ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It was 6:55 a.m. MDT Thursday morning when the LSU Lady Tiger golf team resumed its second round of the wind-delayed NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course.
It was a little over 13 hours later when the Lady Tigers finally came off the course, along with the rest of the field that played a shotgun start third round to try to get the tournament back on schedule. Even that round which was delayed twice, once by lightening and a second time by lightening and penny-size hail, took all the way until darkness when the horn was blown shortly after 8 p.m. MDT with teams still needing to play a hole or two on Friday morning to finish.
LSU finished its final holes in almost complete darkness.
The Lady Tigers fell one spot to 20th place at the end of the day, posting rounds of 315 and an unofficial 312, entering Friday’s final round of the 72-hole event with a 54-hole total of 927.
LSU played probably its best golf in the latter part of the second round (a round that also had rain and a lightening delay) and in the first part of the third round before a numbing weariness seemed to overtake the team in the final few holes.
LSU and five other teams played as many as 35 holes, while another wave played anywhere from 27-29 holes. The morning wave from Wednesday completed their round before and after the first wind delay and only had to come to the course for the afternoon 18-hole shotgun round.
LSU had to start the second round at nine-over on the day when play resumed and couldn’t get started, turning 19-over par. But on the back nine, LSU rallied for a more consistent eight-over par total to get in at 27-over 315.
“Well, we started (Wednesday) and finished (Thursday) basically surviving and trying to pull one shot out at a time,” said LSU freshman Megan McChrystal. “You take what the course gives you and play the elements.”
Southern California and UCLA, tied for the lead after 36 holes after finishing early on Wednesday, separated themselves from the field and set up a good battle between the Pac 10 schools for the title on Friday. With two holes remaining, USC has a three-shot advantage over UCLA with both teams still needing to play a couple of holes Friday morning. Arizona State is 10 more shots back in third.
The rules committee was meeting late Thursday to determine how to finish the tournament on Friday.
Rebecca Kuhn had the low round of the resumed second round with a three-over 75 and her unofficial three round total is 14-over par 230. Freshman Amalie Valle posted a 75 in the afternoon round and after 54 holes has an unofficial total of 12-over 228, good enough for a tie for 53rd in the individual competition. The individual leader Azahara Munoz of Arizona State is in the clubhouse with the 54-hole lead at two-under 214.