Tigers Lead At Moon Golf; Tejedo Fires 66 And T2 After 1 Round

BATON ROUGE – LSU posted a tournament best five-player total of 21 birdies and grabbed the team lead after the first round of the Moon Golf Invitational Sunday at the Suntree Country Club in Melbourne, Florida.

The round was paced by LSU junior Carla Tejedo who posted a clean card with six birdies to fire a 6-under 66 and is in a group tied for second one-shot out of the individual lead after 18 holes.

LSU posted a round of 12-under par 276, which is the second lowest of the season in the play five-count four players scoring of collegiate golf. It is tied for the fourth lowest in program history and it is the 16th round in women’s golf history (dating back to the 1979-80 season) that LSU has posted a round below 280.

It is also the lowest score in the first round of the 6-year-old tournament by a team and the second lowest in the history of the event, which is hosted by Louisville. This is the Tigers third appearance here and their lowest previous round was in the second round in 2021 when they shot 280.

The Tigers, ranked No. 8 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Rankings and No. 9 in the Golfstat Performance rankings, are two shots clear of UCF, which posted a 10-under 278 with Clemson one shot back at 279. Three teams – Northwestern, Florida and Alabama – are tied for fourth at 7-under par 281.

A total of 12 teams shot under par on a low-scoring opening day.

Tejedo’s 66 tied for the fourth lowest round in the history of the event and she is one shot behind first-round leader Turada Piddon of UCF who had five birdies on her final nine holes (playing the front nine) to finish at 7-under 65.

Tejedo is tied for second with Annabell Fuller of Florida and Lottie Woad of Florida State, also at 66.

LSU senior Ingrid Lindblad, the defending tournament champion, also put herself in good position with a five-birdie 4-under par 68. Lindblad birdied four-of-the-first-five holes to turn at 32 and is in a tie for seventh after 18 holes.

Freshman Edit Hertzman had four birdies in her last seven holes to finish at 2-under par 70 and both Latanna Stone, coming off last week’s win in the Bahamas, and Aine Donegan both totaled even par rounds of 72. Donegan was 3-over after 13 holes but birdied three-of-the-final-five to get back to even.

Jess Bailey, playing as an individual competitor, had six birdies to post a 2-under 70. Bailey and Hertzman are in a group tied for 19th spot.

LSU tied for the best team score on the par 5 holes at 8-under par and played the pars 3 at 3-under. The Tigers 21 birdies was T3 in the 17-team field.

Lindblad and Tejedo were tied for tops in the field on the par 5 holes at 3-under par with Tejedo tied for the event lead on the par 3 holes at 2-under.

LSU will be in the final wave off the first tee on Monday for the second round with UCF, Clemson and Northwestern, beginning at 8:40 a.m. CT. Live scoring of the event can be found at Golfstat.com.

MOON GOLF INVITATIONAL
Suntree Country Club
Melbourne, Florida
First Round Team Results (Par 288)
1 LSU 276 -12; 2 UCF 278 -10; 3 Clemson 279 -9; T4 Northwestern 281 -7; T4 Florida 281 -7; T4 Auburn 281 -7; 7 Vanderbilt 282 -6; 8 Virginia 284 -4; T9 Arkansas 285 -3; T9 Michigan State 285 -3; T11 Michigan 286 -2; T11 Florida State 286 -2; 13 Augusta 288 E; 14 Alabama 289 +1; 15 North Carolina 291 +3; 16 Louisville 295 +7; 17 Miami 300 +12

Individual Top 5 (Par 72)
1 Tunrada Piddon, UCF, 65 -7; T2 Carla Tejedo, LSU, 66 -6; T2 Annabell Fuller, Florida, 66 -6; T2 Lottie Woad, Florida State, 66-6; T5 Anna Foster, Auburn, 67 -5; T5 Megan Streicher, North Carolina, 67 -5

LSU Scores
T2 Carla Tejedo 66 -6
T7 Ingrid Lindblad 68 -4
T19 Edit Hertzman 70 -2
T19 Jessica Bailey 70 -2
T40 Latanna Stone 72 E
T40 Aine Donegan 72 E