Tigers Marvelous at Medinah; Stone, Lindblad Both Shoot -9 For Co-Medalist Honors

BATON ROUGE – The nationally-ranked LSU women’s golf team posted a second 13-under par round of 275 on Tuesday to close out a dominating performance to win the team title at the Illini Women’s Invitational at the famed Medinah Country Club outside Chicago.

The win was the Tigers, ranked 1, 3 and 4 in the major golf polls, its first win of the year and its second top two in three fall tournaments as LSU recorded rounds of 275-287-275 for a 27-under par total of 837, nine shots clear of Ole Miss at 18-under 846. The Rebels moved up two places in the final round.

Northwestern dropped a spot to third at 14-under 850, four shots clear of San Jose State at 10-under 854 with Oklahoma State the other under par squad in fifth at 4-under 860 in the 15-team field.

For LSU it is the 55th title in school history, dating back to the start of the program in the 1979-80 season, and the 12th team title for sixth-year head coach Garrett Runion.

“It was a great win for us at a great venue,” Runion said after the conclusion of the tournament. “Anytime you can go wire-to-wire to win it, it makes it more challenging but it makes it more rewarding. I was really proud of how focused (the team) was this week. They were really in control of their games and just played really solid. It was cold and windy and they didn’t let some off shots affect them. They kept their heads down and kept grinding.

Grad students Latanna Stone and Ingrid Lindblad of LSU, both shot final rounds of 4-under 68 and were co-medalists at 9-under par 207. Stone had rounds of 69-70-68, while Lindblad posted rounds of 67-72-68. For Lindblad it now gives her an active streak of 14 consecutive rounds of par/under dating back to the final five rounds of a season ago.

Faith Choi of Ohio State and Isabel Sy of Illinois both finished one-shot back in third at 8-under par 208. Choi was one of four players to shoot the low round of 67 on the afternoon. Sy closed with a 68.

For Stone, it is her third college medalist honor of her collegiate career at LSU, all coming in the last 10 tournaments dating back to the first tournament of the spring 2023 season. She won the Nexus Collegiate in the Bahamas to open the 2023 calendar year and then was the co-medalist at the NCAA Regional in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Of course, Stone also during this calendar year finished solo eighth at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April and was a finalist for the United States Women’s Amateur title in California in August.

Lindblad is co-medalist for the second time this season and for the 13th time in her LSU career. It is believed that ties her with Arkansas’ Stacey Lewis, the LPGA star and recent Solheim Cup captain, who also won 13 times at Arkansas between 2005 and 2008.

“Latanna and Ingrid shooting matching 68s to tie individually was pretty impressive,” said Coach Runion. “They were both excited they tied and more excited that the team won.”

For the second time in the tournament, LSU counted four under par scores as junior Aine Donegan birdied three-of-her-final four holes to finish at 3-under 69 and senior Carla Tejedo fired five birdies in a 2-under 70.

Both Donegan and Tejedo finished T9 for the tournament at 4-under par 212. Donegan had rounds of 71-72-69 and Tejedo posted 69-73-70.

LSU finished an incredible 34 under on the par 5 holes to lead all teams and also led on the par 3 holes at 4-over par. The Tigers had 66 birdies, 13 more than any other team in the event.

“We really played the par 5s well and that may have been the difference,” said Runion. “All-in-all a great week. Everyone played well.”

Individually, the Tigers were up top on all holes with Taylor Riley, Stone and Lindblad, all playing the par 5 holes at 8-under par. Tejedo and Lindblad played the par 4 holes in 2-under and Stone led the field with a par 3 scoring total of 2-under.

Lindblad was in a group T2 in birdies with 15 while Donegan and Stone and 14 each. Mulet had 12, while individual player Edit Hertzman and Riley had 11 each.

Both Riley and Stone had eagles in the course of the event.

The Tigers will wrap up the fall season in Mississippi at The Ally at Ole Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi, Oct. 23-25.

ILLINI WOMEN’S INVITATIONAL
Medinah Country Club – Medinah, Illinois
Final Team Results – 288-864
1 LSU 275-287-275 – 837 -27
2 Ole Miss 284-289-273 – 846 -18
3 Northwestern 291-277-282 – 850 -14
4 San Jose State 288-286-280 – 854 -10
5 Oklahoma State 294-286-290 – 860 -4
T6 Georgia 292-279-293 – 864 E
T6 Houston 290-292-282 – 864 E
8 Ohio State 288-287-291 – 866 +2
T9 SMU 297-277-294 – 868 +4
T9 Alabama 299-281-288 – 868 +4
11 Illinois 292-299-287 – 878 +14
12 Oklahoma 299-294-287 – 880 +16
13 Texas Tech 293-305-295 – 893 +29
14 TCU 300-297-298 – 895 +31
15 UNCW 301-302-300 – 903 +39

Individual Top 5 (Par 72-216)
T1 Latanna Stone, LSU 69-70-68 – 207 -9
T1 Ingrid Lindblad, LSU 67-72-68 – 207 -9
T3 Isabel Sy, Illinois 70-70-68 – 208 -8
T3 Faith Choi, Ohio St. 70-71-67 – 208 -8
5 Tessa Kremser, San Jose St. 67-74-69 – 210 -6

LSU Scores
T1 Latanna Stone 69-70-68 – 207 -9
T1 Ingrid Lindblad 67-72-68 – 207 -9
T9 Aine Donegan 71-72-69 – 212 -4
T9 Carla Tejedo 69-73-70 – 212 -4
T37 Taylor Riley 70-73-76 – 219 +3
T45 Edit Hertzman 74-69-78 – 221 +5