LSU's Lindblad Gets Two More Match Win At Women's AM; On To Quarterfinals

BATON ROUGE – LSU senior Ingrid Lindblad again proved why she belongs in the No. 1 spot in the World Amateur Golf Rankings as she downed WAGR’s No. 3 in the round of 16 in the Royal and Ancient’s 120th version of the Women’s Amateur at Prince’s England, on Friday.

Lindblad took out Spain’s Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio in the second of two matches on Friday, 4&3, to advance to the quarterfinals on Saturday morning (overnight/early morning in America).

Lindblad advanced to the last 16 in the 2022 Women’s Am but has now advanced to the quarterfinal.

Earlier in the day, The Swedish star scored a 2UP win over England’s Patience Rhodes.

In the round of 16 match against Garcia-Poggio, the match was all square after eight holes with both players 2-under par before Garcia-Poggio bogeyed the ninth hole while Lindblad parred to go 1UP and in the lead for good.

The lead went to 2UP on the 12th when Lindblad again eagled the par 5 hole and a par on 13 pushed the LSU player’s lead to 3UP with five to play. Lindblad clinched the spot in the quarterfinals on the par 5 15th with a bogey six to go 4UP with just three to play, ending the match.

In Lindblad’s opening match of the day, Rhodes was 1UP after a birdie on the sixth hole but Lindblad’s birdie on the par 5 eighth made the made all square and she took the lead for good with a birdie 2 on the par 3 11th. She moved to 2UP with a par on the 13th hole and held a 1UP lead going to the 18th hole where a par 4 won her the match 2UP.

Lindblad only dropped one shot in her two matches on Friday to illustrate her form. She was 6-under par in a morning meeting with Rhodes, winner of the recent St Rule Trophy. Rhodes registered seven birdies of her own – there were 13 between the pair.

Lindblad now faces an all-Swedish tie with Kajsa Arwefjall, who survived a comeback from Francesca Fiorellini to beat the Italian 3&1. Arwefjall is a senior at San Jose State.

“I was just trying to keep the ball in play, hitting the fairways and greens,” said Lindblad. “I played better in the morning than in the afternoon. On the front nine against Cayetana, it was back and forth but I felt I had more control on the back nine and hit it close on the 12th (for eagle). We both played well and it was fun. The Swedish players seem to be working well on the links this week and we have a good national team.”

Edit Hertzman, after her two match play wins on Thursday, couldn’t continue in the round of 32 match against Gile Bite Starkute of Lithuania, falling on the 19th hole.

Starkute was 3UP after seven holes, but a birdie on the par three 11th hole would get Hertzman back to A/S and after falling behind in the match on 15, birdied the 16th hole to get the match back to All Square where it stayed through the 18th hole.

The pair went back to the first hole, where a par by Starkute was good enough to win the hole and the match.

The R&A will provide coverage of the quarter-finals and semi-finals Saturday and 36-hole Final on Sunday. This can be watched on The R&A’s website, randa.org, as well as its YouTube channel. The live stream will begin at 8am on Saturday (2 a.m. in the Central Time Zone). The Lindblad match will be third off at 8:35 a.m. local team (2:35 a.m. CT). The semifinals are set for 1 p.m. local team (7 a.m. CT).