LSU's Fiorellini Tied For First After Two Rounds In Colorado
LSU's Francesca Fiorellini birdied the 17th and 18th holes to shoot 72 and is tied for the lead after two rounds at 9-under par.
BATON ROUGE – LSU sophomore Francesca Fiorellini kept her game together on a cool Tuesday afternoon in Wolcott, Colorado and is tied for the lead entering Wednesday’s final round of the Golfweek Red Sky Classic at the Red Sky Ranch and Golf Club.
Fiorellini, just 24 hours after posting a school record 63 in the opening round, didn’t let things get away from her and moved her round back to even at the end with birdies for the second straight day on both the par 3 17th and the par 5 18th holes.
The transfer from UCLA, who had one collegiate title as a freshman, finished her even par 72 round with four birdies and is tied for the lead at 9-under par 135 (63-72).
She is tied for the lead with Southern California’s Jasmine Koo, who had rounds of 67-68. Another USC player, Kylie Chong, is third at 8-under par 136.
The LSU women’s golf team finished the second round in third place in the 20-team field.
LSU as a team posted an 8-over par round of 296 on the cool afternoon Tuesday to stand at 6-under par after 36 holes at 570 (274-296). Southern California, which made a gigantic move late on Monday, continued that on Tuesday and is in the lead at 24-under par after a second straight round of 12-under 276. Pepperdine is second at 12-under par 564.
LSU is nine shot clear of Arizona in fourth (579).
Along with Fiorellini, the Tigers counted two over rounds of 74 from senior Taylor Riley and sophomore Josefin Widal, and a 4-over 76 from Elsa Svensson.
LSU, fifth in the field in par 5 scoring at 5-under par, is third in the field with 35 birdies.
Fiorellini is -2 on the par 3s, -4 on the par 4s and -3 on the par 5 holes. She is in the top three in the field of 100 players in all three categories through 36 holes. Her 13 birdies are second in the tournament field.
The final round is set for a 10:15 a.m. CT shotgun start with the three top players all within site on the first tee as third place Chong will go off in the group right ahead of Koo and Fiorellini. LSU will again play with Southern California, Pepperdine and Arizona starting on holes 1-3.
Live scoring can be found on Golfstat.com at the Red Sky Classic tab.
Golfweek Red Sky Classic
Red Sky Ranch and Golf Club – Wolcott, Colorado
Second Round Team Results – Par 288-576
1 Southern California – 276-276 – 552 -24
2 Pepperdine – 278-286 – 564 -12
3 LSU – 274-296 – 570 -6
4 Arizona – 287-292 – 579 +3
5 UC Irvine – 291-297 – 588 +12
T6 Charlotte — 294-295 – 589 +13
T6 Kansas – 299-290 – 589 +13
8 Miami – 292-298 – 590 +14
9 Eastern Michigan – 307-284 – 591 +13
10 Northern Arizona – 297-295 – 592 +16
T11 Denver – 288-305 – 593 +17
T11 Mercer – 295-298 – 593 +17
13 Sacramento State – 294-303 – 597 +21
14 Boise State – 292-308 – 600 +24
15 UNC Asheville – 305-296 – 601 +25
16 New Mexico State – 300-310 – 610 +34
17 Campbell – 297-315 – 612 +36
18 Jacksonville State – 312-302 – 614 +38
19 East Tennessee State – 311-307 – 618 +42
20 Little Rock – 308-313 – 621 +45
Individual Top 5 (Par 72-144)
T1 Francesca Fiorellini, LSU – 63-72 – 135 -9
T1 Jasmine Koo, Southern California – 67-68 – 135 -9
3 Kylie Chong, Southern California – 66-70 –136 -8
4 Savannah de Bock, Eastern Michigan – 71-67 – 138 -6
5 Jeneath Wong, Pepperdine – 67-72 – 139 -5
LSU Scores
T1 Francesca Fiorellini – 63-72 – 135 -9
T20 Taylor Riley – 71-74 – 145 +1
T33 Elsa Svensson – 72-76 – 148 +4
T49 Josefin Widal – 77-74 – 151 +7
T49 Ryleigh Knaub – 68-83 – 151 +7