Lindblad, Riley Post Under Par Rounds For LSU To Open SEC Women's Golf Championship

BELLEAIR, Florida – Fifth-year player Ingrid Lindblad and sophomore Taylor Riley came up with under par rounds Friday for LSU to open the 2024 SEC Women’s Golf Championship at the Pelican Golf Club.

Lindblad, the No. 1 ranked world amateur golfer, fired a 2-under par round of 68 and Riley posted a 1-under 69 on the par 70, 6,150 yards layout.

This paced the Tigers to a 5-over round of 285, sixth in the standings, 10 shots out of the lead of 5-under set by South Carolina. The 54-hole qualifying will lead to those finishing in the top 8 advancing to match play on Monday.

Lindblad is in a group tied for sixth place after 18 holes, two shots out of the lead, while Riley is in a group T12. A total of 18 players broke par in the field of 70 playing in sunny, but windy conditions.

“Taylor’s round today a very good scorecard with three birdies and two bogeys,” said LSU Head Coach Garrett Runion. “She played a lot of important rounds for us in the fall. She was in the lineup when we won in Chicago and she was part of that. To see her back in the lineup for the SEC Championship and post the second-best round for us was huge and we needed it.

“It’s a very difficult golf course and Taylor chipped and putted it very well. Ingrid did Ingrid things and played a very solid round as well that helped us stay in a good position.”

Lindblad bogeyed her second hole of the day, when she ended up on the cart path behind the green and couldn’t get up and down but then came back with a birdie on the par 4 369-yard sixth hole to get back to even. Lindblad on the back nine birdied two par 4s, the short (290 yard) 11th hole and the 340-yard 17th hole and finished with a good two-putt par on the most difficult hole on the course, the 18th, from off the green.

Riley, with her mother (former LSU star player Michelle Louviere Riley) on hand walking with her group, birdied two of the first four holes in the round the 312 yard first and the 408-yard fourth. She was even after 11 holes and then birdied the 369-yard par 4 13th hole and closed with five pars to get to 1-under par.

Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio of Texas A&M is the solo leader at 4-under par 66 on a card with seven birdies. Four other golfers are ahead of Lindblad at 3-under par.

Behind South Carolina in second is Auburn and Texas A&M at 1-under 279 with Mississippi State in fourth at 280. Arkansas is three shots ahead of LSU at 2-282, then the Tigers followed by Ole Miss and Kentucky in the final qualifying positions at 6-over 286. Vanderbilt and Florida complete the top 10 at 8-over 288.

LSU would count a 4-over 74 from both Aine Donegan and Latanna Stone to complete the team total in the play five, count four scoring system. LSU had 12 birdies and 57 pars on the day for all five scores.

“We got one practice round,” Coach Runion said of the majority of the field seeing the course for the first time Thursday. “(Friday) was the first time we’ve seen it under competition. Usually we play better as we play the course again and so we will go out and improve on what we did today. You can’t win the tournament in the first round, but you can certainly play your way out of it. I would have like to have been a little better but we are where we need to be.”

Stone was one of the round leaders in par 3 scoring at 2-under par with two birdies on the four holes. Lindblad finished 2-under on the 12 par 4 holes, T2 on the field. Lindblad, who hit 16-of-18 greens on the day, had 14 pars and three birdies on her card while Riley had 13 pars and three birdies.

The average score for the opening round was 72.56.

LSU will be off in the second wave off the first nine, which seems to be the more difficult in some spots except for closing with a par three ninth hole, with Ole Miss and Kentucky at 8:50 a.m. ET (7:50 a.m. CT). Live scoring on Golfstat.com and updates on X @LSUKent and LSUWomensGolf.

SEC Women’s Golf Championship
Belleair, Florida – Pelican Golf Club
First Round Team Results – Par 280
1 South Carolina — 275 -5
T2 Auburn — 279 -1
T2 Texas A&M — 279 -1
4 Mississippi State — 280 E
5 Arkansas — 282 +2
6 LSU — 285 +5
T7 Ole Miss — 286 +6
T7 Kentucky — 286 +6
T9 Vanderbilt — 288 +8
T9 Florida – 288 +8
11 Alabama – 290 +10
12 Georgia – 291 +11
13 Tennessee – 300 +20
14 Missouri — 304 +24

Individual Top 10 (Par 70)
1 Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, Texas A&M — 66 -4
T2 Hannah Darling, South Carolina – 67 -3
T2 Kendall Todd, Arkansas – 67 -3
T2 Avery Weed, Mississippi State — 67 -3
T2 Julia Lopez Ramirez, Mississippi State — 67 -3
T6 Louise Rydqvist, South Carolina — 68 -2
T6 Ingrid Lindblad, LSU — 68 -2
T6 Marina Escobar Domingo, Florida — 68 -2
T6 Natacha Husted, Ole Miss – 68 -2
T6 Casey Weidenfeld, Auburn — 68 -2
T6 Laney Frye, Kentucky – 68 -2

LSU Scores
T6 Ingrid Lindblad – 68 -2
T12 Taylor Riley – 69 -1
T39 Aine Donegan – 74 +4
T39 Latanna Stone – 74 +4
T58 Carla Tejedo – 76 +6