LSU women’s golf misses advancing to NCAA national championship match play by a single stroke

One shot.

That’s what kept LSU women’s golf team in Monday’s final round of medal play in the Division I NCAA women’s championship at Grayhawk Golf Course Raptor Course from finishing in the top eight and advancing to Tuesday’s match play in Scottsdale, Az.

“That’s golf,” LSU coach Garrett Runion said. “We hit 1,174 shots and it comes down to one.”

It was a stomach-churning way for the Tigers’ season to end after shooting a 2-over par round of 290 (tied for the second best single round in LSU NCAA play) and a 72-hole total of 1,174, just one shot off the best 72-hole school score of 1,173 in 2012. (296-292-296-290).

The match play teams are Stanford, Duke, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Texas, Auburn, Arizona State and Arizona. Stanford’s Rachel Heck won the individual championship at 8-under 280, one shot better than UCLA’s Emma Spitz.

LSU sophomore All-American Ingrid Lindblad had her best round of the tournament at the end, making six birdies to post 2-under 70. She moved up 26 spots in the final standings to finish tied for 44th at 7-over 295.

“I started off and missed the green on 10 and made a great up and down for par,” Lindblad said after the round. “Then I just hit it close on 11, 12, 13 and 14 (all birdies). Overall, I feel like I hit better putts. The other days I’ve just been missing a touch short and having a tap in but today I got the putts to the hole and gave myself a chance.”

LSU’s Carla Tejedo Mulet posted a 1-under 71 and finished tied for 20th at 3-over 291. The Tigers got a a 2-over 74 from Kendall Griffin and 3-over 75s from Latanna Stone and Alden Wallace. Stone finished inside the top 50 tied for 49th at 8-over 296.

“The ladies played great, they did what they needed to do,” Runion said. “We had our best round of the week when we had to, to give ourselves an opportunity.

“The team did so many great and amazing things this year. It doesn’t feel like it when you don’t have a trophy at the end to show for it. They should be very proud of themselves. I know I’m proud of them. We’ve got some sad girls over there but that’s just because they care. They want to win.”