BATON ROUGE, La. – Purdue women’s golfer Aurora Kan was the only player to break par on a difficult day of scoring Friday in the first round of the LSU Tiger Golf Classic at the University Club.
Kan fired a first round of 1-under 71 on the par 72, 6,251-yard layout and helped the Boilermakers to a 2-shot advantage over SMU entering play on Saturday.
Saturday will now be the final day of the tournament as tournament officials late Friday elected to play 36 holes of golf on Saturday with rains expected late overnight Saturday and into Sunday. Pay will begin at 8 a.m. with the final round to follow immediately thereafter at approximately 1 p.m. Admission at the University Club is free of charge.
Kan is challenged for the lead by one of last year’s runners up, junior Madelene Sagstrom of LSU. Sagstrom posted an even par round of 72 to tie for second with Elyse Smidinger of Denver.
Purdue got a 71 from Kan, two-over 74s from August Kim and Vinh Hoa Ngo and a 78 from Anna Appert to craft its +9 297 score on a day when the average score in the 84 player field topped 78. They are two shots clear of SMU at +11 with defending champion Arkansas and Kentucky tied for third at 14-over 302. UCF is fifth at 15-over 303.
LSU came in at 16-over 304 in sixth place, two shots ahead of Baylor which is in seventh in the 15-team field.
LSU counted, along with Sagstrom, a 4-over 76 from Lindsay Gahm and 6-over 78s from Ali Lucas and Caroline Nistrup. Gahm is in a group tied at 4-over (17th place) while Lucas and Nistrup are at 33rd place after the first 18 holes.
Defending individual champion, Emily Tubert of Arkansas remains very much in contention entering Saturday’s play with a 1-over 73. She is tied for fourth.
Purdue’s 5 payers in the play 5, count 4 scoring of college golf helped itself by playing both the four par 3s and the four par 5s in even par. Kan played the par 4s and par 5 holes in a combined 2-under par. Smindinger of Denver played the par 5s better than anyone at 3-under par.
The Boilermakers are looking for their first LSU Tiger Golf Classic win.
The second round begins at 8 a.m. with Purdue, SMU and Kentucky starting in the final wave. LSU will be paired with Arkansas and Central Florida.
Live scoring can be found at www.LSUsports.net through birdiefire.com with updates on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LSUwomensgolf and on Twitter @LSUwomensgolf.
LSU Tiger Golf Classic
Baton Rouge, La. – University Club
First Round Team Results (Par 288)
1. Purdue 297 +9; 2. SMU 299 +11; 3. Arkansas 302 +14; 3. Kentucky 302 +14; 5. UCF 303 +15; 6. LSU 304 +16; 7. Baylor 306 +18; 8. Tulane 308 +20; 9. Missouri 312 +24; 10. UNCW 315 +27; 11. UTSA 316 +28; 12. ULM 317 +29; 13. Denver 318 +30; 13. Notre Dame 318 +30; 15. TCU 323 +35.
Individual Top 10 (Par 72)
1. Auroa Kan, Purdue, 71 -1; 2. Madelene Sagstrom, LSU, 72 E; 2. Elyse Smidinger, Denver, 72 E; 4. Ashley Holder, UCF, 73 +1; 4. Hayley Davis, Baylor, 73 +1; 4. Elena Villamil, SMU, 73 +1; 4. Haley Mills, Kentucky, 73 +1; 9. Gaby Lopez, Arkansas, 74 +2; 9. August Kim, Purdue, 74 +2; 9. Jennifer Park, SMU, 74 +2; 9. Vinh Hoa Ngo, Purdue, 74 +2; 9. Lori Beth Adams, UNCW, 74 +2; 9. Jenny Haglund, SMU, 74 +2.
LSU Scores
T2. Madelene Sagstrom 72 E
T17. Lindsay Gahm 76 +4
T33. Ali Lucas 78 +6
T33. Caroline Nistrup 78 +6
T63. Carly Ray Goldstein 82 +10
T73. Nadine Dreher 84 +12
T81. Elise Bradley 88 +16