The LSU women’s golf team set a new single-round school record at the first round of the Rudolph Mason Championship and never looked back, cruising to the team title with a 2-stroke victory at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn.
The No. 16 Lady Tigers finished the first round with a 10-under par 278, then followed that performance with under-par scores in the second and final rounds, respectively, to finish the tournament 2-strokes ahead of runner-up Purdue with a 54-hole team score of 21-under par 843.
The Lady Tigers outplayed a tough field of competition, besting 14 of the top 20 teams in the country to earn their first tournament title of the season.
“I’m so pleased with how the girls are responding as a team,” said LSU women’s golf coach Karen Bahnsen in a news release. “They kept fighting for it and I was proud of the way they handled themselves.”
Four out of five LSU golfers finished in the top 25 of the individual standings, led by senior Megan McChrystal. McChrystal finished in a tie for fourth place with cumulative score of 7-under par 209, including a final round performance of 4-under par 68.
Junior Jacqueline Hedwall and sophomore Mary Michael Maggio each tied for 14th place after logging tournament scores of 4-under par 212. Junior Tessa Teachman finished tied for 23rd place following her 1-under par 215.
Teachman led all LSU golfers after scoring 5-under par 67 on the first day of the tournament, including two clutch birdies on the 16th and 17th holes. Hedwall also contributed to the team score during the first round, scoring birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to finish an even-par round that helped fuel the Lady Tigers’ record-setting day.
“We really played a steady round of golf and then those last few holes we tore it up,” Bahnsen said about the first round.
“We finished strong and that was a key that we wanted to try to finish the rounds stronger. It was really windy, but the girls kept within themselves and didn’t let that fluster them.”
The Lady Tigers stood toe-to-toe with defending national champion Purdue during the second day of the tournament as each team shot 6-under par 282. Each of LSU’s five golfers posted rounds of par or better on Saturday to help keep the Lady Tigers atop the leaderboard entering the final round.
LSU bested Purdue by one stroke in the final round, posting a 5-under par 283 that secured LSU’s standing at the top of the team leaderboard.
The Lady Tigers will return to action October 8-10 for the Lady Tar Heel Classic at the University of North Carolina’s Finley Golf Course in Chapell Hill, N.C.