CARLSBAD, California \u2014 It may already be time for the second morning cup of coffee by now, but it\u2019s the return of Geaux Lowe from the NCAA Championship as we wait for LSU women\u2019s golf and their second round which begins at 1:07 p.m. PT (3:07 p.m. in Baton Rouge).<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s a few notes, quotes and thoughts as the day begins here in Carlsbad \u2026<\/p>\n
I was discussing with Coach Garrett Runion Thursday about his team\u2019s school record six straight NCAA Championship appearances and the thing that struck me was his comment: \u201cIt\u2019s very special to make it here one time \u2026\u201d Later that night, that comment resonated with me and the reason it did is that it\u2019s and all or nothing thing to get here.<\/p>\n
You can win every tournament in the fall and spring, but if you don\u2019t play good enough on three days in May at an NCAA regional, you don\u2019t get to Carlsbad. There\u2019s another saying of coaches when it comes to regionals that means nothing but means so much if you\u2019ve hung around college golf. It is \u201cRegionals are going to regional.\u201d<\/p>\n
You never know what you are going to get. Courses you might or might not have seen. A week when your team isn\u2019t its sharpest or that week when scores are too low for your team to get any traction.<\/p>\n
It always happens at regionals. Something wacky. A team that doesn\u2019t make it that was a lock to make it.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what makes this school record sixth straight appearance for LSU so important and gratifying for this coaching staff and payers. They played some of their best golf the final two rounds of the Waco Regional and then came back and posted a solid, steady even par round in the first round of the Championships on Friday.<\/p>\n
Best golf at the right time of the year? We will find out.<\/p>\n
Familiar Faces
Sometimes the regional sites allow you to reconnect with old golfing friends who are former Tigers. Alden Wallace, who has played in the championships, came to LSU\u2019s selection show activities when she was in Baton Rouge a few weeks ago and in Waco it was great to see Rebecca Kuhn Butler and Kim Meck Noonan, who came out to see the latest generation of Tigers.<\/p>\n
Then there is Michelle Louviere Riley, Taylor Riley\u2019s mom, who is watching her daughter\u2019s final tournament here in Carlsbad, just up from home in San Diego. Michelle was part of the \u201cThree Amigas\u201d of the mid-1990s of Ashley Winn, Laura Moore and Michelle Louviere, who started a nice run of NCAA appearances under Coach Karen Bahnsen with top 10 finishes in 1996 and 1998.<\/p>\n
Also wandering the cart paths and rough watching proudly is Taylor\u2019s father, Chris Riley, who had a very good PGA career, Ryder Cup member and college head coach. It\u2019s been great visiting and reacquainting with Michelle and Chris the past few years and I know that they are so proud of Taylor, who received her LSU degree just a week ago.<\/p>\n
Distance \u2013 Up or Down
It appeared in the practice round on Thursday some of the tee boxes were moved back and the listed yardage in the participation manual was 6,373, up from 6,297 the last two years.<\/p>\n
However, the scorecard today that Scoreboard used on live scoring was just 6,271, 26 yards shorter than a year ago. Word was the tees on the par 3 16th hole and the par 5 18th were moved up a bit. The back nine has always been shorter, but Friday the final nine was just 3,053, compared to 3,218 for the front nine.<\/p>\n
The par 3 12th played at its middle distance of 166 yards and 16 (130) and 18 (475) at its shortest distances. It will be interesting to see what the next couple days look like in terms of layout.<\/p>\n
Remember, LSU starts on the back nine this afternoon.<\/p>\n
Brian Stubbs
I realized today how much I miss swapping stories with Brian Stubbs, one of the directors of the Haskins Foundation, which is the supervisor of the ANNIKA Award which Ingrid Lindblad won two years ago.<\/p>\n
Brian passed away recently and his absence in the media room at La Costa is very apparent. I cast my ANNIKA vote Thursday and I wanted to hear those words I always heard from Brian \u201cThank you for voting.\u201d<\/p>\n
I will never forget when Ingrid won in 2024. She was an overwhelming winner, but because of Annika Sorenstam\u2019s schedule, the Golf Channel and Stubbs needed to tape the ceremony a day ahead of normal. It might have been hours before the ballot box closes, but that\u2019s how big a winner Ingrid was. We snuck Ingrid and the needed people from the network and Sorenstam into a room at La Costa and went through it like it was live.<\/p>\n
Then we invited Brian and his group to present the award in Tiger Stadium that fall. I\u2019ve never seen a happier guy as he I think visited every part of the stadium enjoying his night and being on the field to present the award.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a thought. LSU is playing in a brand new event during the 2026-27 season that mirrors the men\u2019s event that is held in Augusta, Georgia. Why not name it the Brian Stubbs Invitational? This man has done a heck of a lot for college golf. We are going to miss him and I will think of him every year I post my ANNIKA vote. Thank you, Brian.<\/p>\n
A Few Final Thoughts
There was some low scoring yesterday in the opening round at La Costa as seven teams finished in the red with under par numbers. Conditions were pretty good on Friday. Now Saturday brings some interesting possibilities.<\/p>\n
First, the 15 teams that finished late Friday, start first on Saturday. So, in the first hour after LSU tees off on No. 10 at a little after 3 p.m. Baton Rouge time, we will have a good idea where things stand as far as early potential cut numbers. The Tigers just need to keep moving forward and continue to show the patience that they showed many times on Friday.<\/p>\n
Ryleigh Knaub got in a bad situation on 15 after having to take an unplayable off the tee. She hit a great approach and walked off with bogey. That was important. If she had tried to play it out of the muck it could have gone anywhere and could have brought double and triple into play. She took her bogey, moved on, and finished at even par.<\/p>\n
Taylor Riley doubled 14 after getting in some trouble off the tee. Again, took her medicine and didn\u2019t make it worse and finished at even par 72.<\/p>\n
Francesca Fiorellini could have pressed after bogeys on the first two holes. The next 16 holes \u2013 15 pars and a birdie.<\/p>\n
This is a course that you take what it gives you. Don\u2019t over play certain holes and know when you can attack. LSU did what it needed to do on Friday. Now time to rinse and repeat this afternoon.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll have reports on \u201cX\u201d during the round and a complete recap at LSUSports.net. Thanks for \u201cGeauxing Lowe\u201d with me and we\u2019ll have more down the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARLSBAD, California \u2014 It may already be time for the second morning cup of coffee by now, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[235,44,237,238,236,234,233,113,239],"class_list":["post-779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-geaux-tigers","tag-golf","tag-homepage-feature-headline","tag-latest-news","tag-louisiana","tag-louisiana-state-university","tag-lsu","tag-lsu-tigers","tag-women-s-golf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}