BROWNS SUMMITT, N.C. — The ninth ranked LSU women’s golf team was anxious to take the course Friday morning in the Bryan Park National Collegiate and one of the first teams off has a big lead after the first round of the 54-hole event.
LSU, in the first wave off Hole No. 10, took advantage of the situation on a day when the wind would eventually start gusting close to 30 miles per hour, and posted the best round of the day, a two-over par 290 and the Lady Tigers go to Saturday’s second round with a 14-shot advantage over No. 3 Virginia and No. 11 Wake Forest who are tied for second at 16-over par 304. No. 50 East Carolina is fourth at 305.
Baton Rouge freshman Tessa Teachman exploded out of the gate and into the individual lead with a four-birdie, no bogey round of 68 putting her four shots clear in the individual competition over Valentine Derrey, the only other player to shoot par or better on the day.
“Tessa really broke through (Friday),” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “It’s been building and building for her. That was a wonderful round.”
Teachman ran off three birdies on the back side to start her round, including both of the par fives, before settling in to record 10 straight pars before a final birdie on the par-4 eighth hole, her 17th of the day. Teachman led the tournament in par four scoring at two-under par and tied for par-5 scoring with her two birdies there.
The freshman had plenty of help as LSU’s four counting scores stand no worse than a tie for seventh place after the opening round. Sophomore Megan McChrystal is in a tie for third at one-over 73, while senior Caroline Martens is sixth at two-over 74 and freshman Jacqueline Hedwall came back with two late birdies to post a three-over 75 and is in a big group tied in the seventh spot.
Hedwall’s two birdies proved to be important when Amalie Valle had bunker trouble in the wet sand of hole No. 7, her 16th of the day, and had to take a triple bogey that pushed her toward a six-over 78 and a tie for 37th.
For the round, the Tigers had 13 birdies.
“We talked about how we hadn’t been getting off to a good start and how we needed to also finish the round,” said Karen Bahnsen of her instructions to her team. “We wanted to just play the golf course and stay in the present and not worry about anyone else. There were some tough conditions. It was definitely windy out there. We played some of the rough holes early. It was windy but it was good to play them early.”
Bahnsen said that because of the recent rains, the teams played lift, clean and place rules but that the greens were “firm, but rolled absolutely perfect.”
The Lady Tigers will now hope for good conditions playing at the end of the second round as they will be the last wave off the first tee at approximately 8:40 a.m. CDT
Live scoring for the event can be found at LSUsports.net through Golfstat.com.
Bryan Park National Collegiate
Round 1
Team Results (Par 288)
1. LSU 290 +2; 2. Virginia 304 +16; 2. Wake Forest 304 +16; 4. East Carolina 305 +17; 5. Louisville 306 +18; 6. North Carolina 307 +19; 7. Notre Dame 309 +21; 7. Charleston 309 +21; 9. Arkansas 301 +22; 10. South Carolina 311 +23; 10. TCU 311 +23; 12. Tennessee 313 +25; 13. N. Carolina Wilmington 314 +26; 14. Michigan State 315 +27; 15. North Carolina State 316 +28; 16.Georgia 318 +30; 17. Ohio State 320 +32; 17. North Carolina Greensboro 320 +32.
Individual Top 5 (Par 72)
1. Tessa Teachman, LSU 68 -4; 2. Valentine Derry, TCU 72 E; 3. Jennie Arseneault, Virginia, 73 +1; 3. Megan McChrystal, LSU, 73 +1; 3. Catherine O’Donnell, North Carolina, 73 +1.
LSU Scores
1. Tessa Teachman 68 -4
T3. Megan McChrystal 73 +1
6. Caroline Martens 74 +2
T7. Jacqueline Hedwall 75 +3
T37. Amalie Valle 78 +6