BATON ROUGE – Birdies on the final two holes of play, including one on the 18th hole after a one-hour delay, allowed LSU sophomore Francesca Fiorellini to because the first Tiger women’s golfer to post a school record 9-under 63 in collegiate competition on Monday.
The round came in the opening day of the Golfweek Red Sky Classic at the Red Sky Ranch and Golf Club’s Fazio Course in Wolcott, Colorado.
Fiorellini, who transferred to LSU after her freshman season at UCLA, posted nine birdies and no bogeys to become the first LSU female to shoot 63. She joins five members of the LSU men’s golf team who have posted 9-under 63 rounds in the last 40 years.
The native of Italy opened with birdies on the par 4, 418-yard first hole and then at the par 5, 542-yard second hole. After a couple of pars, she birdied the second par 5 on the front side (Hole 5) and followed up with birdies on the par 4 sixth and par 3 seventh to turn in 5-under 31.
After getting to 6-under par on the 10th hole, the 167-yard par 3, she ran things to 7-under on the par four 14th hole. A couple of more pars followed before a birdie on the par three (136-yard) 17th hole to put her in a tie for the school mark at 8-under par.
After a strong drive on 18, the horn blew and play was halted for about an hour because of lightning in the area.
Once play resume, Fiorellini knocked it to about 30 feet for eagle and dropped in about a four-footer for her ninth birdie and the record.
The round also set the tournament and course record, topping the 8-under 64 by Denver’s Mary Weinstein in round three of the 2018 event.
LSU had previously had four 8-under rounds of 64 shot in school history by three golfers before Monday’s round.
Fiorellini has the obvious tournament lead at -9, three shots ahead of Kylie Chong of Southern California at 6-under par 66. Jeneath Wong of Pepperdine is at 5-under 67 in third.
The 63 by Fiorellini helped LSU to one of its best single team rounds in school history at 14-under par 274. The round tied the third lowest under par round for the Tigers.
Assisting in the success was freshman Ryleigh Knaub of Debary, Florida, who in her first collegiate round for the Tigers brought home a strong 4-under 68. Knaub had four front nine birdies and after bogeying the 16th hole, came right back with a birdie on the par 3 17th to play the final nine holes in even par.
Knaub finished the day in fifth place at 4-under 68.
LSU’s two seniors contributed to the opening score with Taylor Riley coming in with a three-birdie round of 1-under 71 and Elsa Svensson having an even par, two-birdie round of 72.
The Tigers and Pepperdine, playing together in the opening foursome wave of the tournament separated from the field early, opening as much as an eight-shot lead on the 20-team field, swapping the lead back and forth before the Tigers took control of the round in the final hour of play. LSU at 14-under 274 was four shots clear of Pepperdine at 10-under par 278 when the two teams finished.
Southern California, playing late in the day, made a late charge and was able to get into second place over Pepperdine and is actually just two shots behind LSU at 12-under par 276 at the conclusion of the round. Arizona is fourth at 1-under 287.
The second round on Tuesday is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CT and live scoring can be found on Golfstat.com on the red Golfweek Red Sky Classic tab.
Golfweek Red Sky Classic
Red Sky Golf Club (Fazio Course); Wolcott, Colorado
First Round (Par 288)
1 LSU – 274 -14
2 Southern California – 276 -12
3 Pepperdine — 278 -10
4 Arizona – 287 -1
5 Denver – 288 E
T6 UC Irvine – 291 +3
T7 Boise State – 292 +4
T7 Miami – 292 +4
T9 Charlotte – 294 +6
T9 Sacramento State – 294 +6
11 Mercer — 295 +7
12 Campbell — 297 +9
13 Northern Arizona – 298 +10
14 Kansas – 299 +11
15 New Mexico State – 300 +12
16 UNC Asheville – 305 +17
17 Eastern Michigan – 307 +19
18 Little Rock – 308 +20
19 East Tennessee State – 311 +23
20 Jacksonville State – 313 +25
Individual Top 5 (Par 72)
1 Francesca Fiorellini, LSU – 63 -9
2 Kylie Chong, Southern California – 66 -6
3 Jeneath Wong, Pepperdine – 67 -5
3 Jasmine Koo, Southern California – 67 -5
5 Ryleigh Knaub, LSU – 68 -4
LSU Scores
1 Francesca Fiorellini – 63 -9
5 Ryleigh Knaub – 66 -6
T11 Taylor Riley – 71 -1
T22 Elsa Svensson – 72 E
T67 Josefin Widal – 77 +5