Elsa Svensson Posts 4 Under 68 In Opening NCAA Championship Round; Tigers T11

CARLSBAD, California – LSU senior women’s golfer Elsa Svensson fired a 4-under par opening round of 68 Friday afternoon in the NCAA Division I Championships at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course.

Svensson is one of three golfers T2 after the first 18 holes of play, one shot behind leader Bailey Davis of Tennessee, who posted a 5-under 67 in the morning wave on Friday.

Svensson had three front nine birdies on the par 4 357-yard first hole, the par 4 351-yard fourth hole and the par 4 370-yard fifth hole. Her only blemish on the front nine was a bogey on the par 3 eighth hole, turning in 2-under 34.

The Swede made some good putts on the final nine holes recording birdies on the par 4 386-yard 14th and the signature hole, the par 3 16th hole over water after an approach shot left her a nice eight-footer for birdie.

In all, Svensson had five birdies and just one bogey on the afternoon over the par 72, 6,297-yard layout for round one on a day when the scoring average was at 74.72. Svensson led the field of 156 players in par 4 scoring at 3.60 and was T7 in the field in birdies made.

““I was hitting it pretty good off the tee today,” said Svensson after the round. “I didn’t get into any troubles. I had a little bit of trouble with my irons, but not too bad. But when I got the chance, I made a putt. I made some huge par putts on the back nine as well, so I kept it easy today.”

Svensson’s round of 68 was tied for the sixth lowest individual round by an LSU player in the NCAA Championships.

As several teams found out on Friday, the preferred Friday afternoon wave turned extremely difficult at times as a constant wind, that was strong for most of the round, caused the greens to firm up and made scoring a little more difficult.

The Tigers came out of the round in good shape, standing at 5-over par 293, and in a tie for 11th place. LSU will play again on Saturday, this time in the early wave and the Tigers and most of the teams that played late Friday hope for calm conditions for the second 18.

It was a round that had its ebbs and flows for LSU, getting off the strong start with four birdies on the opening hole. LSU had nine birdies in the first six holes, but did not get another one until the 14th hole by Svensson. That was also the time when the sun disappeared in the marine layer and the winds kicked up to their strongest.

But LSU got four birdies coming home and counted 1-under in what Coach Garrett Runion has always called the important “final five holes.”

“It’s the first quarter,” Runion said after the round. “The leaders teed off in the morning and it was definitely more gettable in the morning. We played in the afternoon and it played a little bit harder in the wind and the greens firmed up. We got off to a dream start with four birdies and played really solidly the first six holes. The middle six we didn’t make any birdies in that stretch and kind of gave a few back. But our final five we played 1-under and those holes are tricky as well.

“So overall, we started great and finished good and just need to clean up a little bit in the middle. But hats off to Elsa. She played unbelievable today. She kept us in it. Just a couple of drives here and there, we gave a few back, but it is a solid start and we look to go to the tee early Saturday morning and get after it.”

As night fell, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State from the morning wave were 1-2 with Vandy at 6-under 282 and Oklahoma State at 4-under 284. Arizona State, Oregon and Texas (all afternoon wave) and Florida (morning wave) were at even par 288. Kansas State is seventh at 1-over with Tennessee eighth at 3-over 291 tied with Northwestern. Southern California was tenth at 4-over 292 with LSU tied with Stanford in 11th.

After one round, the top 15 includes nine afternoon wave teams and six from the morning wave.

Individually, 26 golfers broke par on the opening day in the field of 156.

LSU also counted a 2-over 74 from freshman Rocio Tejedo with junior Taylor Riley in at 3-over 75. Both freshman Josefin Widal and Aine Donegan finished with 4-over 76.

The Tigers are in the second grouping off the 10th tee on Saturday beginning at 7:47 a.m. PDT (9:47 a.m. CDT). A cut will be made to the top 15 teams after Sunday’s third round.

Live scoring will be available on the Scoreboard.clippd.com web site and the NCAA Women’s Championship tab.

NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA – OMNI LA COSTA RESORT & SPA
FIRST ROUND TEAM RESULTS (Par 288)
NCAA Scoreboard Ranking by School Name
1 #24 Vanderbilt – 282 -6
2 #25 Oklahoma State – 284 -4
3 #8 Arizona State – 288 E
3 #5 Oregon – 288 E
3 #6 Texas – 288 E
3 #22 Florida – 288 E
7 #27 Kansas State – 289 +1
8 #31 Tennessee – 291 +3
8 #11 Northwestern – 291 +3
10 #9 Southern California – 292 +4
11 #12 LSU – 293 +5
11 #1 Stanford – 293 +5
13 #23 Michigan State – 294 +6
13 #10 Virginia – 294 +6
13 #18 Mississippi State – 294 +6
16 #13 Ohio State – 295 +7
16 #32 Georgia Southern – 295 +7
16 #28 UCLA – 295 +7
16 #4 Florida State – 295 +7
20 #37 Baylor – 296 +8
21 #21 Kansas – 297 +9
21 #2 Arkansas – 297 +9
21 #3 South Carolina – 297 +9
24 #14 Ole Miss – 301 +13
25 #33 Oklahoma – 302 +14
26 #41 Purdue – 303 +15
27 #7 Wake Forest – 304 +16
28 #29 Iowa State – 306 +18
29 Cal State Fullerton – 308 +20
30 #35 UNLV – 310 +22

Top 5 Individual Scores (Par 72)
1 Bailey Davis, Tennessee – 67 -5
T2 Lauren Kim, Texas – 68 -4
T2 Catherine Park, Southern California – 68 -4
T2 Elsa Svensson, LSU – 68 -4
T5 Jessica Culser, Florida – 67 -3
T5 Tillie Claggett, Vanderbilt – 67 -3
T5 Grave Kilcrease, Oklahoma State – 67 -3
T5 Ava Merrill, Vanderbilt – 67 -3
T5 Avery Weed, Mississippi State – 67 -3

LSU Scores
T2 Elsa Svensson 68 -4
T64 Rocio Tejedo 74 +2
T78 Taylor Riley 75 +3
T98 Josefin Widal 76 +4
T98 Aine Donegan 76 +4