BATON ROUGE – Some familiar tournament sites are on the docket for the LSU Women’s Golf team for the 2023-24 season, but the potential nine-month journey features a new ending site for the NCAA Championships.
After three years in Scottsdale Arizona, the NCAA Championships will begin a new three-year run at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California. The former site of the PGA’s Tournament of Champions, the course has been undergoing enhancements by famed architect Gil Hanse in preparations for the Championships in May of 2024.
But LSU will be taking part in lots of tournaments in the fall and spring starting out Sept. 11-12 with a return to Charleston, South Carolina and the Cougar Classic at Yeamans Hall. The Tigers last played there in 2018 to open Coach Garrett Runion’s tenure as LSU women’s head coach and previously recorded victories in the event in 2005 and 2011.
The other September tournament will be in Franklin, Tennessee at the Mason Rudolph Championship on Sept. 22-24. LSU finished fourth in last year’s tournament with a three-day total of 3-under 861.
October features the two other events of the fall portion of the schedule with the Illini Women’s Invitational at the Medinah (Illinois) Country Club set for Oct. 9-10. LSU shot an 11-under 853 in this event to finish fourth in their last appearance in 2021.
The Tigers will make a Mississippi appearance at Old Waverly in West Point, Mississippi, to conclude the fall, Oct. 23-25, for the Ally Invitational.
The spring will bring one new tournament from last year, but one LSU last appeared in 2017, the Puerto Rico Classic in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico (Feb. 4-6). That will be followed by the Moon Golf Invitational at Melbourne, Florida, Feb. 18-20. LSU won that event a year ago with a score of 30-under par 834.
One of the highlights of the year is the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate which is sent for March 4-6 at Hilton Head, South Carolina and the challenging Long Cove Club. The Tigers brought back the guitar trophy from the event last season, finishing first in a field of 17 of some of college golf’s best programs in the nationally televised event.
The spring regular season closes out with another familiar stop at Sunset, Florida when LSU travels to the Clemson Invitational, March 22-24.
The Southeastern Conference women’s golf championships changes dates and venues to provide more space for those golfers participating in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at the start of April and the past dates of the event in the second full week of the month.
The tournament is now set for April 12-16 at the Pelican Golf Club, site of an LPGA tour stop, (The ANNIKA driving by Gainbridge at Pelican) in Belleair, Florida.
NCAA Regional sites in 2024 (May 6-8) are at: Auburn, Alabama; Cle Elum, Washington; College Station, Texas; East Lansing, Michigan; Las Vegas, Nevada; and, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The Tigers finished third in the nation in the WGCA Coaches Poll and advanced to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive year in 2023.
The complete LSU Women’s Golf Schedule for 2023-24:
SEPTEMBER
11-12 Cougar Classic/Charleston, South Carolina
22-24 Mason Rudolph Championship/Franklin, Tennessee
OCTOBER
9-10 Illini Women’s Invitational/Medinah, Illinois
23-25 The Ally Invitational/West Point, Mississippi
FEBRUARY
4-6 Puerto Rico Classic/Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
18-20 Moon Golf Invitational/Melbourne, Florida
MARCH
4-6 Darius Rucker Intercollegiate/Hilton Head, South Carolina
22-24 Clemson Invitational/Sunset, South Carolina
APRIL
12-16 SEC Championships/Belleair, Florida
MAY
6-8 NCAA Regionals/TBA
17-22 NCAA Championships/Carlsbad, California