TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
The LSU women’s golf team has returned to what has become the mecca of college golf as the Tigers will begin play in the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship at the famed OMNI La Costa Resort and Spa North Course in Carlsbad, California, on Friday.
LSU advanced to the Championships with a fourth place finish on May 13 at the NCAA Regional in Waco, Texas, at the Ridgewood Country Club. That tournament featured a school record round for post-season play of 8-under par 272 in the second round that pushed LSU over the top, virtually guaranteeing the team’s spot in national.
The Tigers also extended their school record of Championship appearances to six, after breaking the school mark of four with their appearance last year. They are one of just eight schools with an active record of at least six straight NCAA championships appearances. LSU is joined on the list by USC, Stanford, Texas, Florida State, Wake Forest, Oklahoma State and Baylor.
In six NCAA Championships, the Tigers have only played in two sites – the first three years at Grayhawk in Scottsdale, Arizona, and this will be the third straight year the tournament was held in Carlsbad.
“It’s very special to make it here one time,” LSU eighth-year head coach Garrett Runion said. “To make it six years in a row is extremely special, and I’m proud of that. It’s very hard to do. Not a lot of teams have done it. All the credit goes to the players that have bought in, worked hard, and showed up when they needed to, in the most stressful tournament of the year (NCAA regionals). And I think that just helps them understand what we’ve done back home to prepare them, and handle that pressure.”
OMNI La Costa, also set to host the 2027 and 2028 national championships in both men and women, was built in 1965 on what had been an equestrian ranch just north of San Diego. In 1969 it was selected as the home of the Tournament of Champions with several outstanding events.
The North Course, formerly the Champions course, reopened in 2024 prior to the NCAA Championships, following a renovation by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, undertaken to ready the resort as it picked up the tournament thread once more with the NCAAs.
For the women’s championship, the course will play to a maximum of 6,373 yards, par 72, with changeable yardages on 14 holes, including the drivable par 4 11th and a par 3 12th hole that can play as long as 188 yards and as short as 95. The famed 16th is now reconfigured to resemble the 12th at Augusta National.
“It’s a sense of familiarity coming here. I felt like the first year after the remodel, the greens were really firm. The last two years they’ve softened up,” Runion said. “This year they are going to bump a few tees back, so it may play a bit longer. The rough is thicker, kind of patchy in spots, but all-in-all, it’s a good championship course and tests every part of your game.”
In 2024, LSU tied Stanford for medalist honors after 72 holes finishing in fifth after losing, 3-2, in the first match play round.
The format is the same this year as the field of 30 will be cut to 15 teams after 54 holes of play on Sunday. The final stroke play round is on Monday. The individual champion is crowned, and the top eight teams begin match play on Tuesday to determine the team champion on Wednesday.
LSU is the 26th seed of the 30 teams, ranked 34th in the NCAA/Scoreboard rankings.
The Tigers will use the same lineup that it used at the NCAA Women Regional with sophomore Francesca Fiorellini, graduate student Elsa Svensson, senior Taylor Riley and sophomore Josefin Widal and freshman Ryleigh Knaub. Sophomore Rocio Tejedo will be the alternate.
Knaub leads the team in stroke average at 71.96 just ahead of Fiorellini’s 71.97 average. Riley is at 72.67, just ahead of Svensson’s 72.70. Widal is at 74.42 for the season.
One thing in LSU’s favor as it goes into the 54-hole portion of the event to make the 15-team cut is that everyone has at least one NCAA round over the La Costa course other than Knaub. And Riley becomes the 13th LSU player to play in at least three national championship events.
“It helped during the practice round, where we only had our freshman, Knaub,who hadn’t seen the course,” Runion said. “So we could really spend some quality time with her during the practice round and explain where they are going to put the pins and shots that she may see. The others know the deal and the shots, and they know what a good score is on some of these holes. There are some holes out here that are very tough and good par holes, and they know that those may be the ones you play a little more conservative on. And they know the holes that you can be a little more aggressive on and look to make birdie. I felt like our practice round went really well. They hit it very well.”
The TIgers are making their 19th appearance in the event. LSU was in the inaugural event after the NCAA took over the women’s championships in 1982. LSU first cracked the top 10 in 1986 when LSU finished ninth at the Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio.
LSU’s best finishes came in the 2011-12 tournaments at third place both years. In 2011 in Bryan, Texas, LSU finished eight shots behind UCLA at 1,181. In Franklin, Tennessee in 2012, LSU was third by just two shots at 1,173 behind Alabama (1,171) and USC (1,172).
In 2011, freshman Austin Ernst shot middle and ending rounds of 6-under 66 to win the individual title with a four-day total of 281 (72-66-77-66). She had a hole-in-one at the par three second hole that year in Bryan, Texas.
The secret to success?
“Patience,” Runion said. “You’ve got to be smart, and you’ve got to be disciplined. I told the team after the practice round, we are going to hit over 1,100 golf shots this week. You’re not going to be perfect. You don’t need to be perfect. Minimize the damage, and when you have a position to be aggressive, take advantage of that.”
LSU will play with Kentucky and Virginia for the first two days. The Tigers are scheduled to tee off at 9:47 a.m. central time today on hole No. 1.
Live scoring will be available at Scoreboard.clippd.com, and there is pay-to-stream coverage on BabyGrande.com.
Starting on Monday, coverage shifts to The Golf Channel. Updates during the round will be available on “X” at @LSUwomensgolf and @LSUKent.
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