PALO ALTO, Calif. – LSU junior golfer Megan McChrystal (video interview) fired her second straight even par round of 71 to help LSU move inside the qualifying number entering Saturday’s final round of the NCAA West Regional Golf Tournament at the Stanford University Golf Course.
The top eight teams advance from this and two other regionals to the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships, May 18-21, in Wilmington, N.C.
LSU, with wind blowing and greens firming up by the hour, ended up nearly shooting the best round of the 24-teams in the second of three rounds shooting 11-over par 295. That was a 12-shot improvement from the first round and puts the 20th-ranked Lady Tigers, the seventh seed in the event, at 29-over par 597. LSU is in a three way tie for fifth with California and Texas.
Only tournament leader, Arizona, was able to get it around with their four counting scores better than LSU at 10-over 294 to stand after 36 holes at 16-over 584, four shots better than Pac-10 foe UCLA.
Third goes to Alabama at 27-over 595, with Virginia in fourth at 28-over 596. The Tigers, Golden Bears and Longhorns are three-shots back in fifth at 597 with the eighth and final qualifying spot belonging to unranked Iowa State at 31-over 599. Three teams are two-shots back at 601 tied for ninth.
McChrystal, despite the fact she has been dealing with headaches and not feeling her best all week on the West Coast, again was on top of the game that has won her three individual titles at LSU. After her four-birdie, four-bogey round on Thursday, she followed it up with a similar round and played the last 16 holes in two-under. She stands at even par 142, one shot out of the individual lead held by Medeleine Ziegert who after a 67 on Thursday posted a 74 to stand at one-under 141, the only score in the event under par.
“It was a lot windier (Friday),” said McChrystal. “The greens were really fast. You really had to pay attention to the wind especially off the tee when the ball got above the tree line. I just tried to hit as many fairways and greens as I could. There were some really tough pin positions out there.”
LSU got help from all sides of the lineup as Amalie Valle shot a three-over 74, an improvement of five shots from Thursday and Tessa Teachman and Nicole Crochet came up with four-over 75s. For Crochet it was the round LSU needed in the play five, count four format as she was making her first team appearance of the season, filling in for the injured Mary Michael Maggio. The junior from Harahan played the last 13 holes in even par.
Again, for the second straight day, the start wasn’t perfect for LSU, but the team according to Coach Karen Bahnsen “fought and fought and just wasn’t going to let the round go.” LSU played the first five holes (starting on the back nine for the second round) in eight over par, then played holes 15-18 in even par for the second straight day and posted just a three-over score over their final nine holes of the day.
“They fought through it all the way,” said Bahnsen. “They had to make some adjustments after the start. The greens were so quick things could get away from you in a hurry. It was just a matter of plugging away. You saw how the scores went up. The wind made it tough to control the ball and it was tough to get the ball close because the greens were so firm.
“We are where we want to be but the job is not finished,” the coach of the Lady Tigers, looking to make the Championships for the third straight year. “We have to come our Saturday morning and continue to grind.”
The final round begins at 10 a.m. CDT (8 a.m. PDT) and the top 12 seeds will play first. Live scoring for the final round can be found at LSUsports.net through Golfstat.com. Updates during the round can be found at LSU Women’s Golf on Facebook and @lsuwomensgolf and @westregionals on twitter.
NCAA West Regional
Palo Alto, Calif. – Stanford University Golf Course
Second Round Team Results – Par 284-568
1. Arizona 291-294 – 585 +17; 2. UCLA 292-296 – 588 +20; 3. Alabama 295-299 – 594 +27; 4. Virginia 291-305 – 596 +28; 5. California 292-305 – 597 +29; 5. LSU 302-295 – 597 +29; 5. Texas 293-304 – 597 +29; 8. Iowa State 302-297 – 599 +31; 9. Stanford 297-304 – 601 +33; 9. Texas A&M 299-302 – 601 +33; 9. UNLV 295-306 – 601 +33; 12. San Jose State 303-299 – 602 +34; 13. Ohio State 296-307 – 603 +35; 14. Colorado State 304-302 – 606 +38; 15. Arkansas 308-299 – 607 +39; 16. UC Davis 308-307 – 615 +47; 16. UC Irvine 302-313 – 615 +47; 18. Maryland 316-306 – 622 +54; 19. Idaho 312-314 – 626 +58; 19. Portland State 309-317 – 626 +58; 21. San Francisco 312-325 – 637 +69; 21. Oral Roberts 319-318 – 637 +69; 23. Texas State 317-323 – 640 +72; 24. Pennsylvania 329-323 – 652 +84.
Individual Top 5 (par 71-142)
1. Madeleine Ziegert, San Jose State, 67-74 – 141 -1; 2. Megan McChrystal, LSU, 71-71 – 142 E; 3. Camilla Lennarth, Alabama 73-70 – 143 +1; 3. Callie Nielson, Virginia, 72-71 – 143 +1; 5. Pia Halbig, California, 68-76 – 144 E; 5. Nikki Killer, Arizona, 71-74 – 144 E.
LSU Scores
2. Megan McChrystal 71-71 – 142 E
T48. Tessa Teachman 77-75 – 152 +10
T58. Amalie Valle 79-74 – 153 +11;
T64. Jacqueline Hedwall 75-79 – 154 +12
T67. Nicole Crochet 80-75 – 155 +13