CARLSBAD, California – Coach Garrett Runion has stated many times about building not just a good team, but a long-lasting elite program that showcases top women’s collegiate golfers at LSU.
That has meant spending mid-May at the NCAA Division I Championships, first in Scottsdale, Arizona and now in Carlsbad, California.
For the fifth consecutive year, the No. 12 ranked LSU Tigers will be a part of the national championship event which begins here on Friday at the OMNI La Costa Resort and Spa. It is the second of five years that the event will be held at this iconic golf course.
LSU is one of nine teams in the tournament that has appeared in the last five NCAA Championships. For the Tigers, who entered the 2024-25 season with some new pieces who stepped in after the departure of Ingrid Lindblad, Latanna Stone and Carla Tejedo, the year has shown how this program has continued on another journey to this event.
In fact, this fifth straight appearance is a school record, topping the four straight of 1998-2001 and last year’s fourth consecutive appearance.
“That means we have a pretty good program and a consistent program, and I think it’s hard to beat consistency,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion, in his seventh year directing the women’s program. “It’s hard to make it (to the Championships). I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve made it to the national championship the last five years. I think it’s big for the ladies, too, because you have Aine (Donegan) and Taylor (Riley) who were here last year, and then we have three that are here for the first time (at La Costa) and it’s neat here them.
“The freshmen watch us on TV last year, so they saw different shots and Aine and Taylor could relay how they played it and what they shot or saw. So being here for a fifth consecutive year is very meaningful and we look forward to extending that streak next year.”
The Tigers had a win and in all seven top three finishes during the year, scoring a T1 in the prestigious Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in March and second in the stroke play in the SEC Championships. Most importantly, they showed the determination to play from behind in the final round of the NCAA Columbus Regional, posting 9-under on the four par 5s to rally to get the fifth and final qualifying spot to this event.
For senior Donegan, it will be her third appearance in the championship for the Tigers making her one of 12 golfers in the women’s program history to have appeared in at least three championship events. Junior Riley and senior Elsa Svensson will both be making their second appearance in the championships. Riley was on last year’s team that advanced to match play for the first time and Svensson was part of the 2022 event.
LSU rounds out the lineup with two freshman who have made their mark in their opening season. Spanish native Rocio Tejedo earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors and Sweden’s Josefin Widal made her playing ability known in the spring portion of the season.
Donegan finished T4 in the Championships a year ago, highlighted by a round of 5-under 67. This will be her final collegiate event for the Tigers after a stellar three-year career which included two U.S. Women’s Open appearances and a Curtis Cup triumph with GB&I.
Both Donegan and Svensson, who will return for her fifth season of college golf in 2025-26, would have received their diplomas on Friday but will be teeing off in the opening round of the tournament.
Riley and Tejedo both finished T2 in the SEC Championships at 5-under 205 and Widal won her first collegiate title at the Tulane Classic in the spring.
Last year the team tied for first in the 72-hole stroke play qualifying and advanced to match play for the first time in the match play era, falling 3-2 to Oregon in the quarterfinals. LSU’s best ever finish came in the 2011 and 2012 events when the Tigers finished third both years in the 72-hole stroke play format.
It is a bit satisfying for this team to get back to the championships with this particular group.
“Every year is special to make it here but this is a little more meaningful. I think a lot of people probably had a question mark around us whether we could do it when we lost three great players in Ingrid, Latanna and Carla,” said Runion. “So there is a sense of satisfaction making it back and I think the players that we have had a little chip on their shoulder to kind of prove we’re good and we can make it there.
“It’s not a knock on Ingrid, Latanna and Carla at all. It’s just sometimes you have got to turn the page and keep moving on and we didn’t want the program to slip. The players knew there was a standard set and they had to meet that standard and keep it going.”
The team played their practice round Thursday over the Resort’s North Course which has had a year to season after just opening in the weeks ahead of last year’s championship. The course underwent a major renovation to bring back its championship qualities to a site that hosted the PGA Tournament of Champions for many years.
Early reports are that many of the greens are more receptive this year to holding good shots but there is still a lot of danger on the par 4 15th in which all three sides of the green roll off into water and the famed par 3 16th hole back over the water.
The course will again play to a par of 72 and a max distance of 6,330 with alternate yardages possible on some 10 holes. There are some new tee box locations that the rules committee can use if they wish.
“It is always nice to come back to the course you’ve seen,” Runion said of OMNI La Costa. “The rough doesn’t seem as thick, the big stuff (the fescue) seems thick. The greens are a little bit more receptive. The course looks good. It’s had a year to grow in and be more mature. They have added some different tees, which will give a lot more options to how they set up the course and how it is played.”
The teams in seed order in the waves they will play in (with NCAA Scoreboard by Clippd rankings);
1 Stanford (1), 2 Arkansas (2), 3 South Carolina (3)
4 Florida State (4), 5 Oregon (5), 6 Texas (6)
7 Wake Forest (7), 8 Arizona State (8), 9 Southern California (9)
10 Virginia (10), 11 Northwestern (11), 12 LSU (12)
13 Ohio State (13), 14 Ole Miss (14), 15 Mississippi State (18)
16 Kansas (21), 17 Florida (22), 18 Michigan State (23)
19 Vanderbilt (24), 20 Oklahoma State (25), 21 Kansas State (27)
22 UCLA (28), 23 Iowa State (29), 24 Tennessee (31)
25 Ga. Southern (32), 26 Oklahoma (33), 27 UNLV (35)
28 Baylor (37), 29 Purdue (41), 30 Cal State Fullerton (69)
The Tigers are in the preferred afternoon-morning waves the first two days (1st 15 seeds), going off the first tee at 1:07 p.m. PDT (3:07 p.m. CDT) on Friday. On Saturday, the Tigers are in the second wave off hole 10 at 7:47 a.m. PDT (9:47 a.m. CDT).
The first cut in the tournament comes after the third round on Sunday from 30 to 15 teams. On Monday, the individual championship and the eight teams that advance to match play are decided with match play quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday and the championship match on Wednesday.
The Golf Channel will have live coverage of play starting on Monday beginning at 3 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. CDT).
Live scoring for the event can be found at Scoreboard.clippd.com and the NCAA Women’s Championship tab. Updates during the round @LSUwomensgolf and @LSUKent.