SORRENTO, Fla. — LSU junior Caroline Martens fired a 2-under par 70 to stand in a tie for ninth place after the first-round of the UCF Challenge at the Red Tail Golf Club here Sunday.
The tournament was a shootout from the beginning as seven holes played to even or under par for the 18-team field in the opening round of the three-day event that runs through Tuesday.
Southern California had their round to 12-under on the back nine for their four counting scores before settling in for a first-round lead at 7-under 281. The No. 2 team in the nation is just one shot ahead of No. 1 Duke at 282 with Pepperdine third at 285 and UCLA and Oklahoma State tied for fourth at 286.
No. 25 LSU flirted with even-par most of the day as well before a couple of late bogeys put the team with what was still a good score of 2-over 290. The Tigers are eighth in the 18-team field with seven teams ranked ahead of the Lady Tigers posting scores behind the on the opening day.
The tournament is the start of one of the busiest weeks in LSU women’s golf history as they will play here through Tuesday and then come back to Baton Rouge to host the 27th annual LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic beginning with the “Geaux Pink” college-am to benefit breast cancer awareness on Thursday before the 17-team tournament proper starts on Friday at LSU’s University Club.
“We had a good start and I feel good that we were able to maintain some of the scoring that we had when we finished second in Puerto Rico in our first tournament last month,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “We just need to stay consistent and stay focus and do like we did (Sunday) when we played well after mistakes.”
A great example of that came when freshman Amalie Valle finished the back nine, her first nine holes of the round bogey-double bogey. She went to the front side and proceeded to birdie the first four holes and finished her round at 1-under 71, tied for 15th. LSU also had a 73 from senior Alexis Rather while senior Rebecca Kuhn and freshman Megan McChrystal posted 4-over 76.
Duke’s Alison Whitaker has the individual lead after one round after a 7-under 65, while Auburn’s Cydney Clanton posted a 6-under 66. In all, 20 players shot under par.
UCF Challenge
First Round Team Results (Par 288)
1. USC 281 -7; 2. Duke 282 -6; 3. Pepperdine 285 -3; 4. UCLA 286 -2; 4. Oklahoma State 286 -2; 6. Purdue 289 +1; 6. Georgia 289 +1; 8. LSU 290 +2; 9. Auburn 292 +4; 9. UCF 292 +4; 9. Florida 292 +4; 12. Tennessee 293 +5; 13. Arkansas 294 +6; 13. Alabama 294 +6; 15. New Mexico 295 +7; 15. Vanderbilt 295 +7; 17. Florida State 304 +16; 18. Furman 307 +19.
Individual Top 5 (Par 72)
1. Alison Whitaker, Duke, 65 -7; 2. Cydney Clanton, Auburn, 66 -6; 3. Pernilla Lindberg, Oklahoma State, 67 -5; 4. Amanda Blumenherst, Duke, 69 -3; 4. Martine de Gannes, Pepperdine, 69 -3; 4. Stefanie Endstrasser, USC, 69 -3; 4. Belen Mozo, USC, 69-3; 4. Garrett Phillips, Georgia, 69 -3.
LSU Scores
T9. Caroline Martens 70 -2
T15. Amalie Valle 71 -1
T32. Alexis Rather 73 +1
T65. Rebecca Kuhn 76 +4
T65. Megan McChrystal 76 +4