LSU Gold

Tigers Shoot +3 To Stand Fifth After 36 Holes At NCAA Golf

Ingrid Lindblad shoots 2-under 70 Saturday and stands T6 after 36 holes at even par 144.

by Kent Lowe
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Tigers Shoot +3 To Stand Fifth After 36 Holes At NCAA Golf

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – Strings of pars can be a good thing.

Throw in a few birdies between holes 8-10 and 16-18 and LSU remains in a strong position after two rounds of the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship at the Grayhawk Golf Club on Saturday.

The Tigers posted a five-shot improvement from Friday with a 3-over 291 (equaling the fifth best round of the day) to stand at 11-over par 587 for 36 holes (296-291).

LSU is fifth behind leader Stanford at 5-over 581. The Cardinal is four shots better than Oregon at 9-over 585. Auburn and UCLA are tied for third at 10-over par 586, with LSU next. It is two more shots back to Texas A&M at 13-over 589.

“When you have the afternoon wave, you can see what the morning wave is doing,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “We knew it was going to be a hang-on type day and we did that today. We didn’t make a ton of birdies except in the middle and at the end. There were a lot of pars and not a lot of big mistakes. We played 7-9 extremely well and 16, 17, 18 well and that was the difference. Ingrid (Lindblad’s) eagle (on 18) jumps us up where we can get that early tee time (Sunday) and get us closer to the lead. Carla’s birdie on 17 was big for an even par round. We were very pleased with how things went today.”

The top 12 teams will play first in the third round on Sunday which means the Tigers will be the first wave off the 10th tee with UCLA and Texas A&M at 6:30 a.m. PT (8:30 a.m. Baton Rouge time). The teams 13-24 will play in the afternoon with the field being cut to 15 teams for Monday’s final stroke play round. After Monday’s round the individual champion will be crowned and the top eight teams after 72 holes will go to match play next Tuesday.

LSU was able to get a string of pars going on a day when staying steady was important for positioning and also when the teams that played morning-afternoon seemed to have a bit of a weather advantage Saturday as the wind did not blow excessively and temperatures peaked in the low-90s.

LSU did not record a birdie on any of its five cards until the seventh hole and then the Tigers had eight birdies on holes 7-10. The LSU went back to par golf and just a few bogeys before a stretch on 16-18 when LSU got three more birdies and an eagle on 18 from Ingrid Lindblad.

Lindblad was 2-over after six holes on Saturday’s round. On the par 5 7th, a hole she had to take an unplayable on during Friday’s round, she hit a 5-iron 210 yards to set up an eagle put that stopped just short of the hole for her first birdie of the day. She birdied the par 3 eighth hole and then on her way to hitting 16 greens in regulation drilled her approach shot on the par 5 18th close and made the eagle for a 2-under round of 70.

The junior POY finalist played the last 12 holes in 4-under par and after two rounds stands at even par 144 (74-70). Lindblad moved up 21 spots in the standings and is now in a group tied for sixth.

Carla Tejedo had a good round with her third birdie of the day on the 17th hole getting her in with an even par 72. Elsa Svensson made a big improvement from the opening round with a strong 2-over 74 and Latanna Stone posted 3-over 75 to complete the counting scores.

Stone and Tejedo are tied for 30th at 4-over 148 after two rounds. Tejedo moved up 25 places in the standings on Saturday.

“I told Elsa that the likely hood of her playing good today after a bad round was higher than normal,” Coach Runion said. “She played so steady at a time we needed it. It was very good round for her and remember she’s a freshman in her first national championship. Latanna (Stone) fought through it. She’s still a little under the weather and exhausted, but she played a good round. Ingrid was patient all day. Eight straight pars and an eagle on the back nine. She played well after a couple of bogeys on the front nine. Carla played well and did a great job with her round.”

The individual leaders after two rounds is Rose Zhang of Stanford at 6-under par 138. She is four clear of Beth Lillie of Virginia and Megan Schofill of Auburn at 142.

Live scoring for Sunday’s third round can be found at Golfstat.com and the NCAA D1 Women’s Championship box. Updates during the round are available on Twitter @LSUWomensGolf.

NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
Scottsdale, Arizona
Round 2 Team Results (Par 288-576)
1 Stanford 289 292 581 +5
2 Oregon 297 288 585 +9
T3 Auburn 296 290 586 +10
T3 UCLA 295 291 586 +10
5 LSU 296 291 587 +11
6 Texas A&M 292 297 589 +13
7 Florida State 296 295 591 +15
T8 Arizona State 302 290 592 +16
T8 Southern California 298 294 592 +16
10 Georgia 303 291 594 +18
T11 Texas 305 295 600 +24
T11 Purdue 301 299 600 +24
13 TCU 300 301 601 +25
T14 San Jose State 307 296 603 +27
T14 Virginia 304 299 603 +27
T16 Wake Forest 301 304 605 +29
T16 Mississippi State 299 306 605 +29
18 South Carolina 306 300 606 +30
19 Oklahoma State 307 300 607 +31
T20 Baylor 301 310 611 +35
T20 Michigan 301 310 611 +35
22 Arkansas 307 305 612 +36
T23 Vanderbilt 308 306 614 +38
T23 Alabama 298 316 614 +38

Round 2 Individual Top 10 (Par 72-144)
1 Rose Zahang, Stanford 68-70 — 138 -6
T2 Beth Lillie, Virginia 73-69 — 142 -2
T2 Megan Schofill, Auburn 72-70 — 142 -2
T4 Tze-Han Lin, Oregon 72-71 — 143 -1
T4 Anna Morgan, Furman 72-71 — 143 -1
T6 Bohyn Park, Texas 76-68 — 144 E
T6 Candice Mahe, Georgia 75-69 — 144 E
T6 Ingrid Lindblad, LSU 74-70 — 144 E
T6 Chiara Tamburlini, Ole Miss 74-70 — 144 E
T6 Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen, Oregon 73-71 — 144 E

LSU Individual Totals
T6. Ingrid Lindblad 74-70 – 144 E
T29. Latanna Stone 73-75 – 148 +4
T29. Carla Tejedo 76-72 – 148 +4
T56. Alden Wallace 73-78 – 151 +7
T82. Elsa Svensson 80-74 – 154 +10