The LSU women’s golf team may have shot itself out of contention after the first six holes of the opening round of the NCAA West Regional tournament in Palo Alto, Calif.The Lady Tigers couldn’t muster much outside of their top scorer, junior Megan McChrystal, who celebrated her 22nd birthday on the course.McChrystal and sophomore Tessa Teachman combined to finish the first six holes at a respectable 2-over par. After their top two, however, the Lady Tigers struggled mightily at Stanford Golf Course.Sophomore Jacqueline Hedwall and juniors Amalie Valle and Nicole Crochet shot a combined score of 14-over par through the first six holes of the tournament. LSU coach Karen Bahnsen was worried about the team’s play through the first six holes, but was confident in her team’s ability to pull out of the funk.”I was like ‘uh-oh,'” Bahnsen said. “I think they were a little tired from the travel and a little tight. When you hit a bad shot in the rough, you’re in trouble on the next one and the next thing you know you’re dropping a penalty shot. But they fought hard out there. It could’ve gotten really bad, but they stuck with it.”Scoring rules for the tournament count the top four scores from each team toward the team score, so the Lady Tigers finished the first six holes at 11-over 103. McChrystal tallied two of three birdies the Lady Tigers sank on the front nine. The team hit three birdies, 15 bogeys, two double bogeys and a triple bogey on the front nine.The Lady Tigers managed to stop their precipitous fall, but couldn’t shave enough strokes to gain a favorable spot in the standings.After finishing the front nine at even par, McChrystal matched her output on the back nine to post the best score of the day for the Lady Tigers. McChrystal birdied the par-3 17th hole to stay at even par.”[McChrystal] played really steady,” Bahnsen said. “This is one of those places where you have to play the shot in the right places, and she did that. She made a few putts and she missed a few putts, but she was just steady all day.”Hedwall rebounded nicely on the back nine. The sophomore posted a 1-under 35 on the back nine to lower her overall round score to a 4-over 75. After a bogey on the par-4 11th, Hedwall birdied 14 and 16.Teachman couldn’t find the form that made her Second-Team All-SEC, posting 3-over scores on the front and back nine to finish with a 6-over 77 for the first round. Valle and Crochet finished with scores of 8-over 79 and 9-over 80, respectively.The good news for the Lady Tigers is they only need to be concerned with finishing in the top-eight in the team standings after the final day. LSU finished the day with an 18-over par 302.”Without a doubt [making the top eight] is an acheivable goal,” Bahnsen said. “We’ll have to play really well, but with our talent we can do it.”While the Lady Tigers struggled mightily the first day, several other top teams didn’t fare well on the course. LSU leads SEC rival Arkansas by six strokes heading into the second round and trails No. 24 California by 10 strokes and No. 25 Texas A&M by three strokes.——Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]