COLUMBUS, Ohio — The LSU women’s golf team, ranked fifth in the nation, finished fifth Saturday in the NCAA East Regional Women’s Golf Championships Saturday to advance to the national championship tournament.
The Tigers advance to the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships for the third consecutive year, the first time in school history the Tigers have advanced three consecutive times. Since 1982, this will be LSU’s sixth appearance in the NCAA Championships. In 1998, LSU was fifth in the championships and was 10th a year ago in the rain-shortened event.
Although official final scores were not available at press time, the 11 teams which qualified for the championships were Duke, Northwestern, Purdue, Tennessee, LSU, Michigan State, Wake Forest, Auburn, Ohio State, Georgia and Florida.
Duke won the team title with a 33-over score of 897, three shots better than Northwestern and Purdue at 36 over par. Tennessee’s total was 38 over par and LSU finished at 39 over par at 903. The Tigers posted a 14-over par 302 on the final day.
In all five SEC teams will advance to the championships in two weeks in Sunriver, Ore., with Florida taking the 11th spot with a 915, 51 over par, nine shots better than 12th South Florida at 924. Tulane finished last in the
field of 24 at 91 over par.
Individually on the final day, LSU counted three-over 75s from Shreveport sophomore Meredith Duncan and South Bend, Ind., junior Katy Wilkinson. New Zealand sophomore Tina Howard and Gretna sophomore Lindy Hitdlebaugh each had four-over 76s. Howard finished in a tie for 15th at eight-over 224 (73-75-76), while Duncan was in a group in 17th at nine-over 225 (74-76-75). Wilkinson recorded a 34th place finish at 13-over 229.
Kenner senior Lisette Lee, who will be the first player to go to three NCAA Championships with her team at LSU, finished in a tie for 45th at 15-over 231 (76-74-81) and Hitdlebaugh finished in 75th place at 20-over 236 (80-80-76).
“I’m very happy for the girls,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “The 298 score on Friday really set things up for us and now we need to get back and prepare for the trip. This team has a chance to do a really good job at nationals and continue our streak of top 10 finishes. This team has a chance for a lot of success and we look forward to one more challenge in our season.”