AUBURN, Ala. — The 13th-ranked LSU women’s golf team, off one of its best performances in history two weeks ago in winning the Mercedes-Benz Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn., tried to keep the momentum rolling forward this weekend in the Auburn-Derby Invitational at the Auburn University Club at Yarbrough Farms.
The 54-hole event will start at 11 a.m. on Friday with a shotgun start. The three-hour delay is in hopes of drying the course out further after expected overnight rains with the passage of a cold front.
The Derby, which LSU won in 1995 and 1996, has a strong field with six teams in the 17-team field ranked in the top 13 in the Golfstat rankings. The field is headed by No. 2 Arizona State, along with No. 4 Georgia, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Virginia, No. 12 Auburn and the 13th-ranked Lady Tigers.
The field also includes squads from Central Florida, Coastal Carolina, Florida State, Furman, Kansas, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Chattanooga.
The Lady Tigers will bring back the four golfers who all posted top 20 results in the Mercedes-Benz and the group that also shot a school record seven-under par 281 in the final round to key a 16-shot swing from fourth to the title. Sophomore Megan McChrystal tied for fourth in that event with a three-under 213, while sophomore Nicole Crochet finished seventh at one-under 215. Senior Caroline Martens‘ 217 tied for 10th and freshman Jacqueline Hedwall was in a tie for 19th at four-over 220.
Joining that quartet for her first team appearance at LSU will be freshman Tessa Teachman of Baton Rouge. Teachman finished 47th in her first appearance as in individual in the Knoxville tournament, posting an 11-over 227.
The Yarbrough Farms course is longer than the course played for the Mercedes as the par 72 course stretches out to some 6,300 yards.
“This is a good field and it will be a good challenge for our team coming off our win last time out,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen of the final tournament of the fall portion of the schedule. “We want to come out and play with the same resolve and intensity that we did in the last tournament and see what happens. The girls are eager to play again and I look forward to seeing how things go this time around.”
Live scoring for the event can be found on LSUsports.net through www.golfstat.com.