COLUMBUS, OHIO – The LSU women’s golf team, for the second time in three years, came from outside the cut line on the final day to advance to a school record fifth consecutive NCAA Championship after finishing fifth in the NCAA Columbus Regional at the Scarlet Course of Ohio State University.
LSU posted a final round of 1-over 289 and that put the Tigers into the fifth and final qualifying spot at 18-over par 882, four shots ahead of Houston in sixth with Kent State another three shots back. SMU, which started the day in fifth place, fell to eighth at 890.
LSU put themselves in position with their play on the four par fives on the par 72 course, with the five players posting 12 under par on those holes, including a 133-yard slam dunk eagle by Taylor Riley on the par 5 12th hole.
“Our whole year we have always focused on the par fives,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “Alexis (asst. coach Alexis Rather) and I talked about we did not play them very well in the first two rounds. Had way too many bogeys, and so we really put an emphasis on that today and they did well. They made a bunch of birdies on them and we needed them. So that was definitely a crucial point to today’s round. That’s huge.”
While the first four spots were pretty well locked in (Kansas, Arkansas, Ohio State, UNLV), the fifth spot was up for grabs opening with SMU at +16, LSU and Kent State at +17 and Houston at +20. SMU, LSU and Kent State were switching the lead back and forth early on with SMU and LSU in the same wave and Kent State and Houston playing the wave behind the Tigers and Mustangs.
The lead turned on LSU’s final nine holes, the front nine, when LSU posted four birdies on the par 4 fourth and two more on the par five sixth. Meanwhile, SEC freshman of the year Rocio Tejedo was posting birdies on the fourth, the par 3 fifth and the sixth to put LSU into the fifth spot for good.
Kent State still had two par 5s to play on the back nine but couldn’t keep pace and although LSU’s lead stayed at one shot for more than an hour, in the end it widened out as the Tigers played solidly coming in.
“Some regionals are more stressful than others,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “This one was certainly more stressful, but I had a confidence in our team. They had been playing good all year. The second round felt more like a fluke than anything else, just really cold, windy, wet conditions. I knew going into today, if we just did what we’ve done all year, our final round has been our best round and that we would have a chance. Thankfully this time we were on the right side.
“The mood last night (by the team) was really good. They were positive and felt good going into the day which gave me a calmness as well. I wish sometimes they wouldn’t make it as stressful on the coach, but I’m just real proud of the way that they played the back nine (the front nine of Wednesday’s round). We got off to probably not the best start, and they just get fighting and were tough.”
LSU, the day before, counted 12-over par on holes 10, 11 and 12 and today the counting scores played those three holes some eight shots better.
Tejedo, whose sister Carla appeared in the first four years of the now five-year streak, will get to showcase her talents in Carlsbad after helping the Tigers cause with a 4-birdie no bogey round of 68. Tejedo turned at 1-under and then added the three consecutive birdies on the front side, her final nine of the day.
Tejedo moved up 13 places on the final day to finish in a group tied for 12th at 1-over par 217 (69-80-68).
Taylor Riley and Elsa Svensson both totaled 1-over 73s with Svensson finishing with three birdies on the day. Riley had one of the more different types of 73 you will see as she struggled with scoring on the first two holes, then posted the eagle on the 12th and two more birdies to turn in 3-over 39.
On the front side, she birdied the par 3 second and the two par fives to shoot 2-under 34 on the final nine holes she played.
Svensson, who had rounds of 69-77-73 finished solo 17th at 3-over par 219.
“Our Freshman of the Year, Rocio, with a bogey free 68 I mean, that is pretty impressive. Taylor just the way she got knocked around, the way she stumbled, to right the ship on the final nine with three birdies and have a counting score was unbelievable and we needed every bit of it,” said Runion.
LSU also posted two rounds of 75 from Aine Donegan and Josefin Widal.
It will be Donegan’s third trip to the national championship at LSU and the second for both Riley and Svensson.
“I’m so very proud that we are going back to La Costa and going back for a fifth year means a lot,” said Coach Runion. “I’m proud of the fact that we’ve gone five years in a row. That’s very important to me. You can’t win the thing if you aren’t there, and fortunately, we’ll be there again. We’ve got good history there, having tied in the stroke play lead there last year with Stanford and making match play. We have some good vibes there and seen the place which will help us with the sense of familiarity and looking forward to going back.”
This will be LSU’s 18th appearance in the NCAA Championship event in its program history dating back to its appearance in the first NCAA Championships in 1982.
NCAA COLUMBUS REGIONAL
Columbus, Ohio – Ohio State Golf Course (Scarlet)
Second Round Team Results (Par 288-864)
Top 50 Teams In NCAA Scoreboard Rankings Listed
1 #23 Kansas – 289-293-276 – 858 -6
2 #2 Arkansas – 282-298-281 – 861 -3
3 #14 Ohio State – 279-303-283 — 865 +1
4 #39 UNLV – 287-294-287 – 868 +4
5 #10 LSU – 284-309-289 – 882 +18
—- did not advance —-
6 #26 Houston – 295-301-290 – 886 +22
7 Kent State – 287-306-296 – 889 +25
8 #35 SMU – 289-303-289 – 890 +26
9 Illinois – 289-311-291 – 891 +27
10 Xavier (Ohio) – 289-310-294 – 893 +29
11 Illinois State – 299-318-305 – 922 +58
12 Oakland – 310-324-308 – 942 +78
Top 10 Individuals (Par 72-216)
Top 125 in NCAA Scoreboard rankings listed
1 Lula Louderbaugh, Kansas – 69-70-65 – 204 -12
T2 #4 Maria Jose Marin, Arkansas – 70-76-66 – 212 -4
T2 #45 Clarisa Temelo, Arkansas – 71-75-66 – 212 -4
4 #84 Toa Yokoyama, UNLV – 72-71-70 – 213 -3
5 #75 Moa Svedenskiold, Houston – 71-72-71 – 214 -2
T6 Emily Odwin, SMU – 69-72-74 – 215 -1
T6 Yurang Li, Illinois – 69-77-69 – 215 -1
T6 #72 Nellie Ong, Ohio State – 66-77-72 – 215 -1
T6 #91 Faith Choi, Ohio State – 69-78-68 – 215 -1
T10 #11 Kary Hollenbaugh, Ohio State – 75-71-70 – 216 E
T10 #14 Kendall Todd, Arkansas – 67-74-75 – 216 E
LSU Scores
T12 #19 Rocio Tejedo – 69-80-68 – 217 +1
17 #94 Elsa Svensson – 69-77-73 – 219 +3
T26 #50 Aine Donegan – 72-75-75 – 222 +6
T35 #116 Taylor Riley – 74-79-73 – 226 +10
T41 #99 Josefin Widal – 74-78-75 – 227 +11