Tigers Make First Cut Of NCAA Women's Golf Championships; Svensson T4

CARLSBAD, California – The LSU Tigers posted a counting 3-under par on the final nine holes of Sunday’s third round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships when they most needed it to advance through the first team cut to the final round of stroke play on Monday at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa’s North Course.

The Tigers finished the Sunday round with their best of the event at 2-over 290 to finish 54 holes at 16-over par 880. LSU is in 13th place but makes the cut to 15 teams for Monday’s round by four shots.

LSU started the round a couple shots out of the top 15 in 17th place and was right on the cut line after turning in 5-over par with just two birdies and a couple of double bogeys.

But Elsa Svenson, who entered the round at 4-under par for the tournament, turned with a score of 1-over for the first nine holes. But she started the back nine with birdies on the par 5 10th and the par 4 11th to move under par for the round. After a bogey on the 14th, she made a long birdie putt on the par 3 16th hole and then birdied the par 4 17th to finish at 2-under par 70.

For 54 holes, the LSU senior is at 6-under par 210 after rounds of 68-72-70 and in a group tied for fourth place. Maria Jose Marin of Arkansas, ranked sixth in the NCAA, took the lead with a 7-under par 65 to stand at 9-under 207, one shot clear of Paula Martin Sampedro of Stanford at 8-under 208. Kelly Xu of Stanford is at 7-under 209.

The Tigers on the final nine holes got even par scores of 36 from Taylor Riley, Rocio Tejedo and Josefin Widal to assure the Tigers of making what would be their fifth consecutive top 15 cut in what is now their school record fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships.

Riley had two birdies to offset two bogeys, while Tejedo and Widal had one birdie and a bogey in their final nines.

Riley had five birdies in her even par round of 72, while Tejedo and Widal both came home at 2-over 74.

“You have got to give a ton of credit to Elsa,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “She had four birdies on the back nine, shooting 33, including two birdies in her last three holes. The other three counting scores all shooting even par on the back nine. Three-under as a team. It’s huge. I mean, 13 and 14 were two of the hardest holes out here on the course today and we played those holes well, and then the finish, when we knew what we had to shoot, we knew what we needed to do, and they stepped up and did it.”

LSU started the round from behind in some respects as they counted 5-over on the par 4 first and par 5 second.

“A lot of credit to Taylor Riley who double bogeys the second hole and comes back and makes four birdies and she’s even par for the day,” said Runion. “It’s just huge for her. We needed it. Rocio, another one that double bogeyed the second hole and came back and shot even par from there, two over total. Josefin, another freshman, was steady as she can be and posted a meaningful round that counted for us. They played disciplined golf today. They played smart golf and did not let the moment get too big for them, and they went and took it and I’m very excited to be playing again on the fourth day.”

Stanford, the No. 1 team, pretty much secured the No. 1 seed for match play after shooting an NCAA Championship single round record 18-under 270 to go to 23-under par 841 for 54 holes. The Cardinal are 15 shots clear of second place No. 11 Northwestern at 856. Oregon in third is the only other team under par at 2-under 862.

The eighth spot, which will be the cut line for Monday’s final stroke play round is at 8-over par 872 held by South Carolina. The Tigers will enter Monday’s round eight shots off eighth place in 13th place. The Tigers advanced last year to match play in the top eight for the first time in school history.

But you can’t play for eighth if you aren’t in the top 15 on Monday.

“(The team) wasn’t worried about making the top 15,” said Coach Runion. “They were focused on making the top eight, which means you know you’ve got the right group of ladies. When they want more than just sliding in. Now we’ve got a chance to go make the top eight, and we are feeling good. We’ll need to play one of our better rounds. I’m very proud of the fact that when we needed a round, we played our best round of the tournament when it counted most and that keeps our season going.”

LSU is expected to go off the first hole Monday at 10:30 a.m. PDT (12:30 p.m. Baton Rouge time) with UCLA and Mississippi State, the two teams that tied for the 14th spot.

The round on Monday will be televised live on the Golf Channel beginning at 3 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. Baton Rouge time). Steve Burkowski, Karen Stupples and Jim Gallagher, Jr., will be in the announce booth with Emilia Migliaccio Doran and Julia Johnson as on course reporters. Brentley Romine will handle interviews.

Live scoring can also be found at Scoreboard.Clippd.com at the NCAA Women’s Championship tab. Updates on “X” @LSUwomensgolf and @LSUKent.

NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
Carlsbad, California – OMNI La Costa Resort & Spa
Third Round Team Results (Par 288-864)
Top 15 Teams Advance To Monday’s Final Stroke Play Round
NCAA Scoreboard Performance Rankings
1 #1 Stanford 293-278-270 – 841 -23
2 #11 Northwestern 291-285-280 – 856 -8
3 #5 Oregon 288-289-285 – 862 -2
4 #9 Southern California 292-287-285 – 864 E
T5 #4 Florida State 295-284-288 – 867 +3
T5 #2 Arkansas 297-290-280 – 867 +3
7 #6 Texas 288-293-288 – 869 +5
8 #3 South Carolina 297-286-289 – 872 +8
9 #8 Arizona State 288-294-293 – 875 +11
T10 #10 Virginia 294-293-289 – 876 +12
T10 #31 Tennessee 291-297-288 – 876 +12
12 #25 Oklahoma State 284-297-297 – 878 +14
13 #12 LSU 293-297-290 – 880 +16
T14 #28 UCLA 295-294-293 – 882 +18
T14 #18 Mississippi State 294-286-302 – 882 +18
———
16 #24 Vanderbilt 282-306-296 – 884 +20
17 #22 Florida 288-301-296 – 885 +21
18 #23 Michigan State 294-303-291 – 888 +24
T19 #7 Wake Forest 304-298-288 – 890 +26
T19 #27 Kansas State 289-301-300 – 890 +26
21 #21 Kansas 297-304-294 – 895 +31
T22 #29 Iowa State 306-294-296 – 896 +32
T22 #33 Oklahoma 302-297-297 – 896 +32
T24 #32 Georgia Southern 295-313-292 – 900 +36
T24 #13 Ohio State 295-297-308 – 900 +36
26 #41 Purdue 303-304-299 – 906 +42
27 #14 Ole Miss 301-303-303 – 907 +43
28 #35 UNLV 310-301-299 – 910 +46
29 Cal State Fullerton 308-301-301 – 910 +46
30 #37 Baylor 296-311-304 – 911 +47

Individual Top 5 (Par 72-216)
1 #6 Maria Jose Marin, Arkansas – 70-72-65 – 207 -9
2 #9 Paula Martin Sampedro, Stanford – 73-68-67 – 208 -8
3 #29 Kelly Xu, Stanford – 72-69-68 – 209 -7
T4 #22 Catherine Park, Southern California – 68-72-70 – 210 -6
T4 #91 Elsa Svensson, LSU – 68-72-70 – 210 -6
T4 #1 Mirabel Tang, Florida State – 70-71-69 – 210 -6

LSU Scores
T4 Elsa Svensson – 68-72-70 – 210 -6
T45 Rocio Tejedo – 74-73-74 – 221 +5
T76 Taylor Riley – 75-77-72 – 224 +8
T108 Josefin Widal – 76-78-74 – 228 +12
T120 Aine Donegan – 76-75-78 – 229 +13