ATHENS, Ga. — Just one week before debuting its new home tournament at the Baton Rouge University Club, the ninth-ranked LSU women’s golf team tries to continue its strong spring season in the 28th annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic beginning here Friday.
The event, held on the par 73, 5,994-yard University of Georgia Golf Course, is one the Tigers did well in last year, finishing second behind the runaway victory of host Georgia. The second-place finish in a very strong field helped LSU earn its trip back to the NCAA Championships.
This year’s field is again strong with LSU and Georgia being joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Duke, Furman, Indiana, Kentucky, Ole Miss, North Carolina, Ohio State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Tulane and Wake Forest.
“This will be a great tuneup for our event next week at the University Club,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “We played some good golf last time out at South Carolina when we finished second and we just need to continue to build on that.”
Leading the Tigers will again be Kenner senior Lisette Lee, who won her second collegiate tournament at LSU in wire-to-wire fashion at South Carolina. Lee is ranked 15th in the country in the Sagarin/Golf Week collegiate rankings. LSU sophomore Meredith Duncan, from Shreveport, is ranked 18th nationally and will also be a big part of the Tigers play this weekend.
The Tigers will also go with sophomore Tina Howard and freshman Rebecca Barrow, both from New Zealand and South Bend junior Katy Wilkinson. Howard has had two strong showings after returning from tendon surgery which wiped out her entire fall campaign and Barrow will be making her first start of the spring.
The 54-hole event runs through Sunday and then the Tigers come home for the new LSU/Cleveland Classic presented by the Tiger Athletic Foundation at the University Club, April 7-9. A total of 12 teams will take part in that event as the tournament moves to LSU’s official home course after 18 years at Fairwood Country Club in Baton Rouge.