NOTRE DAME, Ind. – LSU finished with a rush on the final three holes of the first round Thursday of the NCAA Central Women’s Golf Regional and stands in a strong second place in the 54-hole event that qualifies teams to the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Regional.
The eighth-ranked Lady Tigers played the par 4 16th, the par 5 17th and the par 4 18th in 5-under par in the play five-count four scores system to finish the opening day in the cool and windy conditions at 7-over par 295.
Highlighting the flourish was an eagle-birdie finish by senior Megan McChrystal and birdies on No. 17 by junior Jacqueline Hedwall and senior Amalie Valle.
The Lady Tigers are four shots behind the first-round leader, top seed and No. 2 in the Golfstat performance ratings, UCLA. The Bruins stayed at even par for most of the day, but slipped back in the end to a 3-over 291. Host Notre Dame is three shots back at 10-over 298. The Irish were seeded ninth coming into the competition.
A couple of teams from the afternoon wave are sandwiched around No. 5 Duke with Minnesota at 13-over and Duke, Northwestern and Stanford are at 14-over.
Of course, winning is not the most important object in this event as the top eight teams advance to the NCAA Division I Championships in Bryan, Texas (May 18-21). After one round the cut line for eighth stands at 15-over par.
McChrystal and Valle came from different directions to get their rounds of even par 72. Valle playing in the fifth position for the Lady Tigers stood at two-over before birdies on 14 and 17. McChrystal opened her round bogey-par-bogey-double bogey then proceeded to play the last 14 holes at four-under par to finish at even.
The pair stands in a large group at even par, tied for third. Only two golfers, Ani Gulugian of UCLA and Nicole Zhang of Notre Dame, broke par and share the first round lead at 1-under 71.
“They fought really hard,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen, in her 17th NCAA Regional appearance. “This is a really hard golf course but our team kept their emotions under control and did not let frustration get the better of them. There are a lot of hard holes but they like those finishing holes and they attacked those holes and took advantage of them to finish strong. They fought all the way to the end and I am so proud of them.
“The round required a total team effort,” said Bahnsen, trying to take her team back to the national championships for the third time in the past four years.
Part of that total team effort was the other counting scores of freshman Austin Ernst and junior Jacqueline Hedwall. Ernst had a solid 2-over 74, while Hedwall had an eagle and a late birdie on 17 to shoot five-over 77.
Tulane finished the first round in a tie for 16th place at 25-over par 313. Maribel Lopez Porras had the best score for the Wave at 2-over 74.
Round two is set for Friday with Tulane and LSU scheduled to tee off as part of the afternoon wave which begins at 11:20 a.m. But that time was delayed Thursday for 75 minutes because of a frost delay that threw the morning wave back from its 7 a.m. CDT start.
Live stats for the second round are available on LSUsports.net through Golfstat.com and follow LSU women’s golf on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LSUwomensgolf and on Twitter @LSUwomensgolf.
NCAA CENTRAL WOMEN’S REGIONAL
Warren Golf Course – Notre Dame, Ind.
First Round Team Results (Par 288)
1. UCLA 291 +3; 2. LSU 295 +7; 3. Notre Dame 298 +10; 4. Minnesota 301 +13; 5. Duke 302 +14; 5. Northwestern 302 +14; 8. Chattanooga 303 +15; 9. Kent State 304 +16; 10. Ohio State 306 +18; 10. Texas 306 +18; 12. Arkansas 307 +19; 13. North Texas 311 +23; 14. Wake Forest 312 +24; 14. Oklahoma State 312 +24; 16. Illinois 313 +25; Tulane 313 +25; 18. Wisconsin 314 +26; 19. East Carolina 315 +27; 20. Michigan 316 +28; 20. Butler 316 +28; 22. UNLC 318 +30; 23. Morehead State 319 +31; Illinois State 329 +41.
Individual Top 5 (Par 72)
1. Ani Gulugian, UCLA, 71 -1; 1. Nicole Zhang, Notre Dame, 71 -1; 3. Laetitia Beck, Duke, 72 E; 3. Lee Lopez, UCLA, 72 E; 3. Megan McChrystal, LSU, 72 E; 3. Michele Nash, Butler, 72 E; Rachel Rohanna, Ohio State, 72 E; Kelly Shean, Arkansas, 72 E; Amalie Valle, LSU, 72 E; Kristina Wong, Stanford, 72 E.
LSU Scores
T3. Megan McChrystal 72 E
T3. Amalie Valle 72 E
T15. Austin Ernst 74 +2
T43. Jacqueline Hedwall 77 +5
T94. Tessa Teachman 81 +9