Former LSU Golfer Carla Tejedo Finishes T5 In Debut As LPGA Member

BATON ROUGE – Former LSU golfer Carla Tejedo, in her first tournament as an official member of the LPGA, had an outstanding debut, finishing in a tie for fifth in the LPGA Fortinet Founders Cup at the Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club in Menlo Park, Calif.

Tejedo, who played at LSU from 2020-24, appeared in four NCAA Championships, earning All-America honors in 2022 and a top 10 finish in the NCAA Championships in 2024, earned LPGA status based on her season finish on the 2025 Epson Tour.

Tejedo, from Spain, was part of a group of seven players that finished in a tie for fifth at 10-under par 278. Tejedo had a consistent day, shooting rounds of 70-69-69-70.

The former LSU star hit 40-of-56 fairways (71.4 percent) in the tournament and hit 53-of-72 greens in regulation (73.6 percent) over the four days. Her average driving distance for the tournament was 272.0 yards.

Her first check as an LPGA member: $83,772 for the fifth-place tie.

Tejedo, in the LPGA Quotes area, offered the following thoughts after her debut:

Q. All right, joining us after the final round of the Fortinet Founders Cup is Carla Tejedo Mulet. Carla, currently in the top 10 in your first ever LPGA event. Just how are you feeling after this week?

CARLA TEJEDO MULET: Just crazy. You come without having expectations. I was just coming to have fun and do the best I can. Obviously having my parents here is a huge thing for me. They flew all the way from Spain.

It’s been a really emotional and fun week. I haven’t done anything different. I’ve just been myself, and I think all the work that I’ve been doing in the offseason is working out; hopefully it keeps working.

But I was coming into this week just mainly to have fun, see if it I could get a good result, and maybe get into the next week.

So hopefully I stay in that top 10 while they finish so I don’t have to play (Monday) morning in Phoenix. So just mainly about enjoying, and, yeah, I think it worked out pretty decently.

Q. Four subpar rounds on a course that wasn’t going low for everyone. Can you just talk about what you felt like was going specifically well on the course?

CARLA TEJEDO MULET: Well, I’ve been doing a lot of work on my putting and like short game, so I think that is a key thing in this golf course, knowing how to read the putts really well.

You can get some tricky, tricky breaks. Also the rough here takes — I would say it’s nearly a half a stroke penalty. I don’t think everybody is ready for that.

So we did a lot of work, my caddie, Juan, and me, on the chipping green a couple days ago and before the event … I think that kind of helped. I think the key is being good around the greens.

Also like hitting as many fairways as you can is a big thing. If you’re starting off in the rough it’s half a stroke penalty.

I think I did that very well. Did miss probably every single day the 18th fairway, but that’s just part of it because of the nerves.

Q. Obviously we had some good crowds out here. Can you talk a little bit about the support you feel from the fans out here at this course and on the LPGA?

CARLA TEJEDO MULET: Yeah, it’s unbelievable. People think people don’t support women’s golf. That’s not what I’ve seen this week. It’s unbelievable the amount of people that is here this weekend. It’s unreal. I was a bit tense about it because I’ve never played in such a big crowd. I don’t mind it. I actually love people. I’m open for it.

But being in the Epson Tour for the last year it’s just not the same type of crowds. Even if it’s people it’s probably your parents. So I’m loving it. I love the people. I love there is kids here, and I hope they take this as motivation. I’m just so happy women’s golf is growing.

Q. Looking to the rest of your rookie season, can you talk about any goals or if this has given you confidence to conquer the rest of the season?

CARLA TEJEDO MULET: Has given me a lot of confidence and hopefully stays that way. Having conditional status at the beginning of the year I wasn’t sure what goals or what to expect from this.

Everybody talks about how tough it is being on the Epson Tour from 11 to 15 in the points in the Money List. I think you just have to embrace it. I’m so privileged to have that opportunity. Even if it’s a little, I’ll take any bit of it.

So I just didn’t have a lot of goals. Just hopefully keep my card here. Have love of fun. Meet a lot of people. Play some good courses. I mean, this one is unreal already. So kind of ready for it. Excited.