Lindblad finishes third, LSU 11th at NCAA Championships

PHOTO BY: LSU athletics.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – LSU junior Ingrid Lindblad recorded a second 2-under 70 of the tournament and finished tied for third in the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships at Grayhawk Golf Course here Monday.

For LSU’s team, they finished five shots from advancing to the final eight match play competition, finishing in 11th place at 35-over 1,187. The cut for the match play round was Georgia at +30.

Lindblad, who had a near hole-in-one lip out at the par 3 13th hole, had three-birdies on the day and several putts that stopped near the edge during the round. She finished 72 holes at 1-under par 287, tied for the third lowest 72-hole total in LSU’s 40-plus year women’s golf history.

It is the first time in 10 years that a player has finished tied for third or better in the NCAAs as Tessa Teachman finished T3 in the 2012 NCAA Championships and it is the fifth time that an LSU women’s player has finished in the top 3 in the national championships.

Teachman (2012), Katy Harris (2001) and Kristi Coats (1991) all previously finished T3 in the individual competition and Austin Ernst won the title as an LSU freshman in 2011.

“I think we had a great week here,” Lindblad said. “We obviously wanted to finish a few shots better, but the margins are so small. All week, I basically haven’t gotten a single putt to drop. The margins are so small and close.”

Lindblad, who has all but confirmed she plans to return for her senior season, now turns her attention to the United States Women’s Open, June 2-5. She then will head back home to Sweden where she will play a Ladies European Tour event near her hometown of Halmstad.

Lindblad played the par three in a co-tournament best average of 2.81 for 72 holes and played the par 4s in 4.05. She finished with the most pars of any player in the field with 55 to go with eight birdies and one eagle.

Carla Tejedo also shot under par on the final day, posting a 1-under par 71 to finish at 6-over 294. She just missed a second consecutive top 20 finish, finishing in a tie for 21st (76-72-75-71).

LSU played the final round without junior Latanna Stone who was under the weather. LSU counted a 77 from Elsa Svensson and an 81 from Jess Bailey. Svensson moved up 20 places in the final individual standings to T69.

The eight match play qualifiers were Stanford at +9, Oregon +12, Texas A&M +14, UCLA +15, Auburn +23, Florida State +27, San Jose State +29 and Georgia +30.

LSU posted a final round of 11-over 299 to finish five shots our a qualifying, a combined six strokes total over the two NCAA appearances.

“At the end of the day there are only going to be eight teams that are happy and at the end of this there is only going to be one team happy,” LSU women’s golf coach Garrett Runion said. “I’m proud of the year we had, three wins, SEC championships. To make it here and to be around the cut two years in a row is a good thing.

“(Director of LSU Golf Chuck Winstead) and I always talk we don’t a want a good team, we want a good program,” Runion said. “To be a good program you got to be around it year-after-year. We are doing that. The difference is last year we felt we played really well to be where they were. This year we know we are better than what we showed. All-in-all, it was a great year and we can use it as motivation for next year.”

Rose Zhang of Stanford won the individual title with a 6-under 282, three shots better than Natasha Andrea Oon of San Jose State at 3-under 285. Jennie Park of Texas A&M tied with Lindblad for third at 287. Lindblad posted rounds of 74-70-73-70.

LSU Individual Totals
Par 72-288
T3 Ingrid Lindblad 74-70-73-70 – 287 -1
T21 Carla Tejedo 76-72-75-71 – 294 +6
T69 Elsa Svensson 80-74-76-77 – 307 +19
76 Alden Wallace 73-78-78-82 – 311 +23
Xx Latanna Stone 73-75-77-xx
Xx Jess Bailey xx-xx-xx-81

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