The LSU women’s golf team will face one final task this weekend as the regular season comes to an end.The No. 11 Lady Tigers travel to Browns Summit, N.C., today to compete in the Bryan National Collegiate tournament. The team will use this weekend as a tune up for the Southeastern Conference tournament, which begins in two weeks. “We want to go out and have a good, solid tournament to get us ready for SECs and be on a high,” LSU women’s golf coach Karen Bahnsen said.The 18-team tournament tees off on the 6,386-yard, par 72-course at 7:30 a.m.No. 8 Wake Forest and North Carolina-Greensboro will co-host the tournament.The field also includes No. 4 Virginia, No. 13 Georgia, No. 14 North Carolina, No. 18 Arkansas and No. 20 Michigan State, among others.
Rain will continue to factor into the Lady Tigers’ fate on the course.Last weekend’s Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic was limited to one round after the first two days were washed out.LSU mustered a 17-over par 305 to tie for sixth place in Sunday’s 18-round shootout on the soggy grounds at the University of Georgia Golf Course.Bahnsen said it’s tough to continually battle the elements. “It’s frustrating not being able to play,” she said. “Golf is usually more than one round … Hopefully we’ll be able to get three rounds in.” The National Weather Service forecasts showers and wind for today, which could pose problems for the Lady Tigers and the type of course they will face.”It’s got a lot of water and it’s all located around a big lake, so the wind is typically a factor there,” she said.Bahnsen also said she wants her team to finish stronger on the last three holes of each round.”We’ve let a few slip at the end of the rounds a couple times, and that’s the difference between winning,” she said.The Lady Tigers will look to sophomore Megan McCrystal to regain her national dominance.McCrystal, the No. 14 women’s golfer in the country, battled illness in early March and has not had the opportunity to get on track.”This will be a great warmup for her for SECs,” Bahnsen said. “That one round [Sunday] didn’t help her much.” MEN CLOSE OUT REGULAR SEASON MONDAYThe LSU men’s golf team will travel to Madison, Miss., on Monday to compete in the Bank of America Intercollegiate tournament.The No. 25 Tigers look to bounce back from a sixth-place tie last weekend at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate tournament. LSU welcomes back freshman Sang Yi, who was absent from the previous tournament while receiving his U.S. citizenship Monday in Baton Rouge. Yi leads the Tigers with three top-10 finishes this year — his most recent coming two weeks ago after finishing tied for fourth at the Schenkel/E-Z Go Invitational.The two-day, 54-hole tournament culminates the Tigers’ regular season.——Contact Sean Isabella at [email protected]