BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s golf team, ranked No. 12 in the Mizuno/WGCA Coaches Poll, returns to action for the third time this fall in the Stanford Intercollegiate at the Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, California.
A full field of 19 teams will take part in the three-day event that concludes on Sunday over the par 71, 6,278-yard test.
The Tigers have had a good start to the season, finishing second in the opening Cougar Classic in Charleston, South Carolina, before a strong finish in The Blessings in Fayetteville that saw them finish third.
Freshman Rocio Tejedo, ranked 38th in the world amateur golf rankings, finished fourth at the Cougar Classic and 11 at The Blessings, while senior Aine Donegan is No. 70 in the world after an eighth-place finish at The Blessings.
Three LSU golfers are in the top 55 in the first NCAA official Scoreboard by Clippd performance rankings which can be quite volatile at this early point in the season. Tejedo is ranked No. 44, with Donegan at 50 and LSU senior Else Svensson at 55.
Svensson has played some strong golf in the first two events, highlighted by her tie for eighth with Donegan over the very difficult track at The Blessings.
Through two events, Tejedo is averaging 72.00 for her six rounds, while Donegan is at 72.50 and Svensson at 72.67. Those three will lead the lineup at Stanford with Tejedo playing first, Svensson second and Donegan third in the play five, count four scores format for the team total.
Also playing for the Tigers will be junior Taylor Riley, returning to her home state of California, and Swedish freshman Josefin Widal. Riley appeared in one tournament and averaged 72.33, while Widal after two events at LSU is averaging 74.67.
The field for the event, which is hosted by Dr. Condoleezza Rice, has the following schools joining LSU and host Stanford: Arizona State, Iowa State, Oregon State, Pepperdine, Princeton, San Diego State, San Jose State, SMU, California Berkeley, California Davis, UCLA, Colorado, Denver, USC, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Cal State Fullerton will have players participating in the individual competition only.
Because of the large field, there are morning and afternoon waves the first two rounds with LSU in the late-early waves Friday and Saturday.
LSU will play with Washington and Arizona State beginning at 2:40 p.m. CT on Friday and then at 10:25 a.m. CT on Saturday. The final round on Sunday will be a shotgun start for all teams at 10:30 a.m. CT.
As part of this event, the tournament has a “PlayForHer” theme as part of a campaign to raise funds for breast cancer research. Last year’s event raised $290,000. This year’s event is dedicated to Arizona State Head Coach Missy Farr-Kaye and her late sister, Heather Farr. Heather was diagnosed at the age of 23 and lose her battle five years later. Coach Missy is a two-time survivor of breast cancer.
All funds will be given directly to Dr. Allison Kurian and the Stanford Breast Cancer Center. To participate, https://app.99pledges.com/fund/playforher24 and donations can be made for each individual golf program.
Live scoring for the event can be found at the Scoreboard by Clippd site scoreboard.clippd.com.