WEST POINT, Miss. — LSU was close entering the final moments of its second round to staying in fourth place here Saturday in the Southeastern Conference Women’s Championship tournament at the Old Waverly Golf Club, but ended up after a battle with Lake Waverly and the club’s intimidating 18th hole in seventh place after 36 holes.
The Lady Tigers posted a 15-over par round of 303 to go with Friday’s six-over 294 to stand at 21-over par 597 entering Sunday’s final round. LSU, ranked 25th in the Sagarin/Golfweek performance rankings, is two shots out of sixth and six shots out of fourth as they look to improve on last year’s seventh place finish and help their seeding for the NCAA Regionals which will take place at LSU’s University Club in May.
In the final round, LSU will be paired with fifth-ranked Vanderbilt and fourth-ranked Auburn as Vandy is in eighth at 23-over and the two-time defending champion Auburn team is ninth at 24-over par.
Two of LSU’s junior players, Rebecca Kuhn and Alexis Rather, again combined for the best score of the round for the Lady Tigers as both shot two-over par 74s to go with the even par rounds on Friday. Both are tied for ninth in the individual competition at 146. Kuhn after two rounds is one under par on the par 4s, while Rather is one under on the par 5s. Kuhn is one off the tournament lead of pars with 27 in 36 holes, while Rather has posted 26 pars.
The pair are seven shots out of the lead of Garrett Phillips of Georgia who fired an even par 72 Saturday to go with her 67 on Friday to stand at five-under 139, one shot ahead of Jenna Pearson of South Carolina (74-66) and Marci Turner (68-72) at 140.
Making Kuhn’s round even more impressive was that she bogeyed the first two holes and finished with an impressive birdie at the par-4 18th to get back to two-over for the tournament.
It was a case of LSU being unable to get a lot going on the front nine with only two birdies, but two double bogeys among the counting scores that led LSU to turn at 11-over par.
But on the back, LSU played holes 10-16, some of the hardest of the tournament, in just two over par for the counting scores, and after dropping to ninth began to slowly position themselves back up the team scoreboard. But then a big swing in counting scores that dropped Melissa Eaton out of counting position and led to two additional late strokes on the card, kept LSU from moving up to more than seventh.
“It’s hard to say one hole means a lot in a round, but we did cost ourselves some shots on 18 in which the five players combined played in six over,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “But there were other places when it looked like we had a chance to really get things going that we couldn’t get anything close to drop.
“Rebecca (Kuhn) and Alexis (Rather) both gutted out their rounds and their performances (Saturday) have earned them a chance to have a nice finish and so do we as a team. Kim (Meck) and Caroline (Martens) worked hard on their rounds at times to bring something home because we didn’t know we would count both of their scores until they were already finished with their round. That’s the way it is in college golf. You have to be available for the team at any time.”
No. 3 Georgia on another near perfect day for golf posted a three-over par round of 291 to go with Friday’s three-under 285 to stands at even par 576 to go to Sunday’s final round. South Carolina rallied with a one-over round of 289 and stands eight shots back at eight-over par 584 in second with Tennessee in third four more shots back at 12-over par.
The final round, against predicted to be played in sunny, but perhaps a bit windier conditions, is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. with the winner getting an automatic invitation to the NCAA Regional competition. LSU will tee off in the final wave off hole No. 10 at 9:20 a.m. Live scoring for the competition can be found at www.golfstat.com.
SEC Women’s Golf Championships
Old Waverly Golf Club — West Point, Miss.
Team Results (Par 288-576)
1. Georgia 285-291 — 576 E; 2. South Carolina 295-289 — 584 +8; 3. Tennessee 292-296 –588 +12; 4. Alabama 291-300 — 591 +15; 4. Florida 296-295 — 591 +15; 6. Arkansas 296-299 — 595 +19; 7. LSU 294-303 — 597 +21; 8. Vanderbilt 296-303 — 599 — +23; 9. Auburn 298-302 — 600 +24; 10. Mississippi State 312-295 — 607 +31; 11. Kentucky 308-308 — 616 +40; 12. Ole Miss 312-311 — 623 +47.
Individual Top 10 (Par 72-144)
1. Garrett Phillips, Georgia, 67-72 — 139 -5; 2. Jenna Pearson, South Carolina, 74-66 — 140 -4; 2. Marci Turner, Tennessee, 68-72 — 140 -4; 4. Taylor Leon, Georgia, 69-72 — 141 -3; 5. Angela Oh, Tennessee, 71-71 — 142 -2; 6. Sandra Gal, Florida, 70-73 — 143 -1; 7. Helena Blomberg, Alabama, 69-75 — 144 E; 7. Blythe Worley, South Carolina, 70-74 — 144 E; 9. Camila Mori, South Carolina, 76-70 — 146 +2; 9. Alex Schulte, Arkansas, 74-72 — 146 +2; 9. Alexis Rather, LSU, 72-74 — 146 +2; 9. Rebecca Kuhn, LSU, 72-74 — 146 +2.
LSU Scores
T9. Alexis Rather 72-74 — 146 +2
T9. Rebecca Kuhn 72-74 — 146 +2
T35. Kim Meck 76-77 — 153 +9
T35. Melissa Eaton 74-79 — 153 +9
T50. Caroline Martens 82-78 — 160 +16