BATON ROUGE – Friday, about 6:30 p.m., LSU junior golf Megan McChrystal finished her last exam of the spring semester.
It marked the end of an important week on the academic side. But when she exited the classroom Friday evening, it was time to concentrate on an upcoming athletic matter.
Saturday, McChrystal and women’s head coach Karen Bahnsen departed from Baton Rouge for Wilmington, N.C. and the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship scheduled to begin Tuesday at the Pete Dye Landfall Course.
But for the first time in her LSU career, she will not be going to the championships with the LSU team. The Lady Tiger team slipped in the final two holes and missed qualifying as a team by one stroke. But under the provisions of the NCAA championships, McChrystal’s solid play that put her sixth in the final standings made her one of the two individual qualifiers for the individual competition.
By making it for the third time, McChrystal becomes just the fifth golf in LSU women’s history to make the tournament for a third time. Katy Wilkinson Harris (1998-01) and Meredith Duncan (1999-02) made it four times, while Kristi Coats (1990-92) and Caroline Martens (2006, 2008-09) are the only other two to make it three times.
McChrystal will get to play the course on Sunday and Monday in practice rounds prior to the start of the four rounds of competition that run through Friday. The Stuart, Fla., native is already familiar with the course having a good showing of four-over par 220 (73-73-74) and finishing in 12th place in the NCAA Preview event.
“I liked the setup when we were there in the fall and I remember feeling extremely comfortable with it,” McChrystal said Friday night prior to leaving for Wilmington. “Obviously this time around I expect the rough will be longer this time of round. It was a pretty fair setup when we played in the Preview. It’s a tough course but I think it will set up pretty well.”
The biggest thing for McChrystal will be the chance to have two solid days of practice that she has had to squeeze in amidst all the exams this past week.
“I just need to get some good practice period,” laughed McChrystal. “I didn’t practice (Friday) and squeezed a couple of hours in Wednesday and Thursday. I didn’t practice Monday. But two practice rounds allow you to see the golf course again and get the feel of the greens so I really am happy to have the two practice rounds.”
McChrystal earned first-team All-SEC honors for the second straight year and a good performance in the Championships could get her back to possible All-American status where she earned second-team honors by the National Golf Coaches Association.