FRANKLIN, Tenn. — LSU senior women’s golfer Melissa Eaton birdied three of the final seven holes Friday to shoot a 2-under 70 and is just one shot our of the individual lead after the first round of the Mason Rudolph Women’s Championship at the Ironhorse Course of the Vanderbilt Legends Club.
Eaton is in a tie for fourth on the leader board after thee golfers — Mallory Hetzel of Georgia, Tiffany Joh of UCLA and Taylor Leon of Georgia — all shot 3-under 69s to take the first round lead in the 54-hole event which continues through Sunday.
The two Georgia golfers were part of a Lady Bulldog onslaught of the 6,347-yard, par 72 course as three Georgia golfers were under par as the team posted a first-round 8-under par 280 to take the early lead of three strokes over two-time defending national champion Duke. The Blue Devils posted a strong round of their own, a 5-under 283. UCLA is third and also under par at 1-under 287.
LSU shot under 300 for the fourth time in four rounds this fall, but some late bogeys put LSU in for the round at 10-over par 298 and in a tie for seventh place with Purdue. Between Duke and the LSU-Purdue tie are Stanford in third at 3-over, Arizona at 4-over and Virginia at 5-over par.
LSU on the opening day counted rounds of 2-over 76 from Melissa’s twin sister, Nicola, and 5-over 77s from Alexis Rather and Kimberly Meck. In all, 19 golfers posted rounds of even or lower on the opening day.
Melissa Eaton played the last 10 holes in 5-under par and the South African native got a bit of revenge for a very bad bounce in last year’s SEC Championships on the same course. Playing holes 10-18 on the course first in the round, Eaton had double-bogeyed the 17th hole to go 3-over par after eight holes.
Eaton came to the ninth hole, a par-five risk-reward hole with lots of water, but reachable in two for players like Eaton. In the SEC’s, her second shot bounced over the green and ended up in the golf cart of an SEC official. She would end up with a triple-bogey eight on that day. Friday, she was able to make amends for that day and for the previous hole as she posted an eagle three on the hole.
“Melissa is really playing some great golf for us,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “We had to grind things hard at the end to finish the round.”
The second round begins at 8 a.m. and LSU will play with Oklahoma State and Purdue off the first tee. Live scoring for the event can be seen at www.golfstat.com
Mason Rudolph Championships
Team Results (Par 288)
1. Georgia 280 -8; 2. Duke 283 -5; 3. UCLA 287 -1; 4. Stanford 291 +3; 5. Arizona 292 +4; 6. Virginia 293 +5; 7. LSU 298 +10; 7. Purdue 298 +10; 9. Oklahoma State 299 +11; 10. Wake Forest 300 +12; 10. Arkansas 300 +12; 12. Vanderbilt 301 +13; 13. Missouri 304 +16; 14. Alabama 305 +17; 15. High Point 325 +37.
Individual Top 5
1. Mallory Hetzel 69 -3; 1. Tiffany Joh, UCLA 69 -3; 1. Taylor Leon, Georgia, 69 -3; 4. Mari Chun, Stanford, 70 -2; 4. Melissa Eaton, LSU, 70 -2; 4. Maria Hernandez, Purdue, 70 -2; 4. Jennifer Pandolfi, Duke, 70 -2; 4. Garrett Phillips, Georgia, 70 -2.
LSU Results
T4. Melissa Eaton 70 -2
T29. Nicola Eaton 74 +2
T55. Kim Meck 77 +5
T55. Alexis Rather 77 +5
T63. Rebecca Kuhn 78 +6