LSU's Lindblad Opens Well At ANWA, T2 Heading To Thursday

AUGUSTA, Georgia – For the fourth consecutive competitive round, LSU graduate student Ingrid Lindblad posted a round with just one bogey as she recorded a 5-under par 67 here on a windy Wednesday afternoon at Champions Retreat Country Club in the first round of the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Lindblad, the World No. 1 women’s amateur, posted six birdies on the round and stands tied for second, one shot behind No. 14 ranked Hannah Darling of Scotland and the University of South Carolina. Darling fired a 6-under par 66 on the opening round.

Lindblad is tied with Francesca Fiorellini of Italy, a UCLA signee, and Eila Galitsky of Thailand, who is a South Carolina commitment.

The start of the tournament was delayed for one hour by overnight storms and just as Lindblad and Stone were heading to their starting tees in the second-to-last-group of the morning on both nines, a final wave of rain came in for about 10 minutes which then led to bright sunny skies and windy conditions the rest of the day.

“I’m a little surprised about the scores,” Lindblad said. “The greens are a lot softer than they were (Tuesday). But there are a lot of good scores out there. Third time now, trying to be where my feet are, take it one shot at a time, not getting too far ahead of myself. I think that worked out pretty well today. Just where am I going to hit this shot and not think about the nine holes ahead.”
In the three rounds in her previous start at Sunset, South Carolina and The Reserve at Lake Keowee last month, Lindblad had just one bogey in each round in posting 18-under par to win her SEC record 14th collegiate title. She said her ball striking was the key there and again for the most part she thought that helped her on Wednesday.

“I would say there were one or two misses on the course, both par 3s on the front nine weren’t good shots but I walked away with a par on one and a bogey on the other,” Lindblad said. “It’s alright, whenever you can get a lot of opportunities it will equal out.”

Lindblad would par the opening two holes, including the first which last year played as the most difficult hole on the course at 4.38 strokes. Her first birdie came on the 485-yard par 5, followed by a second birdie on the par 4, 385-yard hole that is guarded down the entire hole by the Savannah River.

Her only bogey of the round came on the 160-yard eighth hole before a closing first nine birdie at the par five ninth.

That would set her up for the second nine where after a tap-in par on 10, she birdied the par 3 11th from distance and then dropped in a short birdie putt on the par 4 12th to go to 4-under par.

One of those opportunities for her came with Lindblad’s sixth birdie of the round on the par 3 17th hole but it wasn’t a standard affair as her tee ball was short of the green and she rolled it up with plenty of pace and it dropped in the hole to go to 5-under par.

“I thought I had a good club, but sometimes when I hit those knockdowns, I can get a little too cute with them,” she said. “That was one of them that I thought was fine, but afterwards ‘it was a little too cute.’ The putt worked out fine, I’m glad it hit the pin because it was a firm putt!”

The 23-year-old who was T3 in 2021 and T2 in 2022 before missing the cut in 2023, was part of a scoring barrage even in the windy conditions that could make the cut the lowest ever to get to Saturday’s final round at Augusta National.

After the first round, the cut stands at even par as 11 golfers are at that number in 29th place. The lowest previous cut number for the top 30 and ties was +2 in both 2019 and last year (2023).

Still very much in the running to get back to Augusta for a third time is LSU graduate student, Latanna Stone. The Riverview, Florida native, who is No. 30 in the World Rankings and the runner-up in the 2023 USGA Women’s Amateur, posted 3-over 75 to stand in a group tied for 52nd place. Stone had three birdies on her round, the par 3 11th hole, her second hole of the day, and then back-to-back on her 11th and 12th holes of play, the par 4 second and the par 5 third holes.

“It was a tough day out there today,” Stone said after the round. “The wind was blowing pretty hard. I’m kind of bummed I didn’t finish as I anticipated. Another day tomorrow. Got to climb back.”

LSU signee Rocio Tejedo of Spain, in her first competitive round at the ANWA, posted a 5-over par 77, but ended her round on a good note with a birdie on the par 5 ninth hole, her second of her second nine of play. She is tied for 64th after the first round.

The threesomes will stay the same for the second round with Lindblad and Stone in the late-early pairings, going off in the third groups on Thursday with a chance to post a score. Lindblad will play off the 10th tee and Stone off the first tee at 8:23 a.m. ET (7:23 a.m. CT in Baton Rouge). Rocio Tejedo will go off in the third-to-last-group at 9:32 a.m. ET.

It is expected that play will start on time Thursday but it will be significantly colder on Thursday with temperatures in the upper 40s when the round begins with highs in the low 60s and winds 12-18 miles per hour.

The Golf Channel will have second round coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. Baton Rouge time).

Augusta National Women’s Amateur
Champions Retreat – Augusta, Georgia
Round 1 Top 10/LSU Scores
(Top 30 and ties advance to final round after Thursday’s cut)
1 Hannah Darling, Scotland/South Carolina – 66 -6
T2 Ingrid Lindblad, Sweden/LSU – 67 -5
T2 Francesca Fiorellini, Italy/UCLA (Commit) – 67 -5
T2 Eila Galitsky, Thailand/South Carolina (Commit) — 67 -5
T5 Maisie Filler, Florida/Univ of Florida – 68 -4
T5 Lottie Woad, England/Florida State – 68 -4
T7 Maria Jose Marin, Columbia, Arkansas – 69 -3
T7 Amanda Sambach, North Carolina/Virginia – 69 -3
T7 Ashley Menne, Arizona/Arizona State – 69 -3
T7 Jasmine Koo, California/USC (Commit) – 69 -3
T7 Mirabel Ting, Malaysia/Florida State – 69 -3
(Top 30 Cut Number as Second Round Begins – 72 E)
T52 Latanna Stone, Florida/LSU – 75 +3
T64 Rocio Tejedo, Spain/LSU (Commit) – 77 +5