SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The 27th-ranked LSU women’s golf team posted another solid number in the final round of the Lady Puerto Rico Classic Tuesday and opened the spring season with a second place finish, its best final team result of the 2007-08 season.
Freshman Megan McChrystal of Stuart, Fla., posted her second consecutive under par round, this time a one-under par 71, to finish fourth in the competition at one-under par 215 on rounds of 75-69-71.
Alabama came around everyone in the final round with a two-over par score of 290 to finish the 54-hole event of 16-over 880 (293-297-290). LSU finished three shots back with an eight-over 296 in the final round to finish at 19-over 883 (297-290-296). Second round leader Kent State faltered back to 301 in the final round and ended up tied for third with TCU at 23-over par 887. Host Purdue tied Arkansas for fifth at 888.
For McChrystal it is her second top 10 finish of the year and her highest of the year, eclipsing a 10th-place finish in the Mercedes-Benz in October 2007 in Knoxville. Stacy Lewis of Arkansas went wire-to-wire to win the individual title at eight-under 208 (68-70-70).
LSU senior Alexis Rather also finished solidly with a tie for 12th place finish at five-over 221, paced by her career best three-under round of 69 on Monday. She had a 77 in the opening round and posted a counting 75 on Tuesday for the Lady Tigers.
The Lady Tigers also got a nice 73 from senior Rebecca Kuhn with birdies on both 17 and 18 to close the round and 77s from freshman Amalie Valle and junior Caroline Martens.
“We had a great few days here in Puerto Rico,” said LSU women’s golf coach Karen Bahnsen. “We were so close to getting the title but the girls did a nice job from start to finish. This is a great starting point for our spring season and we look forward to our next event in Central Florida before hosting the LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic in mid-March. I’m very pleased with how we focused during the round and worked hard to bring the round home at the end. There are still some things we have to work on but this is a very good start.”
LSU travels to Orlando for the UCF Challenge on March 9-11.
Lady Puerto Rico Classic
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Final Team Standings (Par 288-864)
1. Alabama 293-297-290 ? 880 +16; 2. LSU 297-290-296 ? 883 +19; 3. Kent State 299-287-301 ? 887 +23; 3. TCU 294-300-293 ? 887 +23; 5. Arkansas 296-293-299 ?888 +24; 5. Purdue 299-298-291 ? 888 +24; 7. Georgia 298-301-291 ? 890 +26; 7. South Carolina 299-295-296 ? 890 +26; 9. Tennessee 299-300-297 ? 896 +32; 10. Florida State 296-299-305 ? 900 +36; 11. UCF 297-313-297 ? 907 +43; 11. Oklahoma 308-304-295 ? 907 +43; 13. North Carolina State 308-303-301 ? 912 +48; 14. Texas Tech 302-313-301 ? 916 +52; 15. Michigan 302-308-308 ? 918 +54; 16. Wisconsin 313-313-300 ? 918 +54; 17. Iowa State 316-312-306 ? 934 +70; 18. Minnesota 315-326-315 ? 956 +92.
Individual Top 5 (Par 72-216)
1. Stacy Lewis, Arkansas, 68-70-70 ? 208 -8; 2. Maude Aimee Leblanc, Purdue, 70-74-68 ? 212 -4; 3. Benedicte Toumpsin, South Carolina, 74-68-72 ? 214 -2; 4. Megan McChrystal, LSU, 75-69-71 ? 215 -1; 5. Valentine Derrey, TCU, 71-71-74 ? 216 E
LSU Scores
4. Megan McChrystal 75-69-71 ? 215 -1
T12. Alexis Rather 77-69-75 ? 221 +5
T34. Amalie Valle 73-67-77 ? 226 +10
T34. Rebecca Kuhn 74-79-73 ? 226 +10
T44. Caroline Martens 75-76-77 ? 228 +12