BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s golf team’s run to the East Lake Cup came up just short in the championship match as Southern California scored a 3.5-1.5 win over the Tigers in the finals Wednesday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Tigers officially will finish second in the three-day event after finishing second in the seeding round on Monday and then scoring a 3-2 win in the semifinals over Oregon to advance to the championship match.

LSU’s two freshmen got the points in the final match for the Tigers with Josefin Widal winning 4&3 over Kylie Chong; and Rocio Tejedo getting a half-a-point with Catherine Park of Southern California in a match stopped after 16 holes when USC reached the winning three-match total.

Widal, from Sweden, took the lead in her match, winning the par 5 sixth, the par 4 seventh, the par 3 ninth, the par 4 10th and par 3 11th to go from 1 Down to 4 UP in the match through 11 holes. Widal won all five holes with pars. In fact she parred the last nine holes of the match before clinching it with her par on the par 3 15th hole.

Tejedo and USC’s Catherine Park had some tremendous play going in the third match on the course. Park won the opening par five with a birdie but a par on the par 3 second got Tejedo right back to even. It stayed that way until the 12th hole, including two holes when both players had birdie threes.

On the 12th, a birdie three followed by a par on 13 got Tejedo a 2UP lead, before Park birdied 15 and 16 to get the match back to tied. The match was on the 17th green when USC reached the needed three points, leaving the match all square.

“It was a tough way to end the fall, but proud of the ladies for the way they played the first two days to put us in a position to have a chance to win the East Lake Cup,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion. I was really impressed by our two freshmen, Rocio Tejedo and Josefin Widal. They gained some valuable experience for postseason.

“Overall, it was a solid fall. Two seconds and a third in four tournaments. There is a lot to build off as we head into a break before we prepare for the spring.”

LSU finished second in both the East Lake Cup and the Cougar Classic and posted a strong third in The Blessings Collegiate.

Tejedo finished third in the individual competition on Monday at East Lake with a 3-under round of 69.

LSU’s spring golf season begins on Feb. 2 when the team travels to Puerto Rico for the Puerto Rico Classic at Grand Reserve Golf Club, before attempting to win for the third straight year the Moon Golf Invitational at Melbourne, Florida on Feb. 16.

March will feature three events – the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, the Betsy Rawls event at Austin and the traditional closing stop at Sunset, South Carolina for the Clemson Invitational.

EAST LAKE CUP
East Lake Golf Club – Atlanta, Texas
Championship Match
Southern California 3.5, LSU 1.5
Jasmine Koo (USC) d. Aine Donegan (LSU), 2UP
Xin (Cindy) Kou (USC) d. Taylor Riley (LSU), 4&2
Rocio Tejedo (LSU) vs. Catherine Park (USC), All Square
Josefin Widal (LSU) d. Kylie Chong (USC), 4&3
Bailey Shoemaker (USC) d. Elsa Svensson (LSU), 6&4