Lindblad, Donegan help LSU pull away from Auburn to claim team crown in Moon Golf Invitational

 

   The Moon Golf Invitational, hosted by Louisville at the Suntree Country Club’s Classic Course in Melbourne, Fla. turned into another chapter in a rivalry between a pair of Southeastern Conference Tigers, LSU, the Bayou Tigers, and Auburn, the Plains Tigers, that might run all the way to the NCAA Championship in May at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s Champions Course in Carlsbad, Calif.

   The Moon Golf Invitational was originally scheduled to start Sunday and run through Tuesday, but with a lousy weather forecast for Sunday, when the players finished their practice rounds around noon Saturday, tournament officials sent them out to play the first round of the tournament.

   Sunday was, as predicted, a total washout. The weather wasn’t great for Monday’s second round, but everybody sloshed through the rain. By the time Monday’s second round was completed LSU and Auburn were tied at the top of the team standings at 3-under par over the 6,503-yard, par-72 Classic Course layout at Suntree.

   But behind Ingrid Lindblad, a graduate student from Sweden and the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Aine Donegan, a junior from Ireland and No. 93 in the Women’s WAGR, LSU pulled away from Auburn and the rest of the field with a final round of 11-under 277 to cruise to a 16-shot victory over the Plains Tigers with a 14-under 850 total.

   LSU, the defending champion in the Moon Golf Invitational, had opened with a solid 5-under 283 in Saturday’s opening round before the rain arrived and gutted out a 2-over 290 in what, judging from a couple of still pictures I saw on the Wake Forest website, were just dreadful conditions.

   Lindblad was low LSU in Tuesday’s final round with a solid 4-under 68 and Latanna Stone, a graduate student from Riverview, Fla. and No. 21 in the Women’s WAGR, and Carla Tejedo, a senior from Spain, each added a 3-under 69 to spark the final-round surge by the Bayou Tigers.

   Lindblad had opened with a 2-under 70 and matched par in Monday’s difficult conditions with a 72. Her final-round 68 left her with a 6-under 210 total and in a tie for second place in the individual standings with her teammate Donegan.

   Donegan was the darling of the U.S. Women’s Open at the iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links last summer when she opened with a 3-under 69 that included a hole-out for eagle on the par-4 15^th hole. Donegan couldn’t quite hold on for low-amateur honors, but she played the weekend in her first shot at a major championship and finished in a tie for 45^th place with a 9-over 297 total.

   At Suntree, a little rain never bothered an Irish woman and Donegan carded a 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round after she had opened with a 70. Donegan closed with a 1-under 71 to join her teammate Lindblad in the tie for second place at 6-under.

   Nobody was going to catch Florida’s Maisie Filler, a senior from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. and No. 60 in the Women’s WAGR, for the individual title.

   Filler captured the title in the Ione D. Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship, the match-play stop on the unofficial Orange Blossom Tour, last month at Coral Ridge Country Club in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. last month and the momentum from that win has carried over to the early part of the spring portion of the wraparound 2023-2024 college season.

   Filler opened at Suntree with a sparkling 6-under 66 and then matched Donegan for the low round in Monday’s miserable conditions with a 3-under 69. Filler matched par in the final round with a 72 for a 9-under 207 total that was three shots clear of Lindblad and Donegan.

   Auburn got off to a good start, opening with a solid 6-under 282, and added a 3-over 291 in Monday’s nasty weather to stay even with LSU. But the Plains Tigers couldn’t keep it up in Tuesday’s final round as they closed with a 5-over 293, although their 2-over 866 total was still good enough to earn them a runnerup finish, 16 shots behind the Bayou Tigers.

   No Auburn player finished in the top 10 at Suntree, but a lineup that includes two players in the Women’s WAGR top 10, No. 7 Megan Schofill, the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion who is a fifth-year player from Monticello, Fla. , and No. 9 Anna Davis, the winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship as a 16-year-old in 2022 who joined the program just in time for the spring semester from Spring Valley, Calif., is certainly a force to be reckoned with.

