The women’s golf team wrapped up their first two days of spring competition to find themselves second behind in-state rival Tulane. The Lady Tigers entered The Nokia Sugar Bowl/Tulane Invitational in New Orleans with a No. 28 in the Sagarin Performance Rankings after a strong fall season.
LSU finished the first 36 holes of golf second behind the Green Wave. The Lady Tigers shot for a 36-hole total of 609 on the first day, which was 33-over par. They finished the first day 20 shots behind Tulane, who shot 589 after the first two rounds.
“For our first two rounds on a very difficult golf course, I am happy with what we were able to do,” said LSU coach Karen Bahnsen. “We had some good scores [Monday] and we know we can do better, and we hope we will be able to improve our score on Tuesday. It’s not necessarily right now the other teams, it’s what we are able to do.”
But LSU could not bridge the gap on the second day. LSU finished the final 18 rounds Tuesday shooting 65-over par with a final score of 929. Tulane clinched the victory, stretching their final lead out to 34 shots over LSU as they finished 31-over par for an 895 score.
LSU finished with three golfers — Vicky Meyer, Alexis Rather and Brooke Shelton — in the Top 10 of their first spring tournament.
The final 18 holes were played through rain and cold weather, which worsened scores for most golfers. Four of five competing Lady Tigers had higher scores on the second day.
“The conditions were just so difficult,” Bahnsen said.
Meyer finished fifth, scoring 13-over par 229. Meyer had rounds of 74-74-81. Rather turned in the eighth lowest final score, finishing eighth at 17-over 223 with rounds of 76-78-79. Shelton tied for ninth at 18-over 234, posting a 75-78-81 score. Melissa Eaton tied at 28th and Devon Day tied at 35th.
Bahnsen said she was pleased with her team’s performance despite the second place finish.
“These girls gutted it out and got us home still in second place which I think is very good for us,” Bahnsen said. “We have three in the Top 10 in the tournament that makes me feel very good. These girls worked so very hard and now we take this and move on to the next stop.”
The Lady Tigers’ next stop will be in Parrish, Fla. for the Central District Invitational on Feb. 23-24.