The LSU women’s golf team began their spring season with a fourth-place finish at the Puerto Rico Classic, held at the Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. The event concluded on Monday after teams completed 36 holes before inclement weather arrived later in the day.
LSU finished with an even-par round of 288 on the final day, ending the tournament at 14-under par 850. The team recorded rounds of 283, 279, and 288 over three days. Arkansas won the tournament with a score of 23-under par 841. Ole Miss and Vanderbilt tied for second place at 17-under par 847, while LSU was two strokes ahead of North Carolina, which finished fifth.
Sophomore Rocio Tejedo led LSU individually by tying for fifth place after posting rounds of 72, 68, and 70 for a total of six-under par 210. She had four birdies in her final round and played the last seven holes at three-under par. Reagan Southerland (North Carolina), Jiarui Chen (Kansas State), and Abbey Schutte (Arkansas) shared medalist honors at ten-under par 206.
Other notable performances for LSU included sophomore Francesca Fiorellini’s one-under-par round of 71 on Monday, finishing two-under for the tournament at 214. Senior Taylor Riley tied for fifteenth place with a three-under total of 213 after rounds of 67, 72, and 74. Freshman Ryleigh Knaub contributed a one-over-par round of 73 in the final round.
LSU ranked tied for fifth on par-3 holes at even par, fourth on par-4s at five-over, and tied for third on par-5s at ten-under. The team made the second-most pars (196) among all teams and had only one double bogey during the event.
Tejedo was tied for third in scoring on par-5 holes at five under and recorded thirteen birdies during the tournament—the fourth highest among all players in the field.
Riley registered forty-three pars to tie for second among participants; Fiorellini had forty-two pars to tie for fifth. Riley also limited her mistakes to just four bogeys throughout play.
“It’s a very solid start to the spring,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. “I’m most proud of the fact we had three team rounds of par or better. We had really clean scorecards with limited mistakes. We had one double bogey the entire tournament which led the field. I was really happy to see Rocio with a top five finish with three rounds of par or better. It was great to see her back on form and playing as we know she is capable of. Taylor got us started Sunday with a bogey free 67 in the opening round and only having one bogey in the first 36 holes was pretty impressive. Francesca also had three rounds of par or better for us. It was a very consistent effort for our team. It keeps us motivated and hungry heading to the Moon Golf Invitational.”
The next event for LSU will be the Moon Golf Invitational from February 15–17 at Suntree Country Club in Melbourne, Florida.
Final team standings placed Arkansas first (841), followed by Ole Miss (847), Vanderbilt (847), LSU (850), North Carolina (852), Kansas State (857), Northwestern (859), Michigan State (861), North Florida (862), Purdue (863), North Texas (865), Iowa (869), Minnesota/UNCW tied at thirteenth (874 each), Iowa State (878), Michigan (887), Furman (889) and Georgia Southern (892).
Individually, Reagan Southerland, Jiarui Chen, and Abbey Schutte shared first place; Kajsalotta Svarvar finished fourth; Rocio Tejedo tied fifth along with Dianna Lee and Reagan Zibilski.
LSU individual scores were: Rocio Tejedo T5 (-6); Taylor Riley T15 (-3); Francesca Fiorellini T24 (-2); Ryleigh Knaub T36 (+1); Lucia Iraola T59 (+5); Josefin Widal T73 (+7).