   Throw in Casey Weidenfeld, a redshirt sophomore from Pembroke Pines, Fla. and No. 79 in the Women’s WAGR, and Auburn has some serious firepower.

   Schofill finished in a tie for 17^th place at 1-over 217, Weidenfeld ended up in a tie for 20^th at 2-over 218 and Davis landed in the group tied for 28^th at 4-over 220 in her second collegiate start. Not terrible, but I’m sure they left Suntree disappointed.

   LSU and Auburn went 2-3 a few weeks ago in the Purdue Puerto Rico Classic, separated by a shot. Arkansas, another SEC representative, edged LSU by a shot for the team crown.

   The only non-SEC team among the top six at Suntree was perennial Big Ten power Northwestern, which finished three shots behind Auburn in third place with a 5-over 869 total. After opening with a 3-over 291, the Wildcats added a 4-over 292 in Monday’s Big Ten weather before finishing up with a solid 2-under 286.

   Another SEC entry, Vanderbilt, closed with a strong 8-under 280, a final round bettered only by LSU, as the Commodores took fourth place, a shot behind Northwestern with a 6-over 870 total.

   Two more SEC teams, Texas A&M and Florida, finished in a tie for fifth place, each landing on 9-over 873, three shots behind Vanderbilt.

   Of the 13 SEC teams that received bids to the NCAA regionals last spring, none went further than Texas A&M, which reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. before falling to eventual national champion Wake Forest.

   After opening with a 2-over 290 at Suntree, the Aggies struggled to a 10-over 298 in Monday’s tough conditions before finishing up with a solid 3-under 285.

   Florida has to be feeling like there’s a cloud following it around. The Gators went out to California for the Therese Hession Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. and were greeted by an atmospheric river, although they got in three matches when the tournament switched to a match-play format to get as much out of the weekend as it could.

   With Filler taking the lead, Florida opened with a 3-over 291 and then matched par in Monday’s rain with a 288, the best team round of the day. The Gators closed with a 6-over 294 to join Texas A&M at 9-over.

   A couple of Atlantic Coast Conference teams, host Louisville and Florida State, accounted for the next two spots in the team standings, the Cardinals finishing in seventh place with a 10-over 874 total, just a shot behind Texas A&M and Florida, and the Seminoles ending up eighth in the loaded 17-team field with a 13-over 877 total, three shots behind Louisville.

   Louisville got off a nice start with a 2-under 286 and finished strong with a 6-under 282, but couldn’t overcome Monday’s tough conditions, struggling to a 306.

   Florida State added a 7-over 295 in Monday’s second round to its opening-round 296 before closing with a 2-under 286.

   The Seminoles were one of the last eight teams standing for match play in last spring’s NCAA Championship at Grayhawk, falling to ACC rival Wake Forest in a really tight quarterfinal match.

   Backing up Lindblad and Donegan for LSU was Stone, the runnerup to Schofill in the all-SEC U.S. Women’s Amateur final at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles last summer who finished among a foursome of players tied for eighth place at 1-under 215.

   Stone opened with a 1-under 71 and added a 3-over 75 in Monday’s rainy weather before contributing a 69 to the Bayou Tigers’ finishing kick.

   Tejedo’s final-round 69 left her in the group tied for 12^th place with an even-par 216 total for LSU. Tejedo had opened with a 2-over 73 before adding a 74 in Monday’s second round.

   Rounding out the LSU lineup was Jordan Fischer, a freshman from Germany who finished among the group tied for 51^st place with an 8-over 224 total. Fischer matched par in the opening round with a counting 72 and added a 77 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 3-over 75.

   Finishing in a tie for fourth place in the individual standings, two shots behind LSU’s Lindblad and Donegan, were Wake Forest’s Rachel Kuehn, a graduate student from Asheville, N.C. and No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR, and Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek, a junior from France and No. 70 in the Women’s WAGR, both of whom landed on 4-under 212.

