LSU With Work To Do Sunday in NCAA Women's Golf Championships

CARLSBAD, California – The LSU women’s golf team finds itself on the wrong side of the cut line after 36 holes Saturday at the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship.

But, as they have demonstrated in regional play and last year in the NCAA third round, they seem to know what they need to do when they step on the OMNI La Costa Resort and Spa North Course on Sunday afternoon.

Coming off a 14-birdie even par round on Friday, LSU was unable to match that with eight birdies with three early double bogeys which led to a second-round total of 13-over 301 to stand at 13-over 589 after 36 holes.

However, just when it looked like things could really be trouble for the Tiger golfers after turning in 9-over par, the team played the final nine holes in just 4-over par. That leaves them very much in the mix to possibly make the 54-hole cut for the sixth year in a row.

The first cut line, which occurs after 54 holes to the top 15 places, is at this moment is at 10-over par 586 and three teams – Texas A&M, Tennessee and Florida State – are at that number. Interestingly enough with the way the tee times are set, only one of those teams based on fifth score tie breaker will play in the morning wave of teams 1-15. The others will be in the afternoon with the teams ranked 16-30.

LSU will enter the round three shots off the number, certainly in easy reach as several teams have come back into play for the 15th qualifying spot.

So it appears the afternoon session could have as much say as the morning wave in determining the 54-hole cut number.

After the teams at 10-over par, North Carolina and Wake Forest are tied for 18th at 11-over with Baylor, Auburn and Virginia next at 12-over. Houston is two shots back of LSU at 15-over par.

Only three teams are under par through the first 36 holes with No. 1 Stanford at 12-under 564, No. 2 Southern California at 9-under par 567 and Oklahoma State at 7-under 569. It is another seven shots back to Iowa State and Arkansas at 576, even par, tied for fourth.

LSU is in 23rd place, but just three shots off the number and will play in the wave that starts at 12:45 p.m. PT (2:45 p.m. Baton Rouge time), off the first tee.

“Tough day for the Tigers, certainly not our best,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “We knew it would be a challenge, teeing off in the afternoon off the back nine, playing that hard stretch of holes on the back nine early in the wind. We tried to right the ship on the front nine and played our back nine better. It still wasn’t our best, but you know anything can happen.

“We’re not out of it, and Sunday we’ve got to believe we can get it done. It helps that we were in the same position last year and we played from the afternoon wave and made our way into the top 15 cut. I made the comment to the team that we didn’t play our best the first day at regionals, and we played great the next two days to make it here, so the likelihood of us playing two rounds not our best is low, and we’ve got one more day to keep our season alive.”

A year ago, the Tigers were in a tie for 17th place, one shot off the number and posted a 2-over round of 290 to advance to the top 15, eventually finishing tenth.

Sophomore Francesca Fiorellini did a great job helping keep LSU in the picture after starting her round four-over through five holes. She played the next 13 holes in 2-under par to get back to 74 for the day, equaling LSU’s low round of the afternoon.

Fiorellini on Friday, started bogey-bogey and played the next 16 holes 1-under par to shoot 1-over 73. She is at 3-over 147 after 36 holes.

The Tigers on the day counted a 3-over 75 from Elsa Svensson and Taylor Riley and a 77 from Ryleigh Knaub. Svensson, who posted a 1-under 71 on Friday, is the top Tiger in the individual standings after 36 holes at 2-over 146, T46.

Live scoring for the championships is at Scoreboard.clippd.com and streaming through Babygrande at GolfChannel.com

NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
Carlsbad, California – OMNI La Costa Resort & Spa North Course
Second Round Team Results (Par 288-576)
1 Stanford (No. 1) – 282-282 – 564 -12
2 Southern California (No. 2) – 281-286 – 567 -9
3 Oklahoma State (No. 21) – 283-286 – 569 -7
T4 Iowa State (No. 17) – 284-292 – 576 E
T4 Arkansas (No. 7) – 286-290 – 576 E
T6 SMU (No. 16) – 288-289 – 577 +1
T6 Duke (No. 10) –291-286 – 577 +1
8 Texas (No. 5) – 288-290 – 578 +2
T9 Eastern Michigan (No. 27) – 286-295 – 581 +5
T9 Arizona State (No. 23) 289-292 – 581 +5
T11 Northwestern (No. 31) – 290-292 – 582 +6
11 Florida (No. 3) 297-285 – 582 +6
13 Missouri (No. 32) 287-296 – 583 +7
14 Pepperdine (No. 11) – 296-289 – 585 +9
T15 Tennessee (No. 18) – 291-295 – 586 +10
T15 Texas A&M (No. 4) – 289-297 – 586 +10
T15 Florida State (No. 22) – 292-294 – 586 +10
T18 North Carolina (No. 12) – 293-294 – 587 +11
T18 Wake Forest (No. 8) – 300-287 – 587 +11
T20 Virginia (No. 35) – 289-299 – 588 +12
T20 Baylor (No. 26) – 289-299 – 588 +12
T20 Auburn (No. 6) – 302-286 – 588 +12
23 LSU (No. 34) – 288-301 – 589 +13
24 Houston (No. 28) – 294-297 –591 +15
25 Ohio State (No. 25) – 297-295 – 592 +16
T26 Michigan State (No. 38) – 298-297 – 595 +19
T26 Ole Miss (No. 20) – 301-294 – 595 +19
28 Kentucky (No. 33) – 298-299 – 597 +21
T29 Texas Tech (No. 49) – 296-304 – 600 +24
T30 Oregon State (No. 46) – 300-300 – 600 +24

Top 10 Individuals (Par 72-144)
T1 Farah O’Keefe, Texas – 69-69 – 138 -6
T1 Kajsalotta Svarvar, Ole Miss – 69-69 – 138 -6
T1 Meja Ortengren, Stanford – 70-68 – 138 -6
T4 Kristian Angosta, TCU – 69-70 – 139 -5
T4 Megha Ganne, Stanford — 68-71 – 139 -5
T4 Beth Coulter, Arizona State – 69-70 – 139 -5
T7 Thanana Kotchasanmanee, Princeton – 69-71 – 140 -4
T7 Kyra Van Kan, Tennessee – 69-71 – 140 -4
T7 Marta Silchenko, Oklahoma State – 70-70 – 140 -4
T7 Maria Jose Marin, Arkansas – 72-68 – 140 -4
T7 Siuue WU, Florida – 76-64 – 140 -4

LSU Scores
T46 Elsa Svensson – 71-75 – 146 +2
T64 Taylor Riley – 72-75 – 147 +1
T64 Francesca Fiorellini – 73-74 – 147 +1
T94 Ryleigh Knaub – 72-77 – 149 +5
T143 Josefin Widal – 77-78 – 155 +11