TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
LSU’s women’s golf team posted the second-best score of the day and an LSU postseason record of 8-under par 272 on Wednesday to move up to third after 36 holes of the 54-hole NCAA Regional in Waco, Texas.
LSU trails leader SMU and second place Texas A&M as the Tigers are trying to advance for a school-record sixth straight NCAA Championships berth in Carlsbad, California. The top five from each of the six regional tournaments advance.
SMU posted an 11-under 269 to lead at 14-under 546, with Texas A&M at 8-under 554. LSU is five shots back at 1-under 559, which is four shots ahead of Oregon at 563. Host Baylor jumped back into a tie with Tulsa at 6-over 566. Tennessee is seventh at 8-over 568 with TCU at 11-over 571.
Freshman Ryleigh Knaub, who bogeyed four of the first five holes, birdied both par 5s and finished with five birdies in a 4-under par round of 66. It was her third 4-under par round as a Tiger.
“I guess I just went in with zero expectations,” Knaub said. “I know my game, and I just tried to play to the best of my ability. I knew it would work out. I think I missed one fairway all day. It was very different than (Monday). I think I hit like seven fairways. So huge difference. I could aim at pins and be aggressive.”
Knaub is at 1-over 141 for two rounds, moving up 26 spots to a tie for 18th place.
Sophomore Francesco Fiorellini continued her steady play after Monday’s 3-under 67 in the opening round with a 2-under round of 68 to stand in a tie for the individual lead in the tournament at 5-under par 135 (67-68). She is tied with Vanessa Borovilos of Texas A&M (66-69) and Kirra St. Laurent of SMU (71-64).
Fiorellini had a clean card with a birdie on the par-3 16th hole and the par-4 second hole, for the second straight day on the latter.
LSU also got a 2-under round of 68 from senior Taylor Riley, who posted five birdies to move up 18 spots in the standings after opening with a 75. Her round featured birdies on the par-3 fifth and the sixth hole on her second nine to get under par for the day.
It all proved to be a total team effort for the Tigers after Elsa Svensson birdied the ninth hole, her 18th, to get to 1-over for the day and assure that nothing over +1 would count for the team in the play 5, count 4 format. This allowed Josefin Widal to go for the green in two. Widal finished just over the green and two-putted for birdie to get LSU in one shot better with her even-par 70.
LSU starts at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Live scoring is available at scoreboard.clippd.com.
NCAA Waco Regional
Ridgewood Country Club – Waco, Texas
Second Round Team Results (Par 280-560)
NCAA Rankings in Parenthesis
1 SMU (No. 21) – 277-269 – 546 -14
2 Texas A&M (No. 4) – 280-274 – 554 -6
3 LSU (No. 36) – 287-272 – 559 -1
4 Oregon (No. 8) – 280-283 – 563 +3
T5 Baylor (No. 26) – 288-278 – 566 +6
T5 Tulsa (No. 49) – 286-280 – 566 +6
7 Tennessee (No. 16) – 282-286 – 568 +8
8 TCU (No. 42) – 295-276 – 571 +11
9 Tarleton State – 290-290 – 580 +20
10 Colorado – 292-291 – 583 +23
11 Prairie View A&M – 319-300 – 619 +59
12 Northern Arizona – 296-N/A
Individual Top 5 (Par 70-140)
T1 Vanessa Borovilos, Texas A&M (No. 11) – 66-69 – 135 -5
T1 Francesca Fiorellini, LSU (No. 70) – 67-68 – 135 -5
T1 Kirra St. Laurent, SMU – 71-64 – 135 -5
4 Kiara Romero, Oregon (No. 3) – 66-70 – 136 -4
5 Samantha Olson, Tulsa – 70-67 – 137 -3
LSU Scores
T1 Francesca Fiorellini – 67-68 – 135 -5
T18 Ryleigh Knaub – 75-66 – 141 +1
T23 Josefin Widal – 72-70 – 142 +2
T26 Taylor Riley – 75-68 – 143 +3
T31 Elsa Svensson – 73-71 – 144 +4
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