5 hours ago
LSU Athletics and SEC Network Staff
Photo: LSU Athletics
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — LSU senior Ingrid Lindblad tied the school mark for 72 holes finishing in a tie for fifth as the Tigers play in the 2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships ended Monday at the Raptor Course at the Grayhawk Golf club.
Meanwhile, on the final day of stroke play for individuals and teams, South Carolina and Texas A&M were the two SEC schools to advance to Tuesday’s match play. The top eight teams in the stroke play advanced, with South Carolina (+1) finishing fourth and Texas A&M (+4) finishing eighth.
Lindblad posted a par 71 of 1 under on the final day of individual stroke play to finish at 7 under par 281 (70-72-68-71). At the end of stroke play, she tied the LSU 72-hole overall scoring record originally set by rookie Austin Ernst in 2011 when she won the NCAA championship in 2011 at Traditions Golf Club in Bryan, Utah. Texas.
Lindblad has posted back-to-back top-five finishes after finishing in a tie for third place a year ago at 1-under 287 hole totals in their NCAA game.
Stanford’s Rose Zhang was the individual winner with a 10-under score of 278 after a final round of 68. She was a shot better than San Jose State’s Lucia Lopez-Ortega and Southern California’s Catherine Park who took both posted 9 under 279 .
Three other SEC golfers have finished in the top 20 in individual stroke play. Julia Lopez Ramirez (-4) of Mississippi State finished 13th, closely followed by Andrea Lignell (-3) of Ole Miss tied for 14th and Hannah Darling (-2) of South Carolina tied for the 18th.
LSU (+15) would finish seven shots short of a top-eight game-by-game tie for 14th with fellow SEC Georgia. Mississippi State (+13) finished one spot ahead of LSU and Georgia and was also eliminated.
Match play will begin Tuesday morning.
LSU, despite a bit of a shaky start, posted a solid round of 2 over par that day to finish 72 holes at 15 over par 1,167.
The Tigers would also set a school mark for a 72-hole total with the 1,167, surpassing the mark of 1,173 set by the 2011 LSU team that finished third in the NCAA championships. The 2021 NCAA Championships team in Scottsdale posted 1,174.
LSU started the round eight shots from eighth place, but the Tigers could only birdie one in the first six holes, moving to 8 for the day at that point. But this team, which rallied from eight holes with less than nine holes to go in the NCAA Regional to secure a qualifying spot, started to get their feet under them.
The Tigers on the par-5 seventh hole got birdies from Alden Wallace, Aine Donegan, Lindblad and an eagle three from Carla Tejedo. Latanna Stone and Donegan followed with birdies on the par-3 eighth hole. At some point early in the final nine holes, the Tigers moved back to 1-under in the round and three strokes from eighth place.
Besides Lindblad’s 71, the Tigers got a great rebound from sophomore Aine Donegan, who posted a 1-under 71, playing the last 12 holes in a par 4-under. Carla Tejedo finished at 1 of 73 and Latanna Stone finished at 3 of 75. Alden Wallace, who was playing for the Tigers for the third time in the championships and first time since September, had a 77 in his last college. round.
“We fought back today,” LSU coach Garrett Runion said. “It was nice to see Alden birdie the last hole of her college career after coming back for her fifth year. I was proud of Aine. She struggled the first three days and she had to step in to us when she needed it and shooting 1-under was outstanding. Two straight top five years for Ingrid. That’s pretty strong. It was a great run for her at LSU.
“We’ve just started the four days slowly,” Runion said of the team’s third trip in three championships to Grayhawk. “I was proud of the way they fought back and got closer and took a chance. There’s only one team that leaves here happy. I’m proud of the fact that we all came here all three years and that we made the top 15 all three years. It’s never easy. We had a great year. We won four times and won stroke play in the SEC. Obviously we were hoping for a special year , but I’m proud of the way the ladies played all year long great golf and broke LSU records We look forward to what the future holds and what we need to do to to come back.”
Lindblad birdied the two par fives up front and shot 1-under 35 after a three-putt on the par-3 eighth hole. The putter did the Swede no favors as she didn’t was unable to drop birdie putts on the nine, 10 and 11 before finally dropping one on the 13.18th hole but his birdie putt stayed just outside the hole giving him 35- 36 nines for his 71.
Lindblad has done most of its par-5 work this week, placing second in the field at 8-under-par for all 72 holes. Stone and Tejedo played par 3s for the week at 1 under par to lead the Tigers. Lindblad was best for the team on par 4 to par.
Following
After three years in Scottsdale, the NCAA Championships will move to California as Texas hosts the tournament in 2024, 2025 and 2026 at the renovated La Costa Resort, the former site of the former PGA Tour Tournament of Champions.
NCAA WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
Grayhawk Golf Club Raptor Course
(By 288-1152)
Final results in stroke play for teams (top 8 move to match play on Tuesday)
1. Stanford 288-273-29-282 – 1133 (-19)
2. Texas 292-276-290-280 – 1138 (-14)
3. Wake Forest 279-280-299-281 – 1139 (-13)
4. South Carolina 286-276-302-289 – 1153 (+1)
5. Southern California 296-276-290-282 – 1154 (+2)
6. State of Florida 288-286-289-292 – 1155 (+3)
7. Texas A&M 287-284-298-287 – 1156 (+4)
8. Pepperdine 295-279-296-290 – 1160 (+8)
(did not advance)
T9. New Mexico 287-288-301-287 – 1163 (+11)
T9. Arizona 292-288-289-294 – 1163 (+11)
T11. EMS 291-295-295-283 – 1164 (+12)
T11. Oklahoma State 280-291-300-293 – 1164 (+12
13. Mississippi State 301-288-291-285 – 1165 (+13)
T14. Georgia 286-290-294-297 – 1167 (+15)
T14. USL 294-288-295-290 – 1167 (+15)
Individual Top 5
1. Rose Zhang, Stanford – 72-67-71-68 – 278 (-10)
T2. Lucia Lopez-Ortega, San Jose State – 68-69-71-71 – 279 (-9)
T2. Catherine Park, Southern California – 71-64-71-73 – 279 (-9)
4. Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, Oklahoma State – 66-70-74-70 – 280 (-8)
T5. Ingrid Lindblad, LSU – 70-72-68-71 – 281 (-7)
T5. Michelle Zhang, USM – 72-72-67-70 – 281 (-7)