LSU's Ingrid Lindblad T5 After Two Rounds At ANWA; Advances To Saturday

AUGUSTA, Georgia – On a day when par seemed like a birdie, LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad posted 13 consecutive pars to close her round and easily advanced to the final round of the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur here Thursday at Champions Retreat Country Club.

Lindblad’s 4-over round of 76 leaves her in a group tied for fifth after 36-holes at 1-under par 143 (67-76) and in the top 30 and ties that will advance to the final round on Saturday at the famed Augusta National Country Club.

Lottie Woad of Florida State and England is the tournament leader at 5-under par 139 after rounds of 68-71 with three United States golfers in the next three spots before Lindblad and the group tied for fifth at 1-under. Gianna Clemente (70-71) and Maisie Fuller of Florida (68-73) are tied for second at 3-under 141 and Amanda Sambach (Virginia) is fourth at 2-under 142 (69-73).

A cut line that started at even par after the field averaged just over 72 on Wednesday ballooned on Thursday to 3-over par with 35 players qualifying after the field averaged ballooned on a cold and windy day that played havoc with the entire field of 72 as only five players posted under par rounds Thursday.

But with that, the field is tight heading into Saturday’s final round with 16 players within five shots of the lead and the distance from first to the final cut spot is just eight shots.

Winds steady at 20 miles per hour, gusting at times into the 30s combined with temperatures in the 50s and low 60s made for difficult walking conditions for spectators and playing conditions for the competitors.

“Well, I feel like I’ve been out there for like seven hours. What part do you want to hear?” Lindblad said to the media in the interview area when she stepped to the microphone.

Lindblad’s round on Thursday started on the 10th hole with a routine par 4 and a par 3 on the 11th hole before things look a turn with a bogey on the par 3 12th, a double bogey on the par 4 13th and then another bogey on the par 5 14th.

“The really bad, on hole 12 I hit three good shots, hit a good putt. Nothing wanted to go in. So that was kind of just, it’s a bogey,” she said. “On 14, I have a really hard time committing the shot to the right pin over the bunker with the wind swirling, so I just hit a very not-committed shot in the bunker, flew the bunker shot over the green, hit an okay chip but missed like a seven-footer for bogey.”

And at a point on the second nine, her first nine holes of the day, her group was put on the clock.

“I didn’t think it was too bad,” Lindblad said. “I was just trying to read my putts while the others were putting. It actually was kind of nice because you didn’t overthink anything. Yeah, it felt a little stressful, but I think it was probably worse for Rachel (Kuehn) because she couldn’t find a sprinkler head with numbers on it on 18 so she got a bad time because of that. Alex, her caddie, told the rules official about that. I was like, that’s not your fault, really.”

Then the pars started coming, including a big 10-footer for par that brought a fist pump from Lindblad on the par 5 18th hole, her ninth of the day, and then nine consecutive pars including a two-putt from long distance on the par 5 9th hole, her last of the round. Her first putt rolled up to the edge of the cup for a tap in, even though she thought afterwards that she had left the putt very short.

“It’s definitely the windiest we’ve had in the past four years,” Lindblad said. “I want to say, as I said, I teed off on the back, some of the holes on the back aren’t crazy. They aren’t too bad. But then you turn on the front and have a couple holes downwind, and then suddenly you have everything into the wind the last couple holes.

“I think that stretch, 6 through 9, those are — if you walk away even par there today, that’s pretty good. I mean, putting-wise it was good speed on everything, but if I hit everything two feet more, I probably would have made three birdies. Just putting is fine. Probably a little defensive on the greens. But it’s all right. You don’t want to be too aggressive in this wind, either, having four-footers in gusty winds.

For Lindblad it is her third time in four tries to make the final day of this prestigious amateur event. She finished T3 one shot out of the playoff in 2021, T2 in 2022 and then missed the cut a year ago.

LSU’s Latanna Stone will miss the cut in her third appearance at the ANWA, finishing with a second round of 77 and a two-day total of 8-over 152. Stone on her record at the tournament does have two top 10 finishes, getting a T2 finish in 2022 and a solo 8th place finish in 2023.

Tiger signee Rocio Tejedo also had a tough day of it in the wind, shooting six-over 78 to finish at 11-over par 154.

Of the entire field of 35 qualifiers that made the cut, 16 are from the United States, four each from Sweden, Japan and Spain. Eight other countries have one qualifier.

The entire field of 72 gets to play a practice round on Friday at Augusta National. The Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine reported in a story this week that the players will for the first time be able to play a twilight round on the just as famous Masters Par 3 course.

The final round on Saturday will be televised on NBC and Peacock beginning at Noon ET (11 a.m. Baton Rouge time).

Augusta National Women’s Amateur
Second Round – Par 72-144
Champions Retreat Country Club – Augusta, Georgia
(Top 30 and ties advance to Saturday’s final round at Augusta National)
1 Lottie Woad, England – 68-71 – 139 -5
T2 Gianna Clemente, United States – 70-71 – 141 -3
T2 Maisie Fuller, United States – 68-73 – 141 -3
4 Amanda Sambach, United States – 69-73 – 142 -2
T5 Ingrid Lindblad, Sweden – 67-76 – 143 -1
T5 Mirabel Ting, Malaysia – 69-74 – 143 -1
T5 Louise Rydqvist, Sweden – 70-73 – 143 -1
T5 Hailey Borja, United States – 71-72 – 143 -1
T5 Hannah Darling, Scotland – 66-77 – 143 -1
T5 Jasmine Koo, United States – 69-74 – 143 -1
T5 Eila Galinsky, Thailand – 67-76 – 143 -1
T5 Bailey Shoemaker, United States – 70-73 – 143 -1
T13 Casey Weidenfeld, United States – 72-72 – 144 E
T13 Megha Ganne, United States – 70-74 – 144 E
T13 Sayaka Teraoka, Japan – 72-72 – 144 E
T13 Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, Spain – 70-74 – 144 E
T17 Hinano Muguruma, Japan – 70-75 – 145 +1
T17 Nora Sundberg, Sweden – 70-75 – 145 +1
T17 Paula Martin Sampedro, Spain – 72-73 – 145 +1
T17 Francesca Fiorellini, Italy – 67-78 – 145 +1
T21 Amanda Revuelta, Spain – 72-74 – 146 +2
T21 Kajsa Arwefilall, Sweden – 72-74 – 146 +2
T23 Rin Yoshida, Japan – 72-75 – 147 +3
T23 Emilia Migliaccio, United States – 75-72 – 147 +3
T23 Amari Avery, United States – 70-77 – 147 +3
T23 Laney Frye, United States – 72-75 – 147 +3
T23 Rachel Kuehn, United States – 73-74 – 147 +3
T23 Hailee Cooper, United States – 76-71 – 147 +3
T23 Mamika Shinchi, Japan – 71-76 – 147 +3
T23 Carla Bernat Escuder, Spain – 78-69 – 147 +3
T23 Asterisk Talley, United States – 72-75 – 147 +3
T23 Farah O’Keefe, United States – 71-76 – 147 +3
T23 Maria Jose Marin, Colombia – 69-78 – 147 +3
T23 Catherine Park, United States – 71-76 – 147 +3
T23 Lauren Kim, Canada – 72-75 – 147 +3
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Other LSU Scores
T57 Latanna Stone, United States – 75-77 – 152 +8
T67 Rocio Tejedo, Spain – 77-78 – 155 +11