COLUMBUS, Ohio — Rebecca Kuhn spent Tuesday in the bed at the Northwest Marriott recovering from a 24-hour stomach virus while her team practiced for the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship.
Kuhn got out of bed Wednesday and led the LSU Lady Tigers with a 1-over 73 as the LSU women’s golf team posted a first round seventh-place finish over The Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University.
LSU posted a 10-over 298 total, just the fifth time the Lady Tigers had posted a sub-300 round in 24 NCAA Championship rounds. The Lady Tigers are seven shots out of the lead in the 24-team field held by Southern California as the Trojans posted a 3-over 291.
Kuhn is tied for 10th in the individual competition with her 1-over 73, a round of ups and downs and some spectacular plays that included six birdies and seven pars as she played the front side in even par and the back in 1-over 37.
“I’m really pleased over what I did,” said Kuhn after the round. “I could have done better, but I’m very happy that I was able to help the team. I woke up and really felt good. I have absolutely no appetite, but I was going to be out her to not let my team down.”
Kuhn got the round going on a positive note, taking a wood out of a fairway bunker on the long par-4 first hole to 20 feet and two-putted for par.
“It was great just to get the round going,” the sophomore from Miami said.
Kuhn birdied the third, fourth and fifth holes to get to two under, but had two bogeys to go back to even before the turn. Birdies at 13 and 14 got her back to one under, but bogeys on 15 and 16 brought her back to 1-over. She concluded the round with a one-putt par on 17 and a two-putt par on 18 to finish up.
Kuhn led the field in par 3 scoring at 2.50 and in birdies with six.
“I’m really proud of Rebecca and the effort that she put forth,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen, coaching the Lady Tigers for the seventh time in the NCAA Championships. “She didn’t want to let her team down and she certainly didn’t.”
LSU counted four solid rounds on the opening day of the championships with Kuhn’s 71 joined by three-over rounds of 75 by freshman Caroline Martens, sophomore Kim Meck and junior Melissa Eaton. That puts all three girls in a tie for 33rd place. Meck was tied for the tournament lead in pars with 15.
“It was a good first round and a good conference builder,” said Bahnsen as she watched a group of golfers with no NCAA experience go round the course paired with the top two teams in that nation — Duke and UCLA. “They girls got their legs under them. It was absolutely perfect weather. They didn’t shy away from whom they were playing with. We weren’t intimidated and stayed to the game plan.”
LSU played both sides in five over par, but stood two over after three of the Lady Tigers made birdie on the par five 14th, but eight bogeys over the final four holes kept LSU from being one of the six teams in single figures.
“I’m really proud of them,” said Bahnsen. “We left some shots out there, but we made some important shots as well. We stayed in the right frame of mind and we just need to come out Wednesday morning and stay consistent with the plan.”
Southern Cal has a one shot lead over Arizona State at 292 with Florida at 293. Arizona was fourth at 296 with Wake Forest and Duke just ahead of LSU at nine-over 297. Arkansas is behind LSU in eighth at 299 with four teams tied for ninth at 13-over.
Individually, Eileen Vargas posted a four-under 68 for the individual lead, one shot in front of Florida’s Tiffany Chudy at 69. Chudy’s round included a hole-in-one on the par 3, 161-yarder with a six iron. In all nine players shot even or under par in the opening round.
Championship Notes
The Lady Tigers will again pair with Duke and UCLA in the second round … LSU will tee off in the second wave of the morning session, beginning at 7:50 a.m. CST … For the first time in many years in a women’s collegiate event, the teams were not given golf carts for the coaches who were forced to hoof it along with the players … The NCAA committee decided not to put 24 more carts on the course because the course is still trying out from 10 consecutive days of rain prior to the championships … Mary Hession, who played with Karen Bahnsen on the LSU golf team (1980-83), is here this week serving as the assistant tournament director for the NCAA … Hession’s sister, Therese, is the head women’s golf coach at Ohio State … Live scoring for the second round can be found at www.golfstat.com and highlights each evening are available at www.golfweektv.com … The 72-hole tournament runs through Friday.
LSU Golfers
Rebecca Kuhn — 73 +1
Caroline Martens — 75 +3
Melissa Eaton — 75 +3
Kim Meck — 75 +3
Alexis Rather — 78 +6
NCAA Women’s Golf Championship
Columbus, Ohio
Scarlet Course
May 23-26, 2006
Team
1
2
3
To Par
1. USC
2. Arizona St.
3. Florida
4. Arizona
t5. Wake Forest
t5. Duke
7. LSU
8. Arkansas
t9. UCLA
t9. Purdue
t9. Auburn
t9. Pepperdine
13. Texas A&M
14. Tennessee
t15. Washington
t15. Florida St.
t15. California
18. Georgia
t19. Stanford
t19. Alabama
t21. Nebraska
t21. Oklahoma St.
23. Kent St.
24. UNLV
Top 10 Individuals (par 72)
1. Eileen Vargas, Pepperdine, 68 -4; 2. Tiffany Chudy, Florida, 69 -3; 3. Jennifer Osborn, Arizona State, 70 -2; 4. Tiffany Joh, UCLA, 71 -1; 4. Catalina Marin, Southern California, 71 -1; 4. Sommer Scholl, Arizona, 71 -1; 7. Mandy Goins, Wake Forest, 72 E; 7. Caroline Larsson, Florida State, 72 E; 7. Stephanie Ruiz, Nebraska, 72 E; 10. Irene Cho, Southern California, 73 +1; 10. Jean Chua, Wake Forest, 73 +1; 10. Cassandra Kirkland, Arizona, 73 +1; 10. Ashley Knoll, Texas A&M, 73 +1; 10. Rebecca Kuhn, LSU, 73 +1; 10. Jennie Lee, Duke, 73 +1; 10. Maria Martinez, Auburn, 73 +1; 10. Azahara Munoz, Arizona State, 73 +1; 10. Jennifer Pandolfi, Duke, 73 +1; 10. Dewi Schreefel, Southern California, 73 +1; 10. Tiffany Tavee, Arizona State, 73 +1.