Lindblad, Tejedo help LSU go wire to wire while taking team crown in Moon Invitational

   If you’re a Southeastern Conference team, there is no greater consolation prize in a season that does not end in an NCAA crown than a conference championship.

   Three of the four semifinalists in the match-play bracket of the SEC Championship at the Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala. last spring were among the top four finishers in this week’s Moon Golf Invitational, which wrapped up Tuesday at Suntree Country Club’s Classic Course in Melbourne, Fla.

   Last spring’s SEC champion, LSU, went wire to wire to capture the team crown in the Moon with a 30-under-par 834 total. The Bayou Tigers moved up three spots in the latest Golfstat rankings from No. 9 to No. 6 with their third tournament victory of the wraparound 2022-2023.

    LSU was led by reigning individual SEC champion Ingrid Lindblad, a senior from Sweden and No. 2 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Carla Tejedo, a junior from Spain, both of whom finished among a group of five players tied for fifth place in the individual standings at 8-under 208 over Suntree’s 6,362-yard, par-72 Classic Course layout.

   The Bayou Tigers took control of the team chase from the outset as they backed up an opening round of 12-under 276 with a 14-under 274, the best team round of the tournament, in Monday’s second round. LSU’s final round of 4-under 284 was more than good enough to hold off Big Ten power Northwestern by nine shots for the team crown.

   The spring portion of Northwestern’s season is off to a great start as the Wildcats were ranked No. 37 going into their spring opener at the UCF Challenge, where they finished in third place, and moved all the way up to No. 19 in the wake of their runnerup finish in the Moon.

   Northwestern added an 8-under 280 in Monday’s second round to their opening-round 281 before closing with a 6-under 282.

   Florida, which lost to LSU in the SEC final at Greystone last spring, was another three shots behind Northwestern in third place with an 18-under 846 total. The Gators, who improved from No. 34 to No. 26 in the Golfstat rankings with their showing in the Moon, opened with a 7-under 281 and added a 283 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 282.

   Auburn, which fell to Florida in the SEC semifinals at Greystone last spring, finished another three shots behind the Gators in the Moon with a 15-under 849 total. After opening with a 7-under 281, the Tigers took it a little lower in Monday’s second round with a 10-under 278 that made them LSU’s closest pursuer going into Tuesday’s final round.

   Auburn, which moved up a couple of spots in the Golfstat rankings from No. 17 to No. 15 in the aftermath of the Moon, struggled a little in the final round with a 2-over 290.

   It was Auburn, however, that made the deepest run of the four SEC semifinalists in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., reaching the semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Stanford.

   LSU advanced to Grayhawk by finishing in a tie for second place with the host Cardinal in the NCAA Stanford Regional, but never got it going in the NCAA Championship. Lindblad, however, finished in a tie for third place in the individual standings.

   Florida’s postseason ran out of steam in the Albuquerque Regional, where the Gators failed to advance as a two seed.

   Michigan State, one of Northwestern’s Big Ten rivals, finished a shot behind Auburn in fifth place in the Moon with a 14-under 850 total as the Spartans closed with the best round of the day in Tuesday’s final round with a 12-under 276. Michigan State, which moved up a couple of spots in the Golfstat rankings from No. 41 to No. 39 in the aftermath of the Moon, had opened with a 3-under 285 before adding a 1-over 289 in Monday’s second round.

   Michigan State’s final-round surge was sparked by Leila Raines, a junior from Galena, Ohio who fired a sizzling 7-under 65 that put her in a playoff with Augusta’s Mirabel Ting, a freshman from Malaysia, for the individual title, each landing on 13-under 203. Raines had recorded back-to-back 3-under 69s in the first two rounds and her 203 total matched the program record for a 54-hole tournament.

   Ting dropped a 54-foot putt on the second hole of the playoff to claim the individual crown.

   Clemson, out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, finished four shots behind Michigan State in sixth place with a 10-under 854 total. The ACC’s Tigers – lot of Tigers roaming around in Melbourne this week – opened with a solid 9-under 279 and matched par in Monday’s second round with a 288 before closing with a 1-under 287.

   Clemson also got a little bump in the rankings, moving up from No. 37 to No. 33 with its performance in the Moon.

   The four teams that finished in a tie for seventh place in the 17-team field at 9-under 855 – the SEC’s Arkansas and Vanderbilt, reigning Big Ten champion Michigan and Central Florida, out of the American Athletic Conference – all fell, at least a little in the Golfstat rankings in the aftermath of pretty solid showings in the Moon.

   Arkansas, which fell from No. 25 to No. 31, added a 4-under 284 in Monday’s second round to its opening-round 285 before closing with a 2-under 286.

   After opening with a 6-under 282, Vanderbilt, which slipped a spot from No. 19 to No. 20, added a 286 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 1-under 287.

