BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s golf team broke 30-under par in a 54-hole tournament for only the fifth time in school history Wednesday as they finished in fifth place in the Golfweek Red Sky Classic at Wolcott, Colorado’s Red Sky Golf Club Fazio Course.
The Tigers, for the second straight day, shot the low team round in the 20-team field in the play 5-count 4 format with a 17-under par score of 271. It was the second lowest single 18-hole team round in LSU women’s golf history, dating back to the start of the program prior to the 1979-80 season.
LSU’s three-day total of 31-under par 833 (286-276-271) is tied for the third lowest 54-hole total in school history.
LSU had among its six players at the tournament, including individual player Lucia Iraola, posted five under par rounds and an even par round. It marked the second time in program history to have four qualifying scores (non-individual) in the 60s in a single round.
Both Ryleigh Knaub and Raegan Denton came up with top five performances in the individual competition. Knaub posted her best career round of 7-under par 65 which featured seven birdies and eagle two on the par 4 12th hole.
Knaub posted the third top five of her career at LSU as the sophomore finished in a tie for third at 12-under par 204 over the par 72, 6,383-yard layout. Knaub had rounds of 70-69-65 over the three days. Her 12-under par score ties for the 7th lowest under par number by an LSU individual in a 54-hole event. He final round of 7-under is tied for the sixth lowest single round in school history.
Denton became the eighth LSU player with three rounds in the 60s on a par 72 course. It has happened 10 times and eight of those have come under the current leadership of head coach Garrett Runion.
The Australian freshman, entered the tournament 52nd in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and followed up Tuesday’s 67 with a 69 on Wednesday to finish T5 at 11-under par 205 (69-67-69). Denton had four birdies and also posted an eagle on the par 5, 15th hole.
Miami’s Scarlett Schremmer won the tournament with a 17-under total of 199 (67-66-66) with Eunseo Choi of Pepperdine three shots back at 202 (69-67-66).
LSU’s strong round also included a 3-under, eight birdie 69 from junior Rocio Tejedo. Tejedo finished T26 with a three-day total of 4-under par 212 (73-70-69).
On the team side, freshman Victoria Kristensen rebounded nicely in the final round with a five birdie, 4-under round of 68 and junior Josefin Widal came home in even par 72. Lucia Iraola, playing as an individual, finished the 54 holes under par 3-under 213 with rounds of 70-74-69 for a T31 finish.
Southern California went wire-to-wire to get the team win at 47-under par 817 with rounds of 266-277-274. The Trojans were 14 shots better than Miami at 33-under par 831 (277-281-273) with Texas A&M third along with Pepperdine with both shooting 32-under 832. LSU in fifth was 10 shots clear of Eastern Michigan in sixth.
Statistically, on a day when the 108-player field played the course under par (71.17), the Tigers finished T2 in par 3 scoring at 2.83, fourth in par 4 scoring (4.03) and eighth in par 5 scoring at 4.85. LSU finished T4 in total birdies at 61 total and tied for most eagles with four.
Individually, Widal, Tejedo and Knaub were all T4 in par 3 scoring at 2.75 with Knaub T1 on the par 4s at 3.77. Iraola tied for the most pars in the 54-hole event with 41 in the field and Tejedo and Knaub led LSU with 14 birdies apiece. Denton was won of four players with two eagles during the course of play.
The Tigers will next be back in action on Oct. 12 for the debut playing of the Haskins Intercollegiate in Columbus, Georgia.
Golfweek Red Sky Classic
Red Sky Golf Club – Wolcott, Colorado
Final Team Results – 288-864
1 Southern California – 266-277-274 – 817 -47
2 Miami – 277-281-273 – 831 -33
T3 Texas A&M – 278-281-273 – 832 -32
T3 Pepperdine – 280-280-272 – 832 -32
5 LSU – 286-276-271 – 833 -31
6 Eastern Michigan – 285-286-272 – 843 -21
7 Arizona – 284-279-281 – 844 -20
8 Kansas – 291-283-278 – 852 -12
9 CSU Fullerton – 298-282-275 – 855 -9
10 Denver -- 283-298-279 – 860 -4
11 East Tennessee State – 281-295-286 – 862 -2
12 Northern Arizona – 291-297-277 – 865 +11
13 Colorado – 302-282-283 – 867 +3
14 Ball State – 300-292-281 – 873 +9
T15 New Mexico State – 293-298-290 – 881 +17
T15 Mercer – 308-291-282 – 881 +17
17 UC Irvine – 295-297-291 – 883 +19
18 Little Rock – 296-301-287 – 884 +20
19 ULM – 287-307-293 – 887
20 UNC Asheville – 304-306-299 – 909 +45
Individual Top 5 (Par 72-216)
1 Scarlett Schremmer, Miami – 67-66-66 – 199 -17
2 Eunseo Choi, Pepperdine – 69-67-66 – 202 -14
T3 Ryleigh Knaub, LSU – 70-69-65 – 204 -12
T3 Jasmine Koo, Southern California – 65-73-66 – 204 -12
T5 Grace Anderson, Pepperdine – 69-72-64 – 205 -11
T5 Charlotte Back, Arizona – 69-70-66 – 205 -11
T5 Louise Reau, Texas A&M – 68-71-66 – 205 -11
T5 Raegan Denton, LSU – 69-67-69 – 205 -11
T5 Sara Hammett, Southern California – 70-65-70 – 205 -11
LSU Scores
T3 Ryleigh Knaub – 70-69-65 – 204 -12
T5 Raegan Denton – 69-67-69 – 205 -11
T26 Rocio Tejedo – 73-70-69 – 212 -4
T31 Lucia Iraola – 70-74-69 – 213 -3
T71 Victoria Kristensen – 74-80-68 – 222 +6
T77 Josefin Widal – 81-70-72 – 223 +7