Lindblad, Stone Get LSU Off To Strong Start At NCAA Women’s Golf Regional

BRYAN, Texas – LSU fifth-year players Ingrid Lindblad and Latanna Stone showed their ability to handle what could have been difficult conditions Monday, both firing 4-under rounds of 68 to help LSU to a tie for the lead after the first round of the NCAA Bryan Women’s Golf Regional at The Traditions Club.

For LSU as a team, it was a big first step forward in the drive to qualify for a fourth straight NCAA Regional.

Lindblad and Stone are also tied for the individual lead after the first day with Mackenzie Lee of SMU.

The day under a dark, ominous sky with light rain and drizzle for much of the first two hours. The course has taken a tremendous amount of rain over the past week and preferred lies was in play for the first round.

Three teams were under par on the opening day of one of the six regionals that will qualify five teams each for the NCAA Championships at Carlsbad, California later this month.

LSU and SMU are tied at 2-under par 286 in the play 5, count 4 scoring system of college golf. Host Texas A&M is third at 1-under par 287. Clemson is in what would be the fourth qualifying spot at 3-over 291 and Iowa State is fifth at 5-over 293. The first-round results show eight teams at 9-over par or lower and that appears to be the group that is in best position to compete for the five spots.

LSU and A&M were 1-2 in the seedings for the event, while SMU, the automatic qualifier from the American Athletic Conference was the five seed.

Lindblad and Stone combined for 11 birdies on their cards on the par 72, 6,376-yard layout. LSU as a team had a tournament best 17 birdies as a team on the opening day. A total of 11 birdies by the Tiger team came in the final seven holes of play.

“It was a consistent, solid round. I am very pleased with that start,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “Our two leaders did what they needed to do. They both posted 68s with birdies on the last hole. That’s what you want from your senior leaders. You want them to perform the best when you need it, like in the first round of regional. We finished strong. The back nine is a touch easier but you still have to make the birdies. We did that. Our goal was to come out and stay in the leader group (top 3) to get the good tee time and we are one-third of the way through.”

Lindblad had six birdies, including on the par 4 371-yard 17th and the par 5, 444-yard 18th, highlighted by a tap-in birdie on the par 3 second hole, the same hole former Tiger Austin Ernst aced in her final round of the NCAA Championship in 2011 on this course.

Stone birdied the first and ninth holes on her front nine and then posted three more birdies on the back nine, including one on the par 5 18th.

Stone is a defending regional champion having posted co-medalist honors last year at the regional at PGA National in Florida.

The Tigers also counted a 2-over 74 from senior Carla Tejedo and a 4-over 76 from junior Aine Donegan for the team total.

Before the tournament Coach Runion discussed avoiding the big number and for the most part the Tigers did that with only one counting double bogey on the card.

“If you follow the scores today,” Runion said. “It’s very compact and one shot can move five or six spots and when you are trying to remain in the top five one or two shots can be very costly. We fought for it and very pleased with the way we played today.”

LSU, SMU and Texas A&M will go off the first tee on Tuesday at 8 a.m. in the second round of the regional. Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com and with updates during the round on “X” @LSUwomensgolf and @LSUKent.

NCAA BRYAN REGIONAL
The Traditions Club – Bryan, Texas
First Round Team Results – Par 288
T1 LSU 286 (-2)
T1 SMU 286 (-2)
3 Texas A&M 287 (-1)
4 Clemson 291 (+3)
5 Iowa State 293 (+5)
T7 Texas State 297 (+9)
T7 Vanderbilt 297 (+9)
9 Maryland 302 (+14)
10 Little Rock 305 (+17)
11 Sam Houston 306 (+18)
12 Sacred Heart Univ. 310 (22)

Individual Top 10 (Par 72)
T1 Latanna Stone – LSU – 68 -4
T1 Ingrid Lindblad – LSU – 68 -4
T1 Mackenzie Lee – SMU – 68 -4
4 Kary Hollenbuagh – Ohio State – 69 -3
5 Adela Cernousek – Texas A&M – 70 -2
T6 Ashley Chow – SMU – 71 -1
T6 Anna belle Pancake – Clemson – 71 -1
T6 Virginie Ding – Vanderbilt – 71 -1
T6. C. Fernandez Garcia-Poggio – Texas A&M – 71 -1
T6. Tess Blair – Iowa State – 71 -1
T6 Carla Bernat – Kansas State – 71 -1

LSU Scores
T1 Latanna Stone – 68 -4
T1 Ingrid Lindblad – 68 -4
T22 Carla Tejedo – 74 +2
T39 Aine Donegan – 76 +4
61 Taylor Riley – 82 +10