BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s golf team has one of its earliest starts in school history Sunday when it opens play in the NGCA/Hooter’s Collegiate Match Play Championship at the Legends Course of LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The Tigers and 15 other teams will compete in multiple rounds in two different formats over three days in one of the unique invitational events in women’s college golf. The competition starts Sunday with two medal play rounds in the normal play five, count four scores format. After the 36-holes, the field will be divided into a championship bracket and a consolation bracket of eight teams each.
Beginning Monday, the field will play match play, crowning a champion in each bracket over the course of three matches. Like the Solheim Cup or the women’s amateur Curtis Cup, all match play rules apply and the team that wins three of the five matches, wins. All matches that are even at 18 are declared ties.
Joining the Tigers, 11th-ranked in the first preseason poll by the NGCA coaches, are: Alabama, Auburn, Colorado, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Georgia State, Kent State, Ole Miss, North Carolina, South Carolina, TCU, UCF, UT Chattanooga and Virginia. UVA, Alabama, Auburn and Duke are all ranked in the top 10 in the opening poll.
LSU returns four players from last year’s team that finished seventh in the Golfstat performance rankings and 12th in the NCAA Division I Women’s Championships, and while all four will make an appearance at some point in the match play, only three will play in the medal play 36 holes Sunday based on team qualifying last week.
Megan McChrystal returns for her junior season coming off a year in which she became the first LSU women’s golfer to average under 73 for an entire season, earning first-team All-SEC honors and second team All-American honors. Sophomore Jacqueline Hedwall, a member of the All-SEC freshman team a year ago, will play second with junior Amalie Valle who joins McChrystal and Hedwall as starters on last year’s NCAA team.
Lindy LaBauve, the junior from Scottsdale, Ariz., has played in several events over her career for LSU and will play the fifth spot, with freshman Mary Michael Maggio making her collegiate debut after her outstanding prep career in Conway, Ark.
Baton Rouge All-SEC freshman team selection, Tessa Teachman, also is in Daytona Beach and is expected to play at least one of the matches when match play begins.
“It’s very different for us to play a tournament this early,” LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen said of her 26th season opener as the LSU women’s golf coach. “But I like it really. I know it’s a little hectic for the kids, but they come in having played some good golf during the summer and I know they are excited to get things started in a good way.”
LSU has appeared in the match play tournament before that is run by the National Golf Coaches Association, but this is the first time for LSU to appear since the event went to the media-match format.
“I think it’s a neat format,” Bahnsen said. “It makes you have a couple of good rounds of medal play to be seeded into the competition for match play. It makes you play really hard and gives you something to compete for in those first two rounds. I think we are a team that will do well in match play. We get a chance to play for respect and pride and I think the girls like that opportunity. The girls are ready and we are looking forward to it.”
Live scoring of Sunday’s medal play which begins at 7 a.m. CDT can be followed at LSUsports.net through Golfstat.com.