. Tennessee, the winner of the East Regional ahead of LSU, elected to just play nine holes with any early starting time in the rain Sunday.
“The fairways were great,” said Tennessee Coach Judy Pavon. “They greens were soft and we were worried that they would be firm because of the reconstruction. We’re excited to play on it.”
The Tigers, with the same lineup from Regionals of Meck, Melissa Eaton, Rebecca Kuhn, Alexis Rather and Caroline Martens, have a late morning practice round Monday as the teams all have their final pre-tournament look at the course before the tournament begins on Tuesday. Unlike the regular season college golf tournaments, this event is a full 72 holes with 18- holes each day through Friday. Live scoring of the event can be found at www.golfstat.com