ABOVE VIDEO: Highlights from the Moon Invitational at Suntree Country Club hosted by the University of Louisville. The event featured a three-day, 54 hole event that brought in some of the best lady’s golfers in the collegiate ranks. 16 teams competed in the tournament but in the end LSU was crowned the team winner. Space Coast Daily’s Ron Lighthall was on scene for all of the action.
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – After starting the final round tied for the lead with Auburn, the No. 10 LSU women’s golf team posted six counting birdies in the final four holes and sprinted out to a 16-stroke win to successfully defend their title Tuesday in the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne.
The Tigers, under a sunny sky in Brevard County, posted a round of 11-under par 277, to finish 54 holes at 14-under 850 (283-290-277). LSU won by an amazing 16 shots over Auburn, which posted 5-over 293 on the day and finished the tournament at 2-over par 866 (282-291-293). Northwestern moved up a spot to third to finish at 5-over par 869 after posted a 2-under 286 on the last day.
Spots 4-6 were all SEC schools as Vanderbilt jumped to fourth with an 8-under 280 on the last day to finish at 6-over 870 with Texas A&M and Florida tying for fifth at 9-over par 873.
The win is the 56 team in the history of the LSU women’s golf team dating back to the 1979-80 season and the 13th under sixth-year head coach Garrett Runion.
“In my time, this is one of the biggest wins that we’ve had,” Coach Runion said.
“You had 12 of the 17 teams in the Top 25 in this tournament, including the No. 1 team. We got off to a hot start in the final round and kept our foot on the gas and finished. Especially coming after the Puerto Rico Invitational a few weeks ago where we got clipped by one, to come back and follow it up with a strong tournament was great.”
LSU finished as the tournament lead on the par 3s (Even) and par 4s (+1) and LSU was tied for the event lead in par 5s at 6-under. LSU led the tournament in birdies with 47.
Individually, grad. student Ingrid Lindblad and Aine Donegan both finished in a tie for second at 6-under par 210.
For Donegan, it was her best finish of her junior season after two ninth place finishes in the fall as she posted three under par rounds of 70-69-71. The native of Ireland had four birdies in the first 11 holes, settling into shoot 1-under 71 as she finished with a tournament co-high 14 birdies.
Lindblad, who has finished no worse than T% in five tournaments this season with two wins, played the first 12 holes in even par before recording birdies on four of the last six holes to post 32 on the inward nine and finish at 4-under 68.
The native of Sweden had rounds of 70-72-68 for her 6-under 210 as she led the field in scoring on the par 4 holes at 5-under par. For Lindblad it is her 38th top 10 in 45 events as a collegiate player and her 29th top five finish.
Grad. Student Latanna Stone posted her 19th career top 10 effort with a solid round of 69 with a clean card that featured three birdies, two of them on par 3 holes (3 and 7). Stone finished in a tie for eighth place at 1-under 215 (70-73-72).
Carla Tejedo closed with a 3-under 69 over the Suntree Country Club Classic Course with five birdies on the afternoon and a three-day total of even par 216 (73-74-69).
The Tigers counted four under par scores on the final day in winning the event.
“I’m especially proud of how Aine (Donegan) played, especially on Monday when it was cold, windy and rainy,” he said. “That strong second round really carried us and put into a good position of being tied for the lead heading into the final round. To have four rounds under par today, three of them in the 60s and three finish in the top 10 with another just one stroke out of the top 10 shows how consistent, deep and capable we are when on form. We won’t always be on form, but we were (Tuesday) when it was needed.”
Moon Golf Invitational
Melbourne, Florida – Suntree Country Club
Second Round Team Results (288-576-864)
1 LSU – 283-290-277 – 850 -14
2 Auburn – 282-291-293 – 866 +2
3 Northwestern – 291-292-286 – 869 +5
4 Vanderbilt – 295-295-280 – 870 +6
T5 Texas A&M – 290-298-285 – 873 +9
T5 Florida – 291-288-294 – 873 +9
7 Louisville – 286-306-282 – 874 +10
8 Florida State – 296-295-286 – 877 +13
9 Clemson – 292-303-283 – 878 +14
10 Ole Miss – 287-303-289 – 879 +15
11 Arkansas – 289-298-294 – 881 +17
12 Wake Forest – 290-304-290 – 884 +20
T13 Duke – 295-312-281 – 888 +24
T13 Alabama – 297-305-286 – 888 +24
15 Augusta – 297-301-295 – 893 +29
16 UCF – 298-303-294 – 895 +31
17 Virginia Tech – 288-310-300 – 898 +3
Individual Top 5 (Par 72-144-216)
1 Maisie Filler, Florida – 66-69-72 – 207 -9
T2 Aine Donegan, LSU – 70-69-71 – 210 -6
T2 Ingrid Lindblad, LSU – 70-72-69 – 210 -6
T4 Rachel Kuehn, Wake Forest – 71-72-69 – 212 -4
T4 Adela Cernousek, Texas A&M – 67-75-70 – 212 -4
LSU Scores
T2 Aine Donegan – 70-69-71 – 210 -6
T2 Ingrid Lindblad – 70-72-68 –210 -6
T8 Latanna Stone – 71-75-69 – 215 -3
T12 Carla Tejedo – 73-74-69 – 216 E
T51 Jordan Fischer – 72-77-75 – 224 +8
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