SORRENTO, Fla. — Freshman Megan McChrystal finished the UCF Challenge Tuesday on a strong note with a bogey free 4-under par 68 to finish a 1-under par 215 for the 54-hole event.
McChrystal, the team leader in stroke average, finished in a tie for 12th place in the first event of a busy week that continues Friday through Sunday with the 27th playing of the LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic at the University Club in Baton Rouge.
LSU, ranked 25th in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance ratings, shot 6-over par 294 for the second-straight day and finished the event making it six-straight sub-300 rounds in the spring. LSU finished in ninth place in the 18-team event with a 14-over score of 878. Duke took command of the tournament early in the second round and won going away with a score of 13-under 851, nine shots better than second place Purdue at 4-under par 860. UCLA also finished at under par at 1-under 863.
McChrystal opened the tournament with a 4-over 76 as one of the two highest scores of the team on Sunday. She came back on Monday with a 1-under 71 and then had four birdies in her 68 round as she moved up 24 places on the leader board Tuesday. McChrystal played her last 22 holes bogey free.
On the final day, LSU also counted a 74 from Caroline Martens and 76s from Amalie Valle and Rebecca Kuhn. Martens (70-74-74 ? 218, 2-over), finished in a group tied for 23rd.
“We are getting some good scores in our first two events,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “We are working hard in the rounds and Megan McChrystal continues to do good things for us. We are looking forward to getting home and quickly getting ready for the LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic. The college-am Thursday will be a wonderful event as part of our “Geaux Pink” campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness and then the field for the college event over the weekend is another strong one that I know all our fans will enjoy coming out to watch.”
The college-am is set for 12:30 p.m. Thursday and proceeds from silent auctions and raffles will go to the Women’s Victory Open, an event held in the fall at the Country Club of Louisiana. The tournament is an all-women’s golf tournament supporting breast cancer education, outreach and research programs of Woman’s Hospital of Baton Rouge.
The college tournament begins with tee times off both No. 1 and No. 10 tees at 8 a.m. on Friday.
UCF Challenge
Final Team Results (288-864)
1. Duke 282-282-287 ? 851 -13; 2. Purdue 289-283-288 ? 860 -4; 3. UCLA 286-291-286 ? 863 -1; 4. Florida 292-283-290 ? 865 +1; 5. Southern California 281-294-293 ? 868 +4; 6. Georgia 289-291-292 ? 872 +8; 6. Alabama 294-287-291 ? 872 +8; 8. Auburn 292-291-293 ? 876 +12; 9. LSU 290-294-294 ? 878 +14; 10. Pepperdine 285-295-300 ? 880 +16; 11. Oklahoma State 286-296-299 ? 881 +17; 12. Arkansas 294-298-292 ? 884 +20; 13. Florida State 304-294-290 ? 888 +24; 14. Tennessee 293-298-303 ? 894 +30; 14. UCF 292-299-303 ? 894 +30; 16. Vanderbilt 302-297-296 ? 895 +31; 17. New Mexico 295-310-297 ? 902 +38; 18. Furman 307-299-307 ? 913 +49.
Individual Top 5 (Par 72-216)
1. Alison Whitaker, Duke, 65-71-72 ? 208 -8; 2. Junthima Gulyanamitta, Purdue, 72-66-72 ? 210 -6; 3. Garrett Phillips, Georgia, 69-69-73 ?211 -5; 3. Amanda Blumenherst, Duke, 69-68-74 ? 211 -5; 5. Rhea Nair, Alabama, 71-69-72 ? 212 -4; 5. Pernilla Lindberg, Oklahoma State, 67-71-74 ? 212 -4
LSU Scores
T12. Megan McChrystal 76-71-68 ? 215 -1
T24. Caroline Martens 70-74-74 ? 218 +2
T47. Amalie Valle 71-76-76 ? 223 +7
62. Rebecca Kuhn 76-73-76 ? 225 +9
T67. Alexis Rather 73-77-77 ? 227 +11