Tiger Rag News Services
Graduate student Elsa Svensson and sophomore Francesca Fiorellini brought home top seven finishes Tuesday to help the LSU Tigers to a fourth-place finish in the Betsy Rawls Invitational at the University of Texas Golf Course.
Svenson posted a 3-over 75 in the final round to finishing at 3-over par 219 (74-70-75) for her third top three finish of the 2025-26 wraparound women’s golf season.
The Swede was in a battle for the individual title till right at the end, battling the entire tournament with a couple of Texas golfers. She would finish four shots off the lead of the No. 4 NCAA golfer in Farah O’Keefe at Texas who was able to be the only player to finish under par at 1-under 215 (75-70-70). Cindy Hsu finished two shots back at 1-over 217 (76-72-69). Maria Jose Marin of Arkansas, ranked No. 1, finished in a tie for fourth with Kylee Choi of Pepperdine at 5-over 221.
The Tigers take home fourth in Austin 🏌️♀️ pic.twitter.com/Zb4MRO922i
— LSU Women's Golf (@LSUWomensGolf) March 17, 2026
Fiorellini put together a six-birdie round of 2-under 70, finishing with a birdie on the par 4 18th-hole on the par 72, 6,473-yard venue. Fiorellini finished at 7-over par 223 (81-72-70), playing the last 36 holes in 2-under par.
The scores for the tournament proved to be unique indeed after cold and windy conditions drove the team scores to extreme levels in the opening of two rounds on Monday. LSU Coach Garrett Runion called it easily “in the top three for the toughest conditions I have coached in.”
After an opening round of 32-over par 320, the Tigers tamed the conditions much better in the last two rounds with a 5-over 293 and Tuesday’s 298 to finish at 47-over par 911. While scores moderated after Monday’s opening 90-player average of 84.14, the course still played at 5-over par 77.27 on Tuesday.
Only the 18th hole in the final round played under par for the entire 54-hole event.
Texas captured the team title with a 14-over score of 878 (304-289-285). They were 21 shots clear of Arkansas at 899 (+35, 316-292-291). Oklahoma was third at 904 (318-301-285) and the Tigers were three shots clear of Pepperdine at 914 (326-298-290).
Along with Svensson and Fiorellini, LSU got a strong 1-under round of 71 from Taylor Riley and a 10-over 82 from Josefin Widal for the counting scores. Individual LSU player Lucia Iraola finished at 2-over 74.
“Elsa held things together very well for the three rounds in difficult conditions,” said Coach Runion. “I’m please with the way Taylor responded after a difficult first round to play the last 36 holes in even par. Also, Francesca was 2-under in the final two rounds and moved into the top seven with Elsa as well.”
Statistically, LSU was fifth in the field in par 3 scoring at 3.32 and also fifth on the par 4 holes at 4.37. LSU was second in birdies at 31, behind only winner Texas (40).
Individually, Fiorellini was T3 on par 4s hole at 4.10 and Svensson was T5 at 4.13, with Svensson the tournament’s best in the 90-player field on the par 5s with a 4.58 average. Individual Tiger Iraola was T5 at 4.75.
Svensson tied for the tournament lead with 11 birdies, while Iraola was T4 with nine.
The Tigers final team event of the regular season is set for March 27-29, the Clemson Invitational at The Reserve at Lake Keowee at Sunset, South Carolina.
Betsy Rawls Invitational
Austin, Texas – University of Texas Golf Course
Final Team Results (Par 288-864)
1 No. 7 Texas – 304-289-285 – 878 +14
2 No. 9 Arkansas – 316-292-291 – 899 +35
3 No. 31 Oklahoma – 318-301-285 – 904 +40
4 No. 33 LSU – 320-293-298 – 911 +47
5 No. 10 Pepperdine – 326-298-290 – 914 +50
6 No. 42 TCU – 323-305-292 – 920 +36
7 No. 47 Oregon State – 321-302-303 – 926 +42
8 Boise State – 331-311-305 – 947 +83
9 UTSA – 337-317-303 – 957 +93
10 BYU – 338-305-315 – 958 +94
11 Sam Houston – 329-319-312 – 960 +96
12 Chattanooga – 341-325-297 – 963 +99
13 Houston Christian – 337-327-313 – 977 +113
14 Harvard – 337-327-314 – 978 +114
15 Troy – 352-322-318 – 992 +128
16 Incarnate Word – 354-337-338 – 1029 +165
Individual Top 5 (Par 72-216)
1 Farah O’Keefe, Texas – 75-70-70 – 215 -1
2 Cindy Hsu, Texas – 76-72-69 – 217 +1
3 Elsa Svensson, LSU – 74-70-75 – 219 +3
T4 Maria Jose Marin, Arkansas – 76-76-69 – 221 +5
T4 Kylee Choi, Pepperdine – 81-72-68 – 221 +5
LSU Scores
3 Elsa Svensson – 74-70-75 – 219 +3
T7 Francesca Fiorellini – 81-72-70 – 223 +7
T28 Lucia Iraola – 82-78-74 – 234 +18
T32 Taylor Riley – 91-73-71 – 235 +19
T41 Josefin Widal – 79-78-82 – 239 +23
T67 Edit Hertzman – 86-82-83 – 251 +35
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