PALO ALTO, Calif. — Birthday girl Megan McChrystal helped keep the LSU Lady Tigers in the hunt for a spot in the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship Friday with an even par 71 in the first round of the NCAA West Regional at the Stanford University Golf Course.
The even par round helped the 20th-ranked and seventh seeded Lady Tigers overcome a rough start and rally to a tie for 11th after 18 holes of the 54-hole event.
But more importantly LSU is just six strokes off the eighth and final qualifying spot for the Championship Tournament in which the top eight go from each of the three regionals this weekend. Ohio State is presently eighth at 12-over par 296 on the par 71 course.
Virginia and Arizona are the overall leaders at seven-over par 291 with UCLA and California at eight-over 292. Texas at 293 is fifth with SEC champion Alabama and UNLV (the only team from the afternoon wave to make the top eight) tied for sixth at 11-over 295. Ohio State has the final qualifying position with host Stanford at 297. Texas A&M is 10th at 299
LSU is tied for 11th with Iowa State and UC Irvine at 302. The other SEC team, Arkansas is in 17th place at 24-over 308.
The rough at Stanford was generous listed by the Stanford host pro at three inches prior to the start of the tournament and it proved to be tough to deal with. LSU found itself dealing with it early and ended up carding two double bogeys and a triple bogey in the first few holes. The Lady Tigers would turn at 14-over par and in deep trouble of putting themselves in a hole they couldn’t dig out of.
But come Saturday night when the tournament is over, the final nine holes may be something that the team will look back on as sending the team back in the right direction. LSU played even par golf on holes 10-12 and even par on the final four holes to finish the back nine just four-over par, turning the plus 14 into just plus 18.
While LSU was playing much better, the scores began to go up for other teams and LSU finds itself into a similar situation as last year in the West Regional in Tempe when it was down in the standings after the first round and proceeded to shoot three-under par for the next 36 holes.
“It was a rough start but the girls never gave it up on the back nine,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “They knew that we could still do this. We look forward to playing (Friday) and getting ourselves set up for the final round. We were a little shaky early but we dialed it in began to make a few putts and things started going our way.”
McChrystal is in a tied for sixth place after her even par round of 71 that featured four birdies to offset four bogeys. The individual lead is held by Madeleine Ziegert of San Jose State at four-under par 67. Five golfers finished the day under par. The average score for the first round was just over 76.
Also contributing a couple of key birdies at the end was sophomore Jacqueline Hedwall who got her final total down to a four-over par 75. LSU also counted a 77 from sophomore Tessa Teachman and an eight-over 79 from Amalie Valle. Junior Nicole Crochet posted an 80.
The tee times are reversed on Friday with seeds 13-24 going off in the morning wave with the top 12 seeds entering the event, including LSU playing in the late wave that starts about 2:30 p.m. CDT. With the leaders all playing in the afternoon, the key will be to be in the final 12 that will play first in the final round on Saturday.
Live scoring for the event is at LSUsports.net through Golfstat.com. Updates through the round are on Facebook at LSU Women’s Golf and twitter @lsuwomensgolf and @Westregionals. There is a live video stream of play on the ninth and 18th holes at gostanford.com.
NCAA WEST REGIONAL
First Round Team Results (Par 284)
1. Virginia 291 +7; 1. Arizona 291 +7; 3. UCLA 292 +8; 3. California 292 +8; 5. Texas 293 +9; 6. Alabama 295 +11; 6. UNLV 295 +11; 8. Ohio State 296 +12; 9. Stanford 297 +13; Texas A&M 299 +15; 10. Texas A&M 299 +15; 11. Iowa State, 302 +18; 11. LSU 302 +18; 11. UC Irvine 302 +18; 14. San Jose State 303 +19; 15. Colorado State 304 +20; 16. UC Davis 308 +24; 16. Arkansas 308 +24; 18. Portland State 309 +25; 19. San Francisco 312 +28; 19. Idaho 312 +28; 19. Pennsylvania 312 +28; 22. Maryland 316 +32; 23. Texas State 317 +33; 24. Oral Roberts 319 +35.
Individual Top 5 (Par 71)
1.Madeleine Ziegert, San Jose State, 67 -4; 2. Pia Halbig, California, 68 -3; 3. Brittany Altomare, Virginia, 70 -1; 3. Henna Cho, UC Irvine, 70; 3. Haley Stephens, Texas, 70 -1.
LSU Scores
T6. Megan McChrystal 71 E
T36. Jacqueline Hedwall 75 +4
T64. Tessa Teachman 77 +6
T89. Amalie Valle 79 +8
T98. Nicole Crochet 80 +9