LSU Makes Most of 'Moving Day' at NCAA Women's Golf Regionals; Third Going to Final Round

WACO, Texas – LSU made the most of “moving day” in the NCAA Waco Women’s Golf Regional, posting the second-best score of the day and an LSU postseason record of 8-under par 272 to move up to third after 36 holes of the 54-hole event.

LSU’s three-position jump in the standings put the Tigers in the opening wave off the first tee in Wednesday’s final round, as the Tigers join leader SMU and second-place Texas A&M as the only three teams under par through 36 holes.

The Tigers are trying to advance for a school-record sixth-straight NCAA Championships berth in Carlsbad, California, later in the month. The top five from each of the six regional tournaments advance. LSU at 1-under 559 for 36 holes is seven shots clear of the fifth-place tie with Baylor and Tulsa at 566.

SMU posted an 11-under 269 to lead at 14-under 546, with Texas A&M at 8-under 554. LSU is five shots back at 1-under 559, which is four shots ahead of Oregon at 563 (280-283, +3). Host Baylor jumped back into a tie with Tulsa at 6-over 566. Tennessee is seventh at 8-over 568 with TCU at 11-over 571.

The tournament now appears to be among six teams for the final three NCAA qualifying spots.

The LSU round, which is the lowest under-par round LSU has shot in an NCAA regional (previously 5 under in round three in 2024 and round one in 2022), had a lot of important moments, none more than LSU’s play on its final few holes – the sixth, seventh and eight – where LSU was 6-over Monday.

Tuesday, the Tigers went through that stretch in even par for the four counting scores.

“Those were a couple of the harder holes,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion regarding the three par four holes. “Today we had two birdies and two bogeys which I’ll take that every time.”

Also, after LSU struggled Monday on the starting 10th hole par five and the finishing par-five ninth, the Tigers posted three birdies on both the par 5s on Tuesday.

“We played them over par Monday and today we got off to a good start on a par five with three birdies on the first hole. I think we had five birdies on our first three holes. So we got off to a great start and really kept that momentum going all day long on a scorable day. We needed it. I told them every shot that we save today will help us (Wednesday). They put us in a position to have a good day Wednesday and hopefully advance,” said Runion.

It proved to be a total team effort that featured three under-par scores and an even-par finish.

Freshman Ryleigh Knaub, who bogeyed four-of-the-first five holes to begin the tournament, was one of those who birdied both par 5s and finished with five birdies in a 4-under par round of 66. It was her third 4-under par round as a Tiger.

“I guess I just went in with zero expectations,” Knaub said after the round. “I know my game, and I just tried to play to the best of my ability. I knew it would work out. I think I missed one fairway all day. It was very different than (Monday). I think I hit like seven fairways. So huge difference. I could aim at pins and be aggressive.”

Knaub is at 1-over 141 for two rounds, moving up 26 spots to a tie for 18th place.

Sophomore Francesco Fiorellini continued her steady play after Monday’s 3-under 67 in the opening round with a 2-under round of 68 to stand in a tie for the individual lead in the tournament at 5-under par 135 (67-68). She is tied with Vanessa Borovilos of Texas A&M (66-69) and Kirra St. Laurent of SMU (71-64).

Fiorellini had a clean card with a birdie on the par-3 16th hole and the par-4 second hole, for the second straight day on the latter.

LSU also counted a rebounding 2-under round of 68 from senior Taylor Riley, who posted five birdies to move up 18 spots in the standings after opening with a 75. Her round featured birdies on the par-3 fifth and the sixth hole on her second nine to get under par for the day.

It all proved to be a total team effort for the Tigers after Elsa Svensson birdied the ninth hole, her 18th, to get to 1-over for the day and assure that nothing over +1 would count for the team in the play 5, count 4 format. This allowed Josefin Widal to go for the green in two. Widal finished just over the green and two-putted for birdie to get LSU in one shot better with her even-par 70.

Scoring for the round was about two strokes lower on Tuesday at 71.45. LSU is tied for the field lead in par-3 scoring at 2-under par (2.95), with LSU T3 at 4.08 in par-four scoring. LSU moved up after its play on the two par 5s to T3 at 4.90. LSU is tied for the tournament lead in birdies with 33.

Both Fiorellini and Knaub are T3 on the par 3 holes at 2.75, while Fiorellini is T2 on the par 4 holes at 3.88. Svensson and Riley lead the team with seen birdies.

Coach Runion knows the stress of the regional’s final round having watched his Tigers have to come from outside the top five in two of the past three years.

“The message (Wednesday) is the gas pedal is on the right,” he said. “We’ve got to keep going. We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves and start thinking about it. It’s so cliche, but one shot at a time. Control what you can control. But the message is, just keep fighting and just try and keep the energy high and see if we can do it. We’ve been in this situation where we’ve been a lot of strokes inside the cut line. We’ve been outside the cut line and fought our way in. So there’s a lot of belief there and expectations that they will play well and advance.”

LSU’s round begins on hole one Wednesday at 8 a.m. CT. Live scoring is available at scoreboard.clippd.com.

NCAA Waco Regional
Ridgewood Country Club – Waco, Texas
Second Round Team Results (Par 280-560)
NCAA Rankings in Parenthesis

1 SMU (No. 21) – 277-269 – 546 -14
2 Texas A&M (No. 4) – 280-274 – 554 -6
3 LSU (No. 36) – 287-272 – 559 -1
4 Oregon (No. 8) – 280-283 – 563 +3
T5 Baylor (No. 26) – 288-278 – 566 +6
T5 Tulsa (No. 49) – 286-280 – 566 +6
7 Tennessee (No. 16) – 282-286 – 568 +8
8 TCU (No. 42) – 295-276 – 571 +11
9 Tarleton State – 290-290 – 580 +20
10 Colorado – 292-291 – 583 +23
11 Prairie View A&M – 319-300 – 619 +59
12 Northern Arizona – 296-N/A

Individual Top 5 (Par 70-140)
T1 Vanessa Borovilos, Texas A&M (No. 11) – 66-69 – 135 -5
T1 Francesca Fiorellini, LSU (No. 70) – 67-68 – 135 -5
T1 Kirra St. Laurent, SMU – 71-64 – 135 -5
4 Kiara Romero, Oregon (No. 3) – 66-70 – 136 -4
5 Samantha Olson, Tulsa – 70-67 – 137 -3

LSU Scores
T1 Francesca Fiorellini – 67-68 – 135 -5
T18 Ryleigh Knaub – 75-66 – 141 +1
T23 Josefin Widal – 72-70 – 142 +2
T26 Taylor Riley – 75-68 – 143 +3
T31 Elsa Svensson – 73-71 – 144 +4