Tigers With Strong Third In Clemson Invitational Golf; Riley, Donegan Finish Top 10

BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers posted their lowest 54-hole total since the fall of 2023 Sunday when they finished the Clemson Invitational at The Reserve at Lake Keowee in Sunset, South Carolina in third place at 26-under par 838.

For the Tigers, it was the final regular season event before postseason events begin.

The teams concluded the 54-hole event with the final nine holes of the tournament on Sunday morning after starting the third round on Saturday with bad weather expected on Sunday.

LSU posted rounds of 8-under 280 on Friday, 6-under 282 on Saturday in the full second round and ended play on Saturday at 8-under through nine holes. The Tigers, ranked No. 11 in the Scoreboard by Clippd NCAA performance rankings, finished the round at 12-under par 276 for a 54-hole total of 838.

Every player LSU had on the course on Sunday, including individual player Edit Hertzman shot under par on the final round of the tournament.

LSU’s 276 is T10 all-time for a single round and the 838 is the T6 lowest all-time by an LSU team

Ohio State won the tournament with a score of 45-under par 819 with Arkansas second at 35-under 829. LSU was followed by Tennessee in fourth at 845.

Junior Taylor Riley had her second top 10 of the season with three-under par rounds as she returned to form after a bit of a struggle in LSU’s last start. Riley shot rounds of 69-69 in the first two rounds and had five birdies in the Saturday-Sunday split nines of the final round for 2-under 70 to post 8-under 208 to finish in a tie for eighth in the individual competition.

Senior Aine Donegan had the first 5-under round of any LSU player this season with a 5-under 67 with six birdies on her card. She finished with rounds of 70-72-67 for a three-round total of 7-under 209 and a T10 finish.

“It was a solid tournament,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “It was kind of weird playing nine holes (Sunday) but they came out with a hot start. You have to tip your hat to Ohio State and Arkansas who played very well. Very solid for our final tournament before SECs and the postseason. Taylor played unbelievable and a great bounce back after her last tournament and Aine played a very solid round. Our goal was to come out and have even par or better as our drop score and we accomplished that with 1-under as our drop score. We have two weeks before SECs so we have a little break and then get after it.”

Along with Riley and Donegan, LSU had a 3-under 69 from freshman Rocio Tejedo (4 birdies) and senior Elsa Svensson had five birdies in a 2-under 70s for the counting scores. Svensson also had three-under par rounds of 71-71-70 for 4-under par 212 in the tournament.

Freshman Josefin Widal was the non-counting score but still turned in a nice round of 1-under 71 with four birdies.

Hertzman, playing as an individual, had five birdies and an eagle Saturday on the par 5 fifth hole to also shoot 5-under par 67, equaling Donegan’s season low round for the Tigers.

The Tigers finished T1 in par 3 scoring at 5-under par and third in par 4 scoring at -8. The team was third in the tournament in birdies at 58, second in pars (182) and had the second fewest bogeys of any team with 25 (including just four counting in the final round). Riley had 14 birdies, Donegan 13 and Svensson 12.

The LSU team, after dropping off Tejedo at Augusta, Georgia, for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (which starts Wednesday) was to return to Baton Rouge where they will begin preparations for the SEC Championship in Belleair, Florida at Pelican Golf Club beginning on April 14.

Clemson Invitational
Sunset, South Carolina — The Reserve at Lake Keowee
Final Team Results (Par 288-864)
1 No. 24 Ohio State – 275-272-272 – 819 -45
2 No. 2 Arkansas – 279-282-268 – 829 -35
3 No. 11 LSU – 280-282-276 – 838 -26
4 No. 32 Tennessee – 278-282-285 – 845 -19
5 No. 33 SMU – 276-282-290 – 848 -16
6 Louisville – 285-281-283 – 849 -15
T7 No. 15 Ole Miss – 294-282-278 – 854 -10
T7 No. 38 Clemson – 296-283-275 – 854 -10
9 Maryland – 291-286-282 – 859 -5
10 Miami – 288-284-290 – 862 -2
11 No. 23 Michigan State — 295-288-280 – 863 -1
12 Harvard — 301-286-285 – 872 +8
13 Penn State — 303-288-288 – 879 +15
14 UNCW – 298-295-288 – 881 +17
15 Nebraska – 304-399-288 – 891 +27

Individual Top 5 (Par 72-216)
1 Kary Hollenbaugh, Ohio State – 68-68-64 – 200 -16
2 Kendall Todd, Arkansas – 71-69-61 – 201 -15
3 Caitlyn Macnab, Ole Miss – 69-67-68 – 204 -12
4 Marina Joyce, Ohio State – 69-69-67 – 205 -11
5 Marina Jose Marin, Arkansas – 69-71-66 – 206 -10

LSU Scores
T8 Taylor Riley – 69-69-70 – 208 -8
T10 Aine Donegan – 70-72-67 – 209 -7
T24 Elsa Svensson – 71-71-70 – 212 -4
T28 Rocio Tejedo – 70-74-69 – 213 -3
T33 Josefin Widal – 74-70-71 – 215 -1
58 Edit Hertzman – 79-76-67 – 222 +6