   Michigan, which fell a spot from No. 33 to No. 34, added a solid 10-under 278 in Monday’s second round to its opening-round 286 before slipping back a little in the final round with a 3-over 291.

   UCF, which fell from No. 21 to No. 25, got off to a good start with a 10-under 278 and added a 284 in Monday’s second round before falling back in the final round with a 6-over 294.

   LSU’s Tejedo had the individual lead going into Tuesday’s final round after adding a 68 in Monday’s second round to her sizzling opening round of 6-under 66 with Lindblad part of a group of four players tied for second place, a shot behind her teammate, after Lindblad added a 5-under 67 in Monday’s second round to her opening-round 68.

   Tejedo struggled to a 2-over 74 in the final round while Lindblad, the low amateur in last spring’s U.S. Women’s Open at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., closed with a 1-over 73 as they finished among a group of five players tied for fifth place at 8-under 208.

   Backing up the top two for the Bayou Tigers were Latanna Stone, a senior from Riverview, Fla. and No. 35 in the Women’s WAGR, and Aina Donegan, a sophomore from Ireland, both of whom landed in the group tied for 13^th place at 5-under 211.

   Stone and Lindblad both contended for the title in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship before ending up in a tie for second place behind California teen Anna Davis. Stone was a member of the U.S. team that defeated Great Britain & Ireland, 15.5-4.5 at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course last summer.

   To sum up Lindblad’s spring of  2022, she finished in a tie for second place in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, won the SEC individual title, finished in a tie for third in the NCAA Championship’s individual chase and was low amateur at the U.S. Women’s Open. How good is that?

   After matching par in the opening round with a 72 at Suntree’s Classic Course, Stone carded a 71 in Monday’s second round before closing with her best round of the tournament, a 4-under 68.

   Donegan also matched par in the opening round before adding a 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round and closing with a 70.

   Rounding out the LSU lineup was Edit Hertzman, a freshman from Sweden who recorded back-to-back 2-under 70s in the first two rounds, both counters for the Bayou Tigers, before closing with a 1-over 73 to finish among the group tied for 23^rd place with a 3-under 213 total.

   Augusta’s Ting trailed LSU’s Tejedo by a shot going into the final round after adding a 5-under 67 in Monday’s second round to her opening-round 68. Another 68 in the final round enabled Ting to match Raines’ 13-under 203 total. When she holed out her 54-foot bomb on the second hole of the playoff, Ting had made her college debut a winning one.

   Florida State’s Lottie Woad, a freshman from England and No. 31 in the Women’s WAGR, finished alone in third place in the individual standings, three shots behind the top two with a 6-under 210 total. Woad had opened with a sparkling 6-under 66 and added a 69 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 1-under 71.

   Woad’s country woman and cross-state rival, Florida’s Annabell Fuller, No. 51 in the Women’s WAGR, finished a shot behind Woad in fourth place with a 9-under 207 total. Fuller matched Woad’s 66-69 start before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Fuller represented Great Britain & Ireland for the third time in last summer’s Curtis Cup Match at Merion.

   Fuller’s Florida teammate Jackie Lucena, a senior from Chico, Calif., Northwestern’s Lauryn Nguyen, a sophomore from Seattle, Wash. and Arkansas’ Kajal Mistry, a junior from South Africa, joined LSU’s Lindblad and Tejedo, in the group tied for fifth place at 8-under 208.

   After opening with a 3-under 69, Lucena added a 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round before finishing with a flourish, a sparkling 6-under 66.

   Nguyen sandwiched an even-par 72 in Monday’s second round with a pair of 4-under 68s. After opening with a 70, Mistry carded a pair of 3-under 69s in the final two rounds.

   Nguyen’s Northwestern teammate, Dianna Lee, a freshman from San Diego, gave the Wildcats another finisher inside the top 10 as she ended up in a tie for 10^th place with Auburn’s Casey Weidenfeld, a redshirt freshman from Pembroke Pines, Fla., and Michigan’s Hailey Borja, a senior from Lake Forest, Calif., each landing on 6-under 210.

   After opening with a 1-over 73, Lee posted a 70 in Monday’s second round before contributing a 5-under 67 to Northwestern’s strong final round.

   Weidenfeld matched par in the opening round with a 72 before registering a solid 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round and closing with a 70. Borja was under par in each round, adding a 3-under 69 to her opening-round 71 and finishing up with a 70.

   Vanderbilt sophomore Natasha Kiel, the New Hope native who was a standout at George School before finishing her scholastic career at the Montverde Academy in Florida, got off to a great start for the Commodores with a 3-under 69 in the opening round.

   Kiel struggled a little in the second round with a 6-over 78 before matching par in the final round with a 72 to finish in the group tied for 57^th place with a 3-over 219 total.