   Kuehn, who went 3-0 in Wake Forest’s march to the national crown last spring at Grayhawk, matched par in the rain Monday with a 72 after opening with a 1-under 71 and finished up with a 3-under 69.

   Kuehn, Auburn’s Davis and LSU’s Stone participated in a practice session last month at Seminole and Broken Tree in South Florida for candidates for the United States team for this summer’s 43^rd Curtis Cup Match at Sunningdale Golf Club’s Old Course in Berkshire, England. Kuehn and Stone were teammates on the winning U.S. team in the Curtis Cup at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course in 2022 and Kuehn was also a member of a winning U.S. side in the Curtis Cup at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales in 2021.

   Wake Forest finished in 12^th place in the team standings with a 20-over 884 total. The Demon Deacons suffered some key losses for their national championship team, but with Kuehn’s leadership and experience, they will make themselves heard when it counts.

   Cernousek got off to a great start at Suntree with a sparkling 5-under 67 in the opening round. She stumbled a little in Monday’s challenging conditions with a 3-over 75 before finishing up with a solid 2-under 70.

   UCF’s Katie Poots, a freshman from Ireland, closed with a 3-under 69 to finish alone in sixth place, a shot behind Kuehn and Cernousek with a 3-under 212 total. Poots had opened with a 1-under 71 before adding a 1-over 73 in the rain in Monday’s second round.

   Florida State’s Mirabel Ting, a sophomore from Malaysia and No. 32 in the Women’s WAGR, finished a shot behind Poots in seventh place with a 2-under 214 total. Ting was steady, no matter the weather, as she matched par in the opening round with a 72 before recording back-to-back 1-under 71s in the final two rounds.

   Joining LSU’s Stone in the foursome tied for eighth place at 1-under were Ting’s Florida State teammate, Lottie Woad, a sophomore from England and No. 6 in the Women’s WAGR, Vanderbilt’s Celina Sattelkau, a graduate student from Germany and No. 62 in the Women’s WAGR, and Augusta’s Kennedy Carroll, a junior from Mount Pleasant, S.C.

   The talented Woad sandwiched a 1-over 73 in Monday’s difficult conditions with a pair of 1-under 71s as she gave Florida State two finishers inside the top eight.

   After opening with a 2-under 70 Sattelkau registered a 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72. Carroll also opened with a 2-under 70, matched par with a 72 in Monday’s dismal weather and finished up with a 1-over 73.

   It was a tough spring opener for another perennial ACC entry as Duke finished in a tie for 13^th place with SEC power Alabama, each landing on 24-over 888.

   The Blue Devils’ talented freshman Katie Li of Basking Ridge, N.J. closed with a solid 3-under 69 to finish in the group tied for 44^th place with a 7-over 223 total. Li had struggled in the first two rounds, adding a 78 in the rain in Monday’s second round to her opening-round 76.

   Junior Rylie Heflin, a Tower Hill product from Avondale, Chester County, struggled to an 80 in Monday’s difficult conditions after matching par in the opening round with a 72 before closing with a 2-over 74 to finish among the group tied for 62^nd place with a 226 total. Heflin captured the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur crown last summer at Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown.

   Senior Phoebe Brinker, who starred scholastically at Archmere Academy and is No. 54 in the Women’s WAGR, showed some rust at Suntree, struggling to an 83 in Monday’s rain after opening with a 78. She was a little more Phoebe Brinker-like in the final round with a 1-over 73 as she finished in a tie for 83^rd place with a 234 total.

   Pretty nice showing for graduate student Ami Gianchandani, competing as an individual for Auburn, as she joined her teammate Weidenfeld in the group tied for 28^th place with a 4-over 220 total.

   Gianchandani, a product of The Pingry School, transferred to Auburn for the extra year of eligibility granted to players who lost the spring of 2020 to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic after starring in the Ivy League at Yale. Gianchandani was at her best in the tough conditions of Monday’s second round as she matched par with a 72 in between a pair of 2-over 74s.