BATON ROUGE – LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad kept her current streak of top 5 finishes in the 2023-24 season alive with a solo fifth place in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Wednesday at the Long Cove Club in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
On a day when scores fluctuated throughout the round, Lindblad posted an even par round of 71 to finish the 54-hole event at 4-under par 209, one shot out of the four-way tie for first at 5-under 208.
Lindblad had two chances to potentially tie for the title but had unfortunate luck as a birdie putt on the par 13th lipped out and then her birdie putt on 18 that would have tied her for the lead, burned the right edge but would not fall.
Lindblad, the No. 1 amateur in the world rankings, finished with rounds of 67-71-71.
“Ingrid (Lindblad) played really well in this tournament and it was good to see her have a chance to get a win,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “She fought hard and it was a good finish for her, especially at a course where the narrative has been that she hasn’t played her best. In her final attempt at it and finish one stroke off the lead, that’s good.”
Julie Lopez Ramirez of Mississippi State, Jennifer Cai of Northwestern, Hannah Darling of South Carolina and Farah O’Keefe of Texas all tied for medalist honors at the 5-under mark.
LSU finished in a tie for sixth for the tournament at 12-over par 864 with Texas and Georgia after a final round of 8-over 292. LSU posted round of 283-289-292.
Besides Lindblad’s 71, the Tigers counted a 1-over 72 from Aine Donegan, a 3-over 74 from Carla Tejedo and a 4-over 75 from Latanna Stone.
“I was most proud (Tuesday) when Carla made a quadruple bogey 8 and Aine made a quadruple bogey 8, but then played the rest of the round at even par. It showed a tremendous amount of competitive toughness from them and allowed us to finish the round in fifth place with an outside chance going into the final round. Our ladies were ready to go today, but we just didn’t make as many putts. In a field like this, the margin of error is so small,” said Runion.
“The ladies are upset, but I told them don’t lose that feeling and keep as motivation the rest of the year. In Ingrid and Latanna’s first year here, we shot 45 over par and finished in 10th place. The first few years, I would have died for a sixth-place finish; and now we’re upset with a sixth-place finish. It’s a good sign for the program. Now, we got a little time off before Clemson and we’ll be ready to go.”
LSU’s final regular season event is the Clemson Invitational in Sunset, South Carolina March 22-24.
Darius Rucker Intercollegiate
Long Cove Club – Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Round 3 Team Results (Par 284-568-852)
1 Arizona State 278-285-291 – 855 +3
2 Northwestern 281-282-293 – 856 +4
3 Auburn 284-282-291 – 857 +5
4 South Carolina 282-290-286 – 858 +6
5 Arkansas 284-295-280 – 859 +7
T6 LSU 283-289-292 – 864 +12
T6 Texas 284-291-289 – 864 +12
T6 Georgia 290-284-290 – 864 +12
T9 Duke 281-290-294 – 865 +13
T9 Wake Forest 284-291-290 – 865 +13
11 Mississippi State 283-303-280 – 866 +14
12 Vanderbilt 290-288-298 – 870 +18
T13 Kentucky 290-288-298 – 876 +24
T13 Baylor 298-285-293 – 876 +24
15 Alabama 289-300-290 – 879 +27
16 Ohio State 295-296-291 – 882 +30
17 Oregon 296-302-287 – 885 +33
T1 Julia Lopez Ramirez, Mississippi State 67-77-64 – 208 -5
T1 Jennifer Cai, Northwestern 71-68-69 – 208 -5
T1 Hannah Darling, South Carolina 72-66-70 – 208 -5
T1 Farah O’Keefe, Texas 71-67-70 – 208 -5
5 Ingrid Lindblad, LSU 67-71-71 – 209 -4
5 Ingrid Lindblad 67-71-71 – 209 -4
T28 Latanna Stone 73-68-75 – 216 +3
T49 Carla Tejedo 71-75-74 – 220 +7
T60 Aine Donegan 75-75-72 – 222 +9
74 Jordan Fischer 72-79-76 – 227 +14