TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
WACO, Texas – The old saying about golf tournaments is that they can’t be won on the first day, but you can put yourself in a position where it can be very difficult to come back from.
The LSU women’s golf team put themselves in a good position after the first round of the NCAA Waco Regional Monday at Ridgewood Country Club on a cool, blustery day with a 7-over round of 287 that puts them in sixth going to Tuesday’s second round.
The Tigers, in their seventh straight NCAA regional appearance, are looking to finish in the top five at event’s end on Wednesday to advance to the NCAA Championship tournament in Carlsbad, California later this month.
LSU is one shot behind fifth place Tulsa at 6-over 286. SMU leads the competition at 3-under par 277 with Texas A&M and Oregon tied for second at even par 280. Tennessee is fourth at 2-over 282.
LSU, is one shot up on host Baylor, which is seventh after a 288 with Tarleton State at 10-over par 290 in eighth.
The LSU round was helped tremendously by the strong play of Rome, Italy, sophomore Francesca Fiorellini, who posted a 3-under round of 67. Fiorellini, who transferred from UCLA prior to the 2025-26 season, had five birdies on her round with a chip-in from the bunker on her second hole – the par 4 11th.
“I hit a drive a little right, it wasn’t that bad,” she said. “I thought it was okay, but I had some trees. So, I just punched it, but it went super long in the bunker. It was a super hard shot – down everything. And I made it. It was a great shot.”
Fiorellini put herself in great position with birdie on the par 4 18th and then on the par 4 first and second holes to open her last nine.
“I just took advantage of the holes that were downwind. They were short clubs in and I hit it pretty close,” she said.
Fiorellini is in a tie for fourth after 18 holes with Celine Chen of SMU at 3-under 67. Three players finished the day at 4-under 66 – Kyra Van Kan of Tennessee, Kiara Romero of Oregon and Vanessa Borovilos of Texas A&M.
In all, eight players in the field of 65 broke par on a day that was cooler and featured a strong at times north wind, the complete opposite of Sunday’s practice round. The scoring average for the par 70, 6,094-yard venue for the field was 3.4 strokes over par at 73.38.
LSU also counted a 2-over 72 from sophomore Josefin Widal, a 3-over from graduate student Elsa Svensson and 5-over 75s from Ryleigh Knaub and Taylor Riley.
Widal replaced sophomore Rocio Tejedo, who is under the weather.
Coach Garrett Runion, who is looking to extend a school record streak by taking the Tigers to the NCAA Championships for a sixth consecutive year, felt good about his team’s start.
“In the middle there, they got it going and played really well,” Runion said. “I was proud of our freshman (Ryleigh Knaub). Francesca played solidly all day long, highlighted by her bunker shot on her second hole of the day. That kind of got her momentum going. I thought Josefin played well all day, considering she found out she was going to be in the lineup just the night before. She had two bogeys coming in on the tougher holes, but ended up being our second-best score of the day.
“It always comes down to one stroke, and the shots we hit today are going to matter just as much as the next two days. So trying to save every shot we can is very important. All-in-all, we’re in a good spot for the next two days to advance.”
Statistically, the Tigers were fourth in the field on the par 4 holes at 6-over par (4.10) with three of those bogeys coming on the par 4 eighth hole, which played as the fifth toughest hole of the day. LSU is tied for fifth at 3.10 in par three scoring (+2) and tied for second with 13 birdies.
Individually, Fiorellini played the par three holes in 1-under and the par 4 holes in 2-under par. Her five birdies are tied for third.
LSU will play with Tennessee and Tulsa in the second round, again off the 10th tee at 8 a.m. Tuesday. The weather is forecast to be cool again at the start but with plenty of sunshine. Winds will be light.
Live scoring for the Waco Regional is available at scoreboard.clippd.com.
NCAA WACO REGIONAL
Ridgewood Country Club – Waco, Texas
First Round Team Results – Par 280
(NCAA/Scoreboard Ranking in Parenthesis)
1 SMU (No. 21) – 277 -3
T2 Texas A&M (No. 4) – 280 Even
T2 Oregon (No. 8) – 280 Even
4 Tennessee (No. 16) – 282 +2
5 Tulsa (No. 49) – 286 +6
6 LSU (No. 36) – 287 +7
7 Baylor (No. 26) – 288 +8
8. Tarleton State – 290 +10
9 Colorado – 292 +12
10 TCU – 295 +15
11 Northern Arizona – 296 +16
12 Prairie View A&M – 319 +39
Top 5 Individuals (Par 70)
T1 Vanessa Borovilos, Texas A&M – 66 -4
T1 Kiara Romero, Oregon – 66 -4
T1 Kyra Van Kan, Tennessee – 66 -4
T4 Francesca Fiorellini, LSU – 67 -3
T4 Celine Chen, SMU – 67 -3
LSU Scores
T4 Francesca Fiorellini – 67 -3
T21 Josefin Widal – 72 +2
T29 Elsa Svensson – 73 +3
T44 Ryleigh Knaub – 75 +5
T44 Taylor Riley – 75 +5
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