Tubert third, women's golf wins

BATON ROUGE, La. – Freshman Emily Tubert shot up the leaderboard with her second consecutive subpar round leading the No. 26 University of Arkansas women’s golf team to the title at the LSU Golf Classic in Baton Rouge, La., Sunday.

Arkansas shot a final round one-under 287, 18 strokes better than the first round, and was the only team under par on the final day at the University Club Course, a par 72, 6,194-yard facility just off campus.

The Razorbacks won the event shooting 24-over 888 with rounds of 305-296-287 for the three-day event. They were seven strokes better than second-place No. 7 Virginia with 895, and had every player match or better her previous round score.

"We kind of had a slow start this spring but despite that, this team kept believing in each other," Arkansas head coach Shauna Estes-Taylor said. "We have continued to work hard and we’ve talked a lot about ‘attitude equals altitude’ and that if we had the right attitude that our scores would move up the leaderboard. I’m so proud of this team."

Tubert finished third overall shooting three-over 219 for the weekend. She opened play with a 78 but went low with a 70 on Saturday and a 71 in the final round. She was one stroke off the leaders, Lindy Duncan of Duke and AnnKarin Ljungstrom of Louisville, who were co-medalists with 218.

Tubert began her day on hole 1B and birdied the third and fifth holes. She carded a four on the par five 496 third hole and counted two moving to two-under after the fifth.

Her scorecard remained uncluttered until a bogey on the par four, 327 yard 15th hole and that’s how she finished.

Senior Kelli Shean and sophomore Victoria Vela also played well down the stretch and the duo tied for seventh overall with 222. Shean, a Cape Town, South Africa, native finished with a one-under 71 in the final round moving from a tie for 22nd overall into the top 10. Shean finished with rounds of 77-74-71 for 222.

Shean began her round on the second hole in the shotgun start and played the front nine two-over. She made the turn with a birdie on the 380 yard, par four 10th hole and dropped two more strokes on the 14th and 15th holes finishing one under for the day.

Vela was tied for 11th overall after the second round and played one-over Sunday. She was able to birdie the 14th and the 18th holes in the third strong finish of the day. Vela shot 76-73-73 for 222.

Redshirt freshman Emma Lavy and senior Corinna Rees tied for 43rd overall. Lavy moved up five spots on the last day and Rees was up 22 spots.

Lavy shot a final round 76 pairing with 74-82 for 232. Rees opened with an 81 and improved with each round, 81-79-72, for 232.

"The last four holes of this golf course are very difficult and I think we out-coached and out-played the field today," Estes-Taylor said. "I’m really proud to win against such a great field and we are all going to enjoy this win for a while.

"This was a total team effort for the entire weekend," Estes-Taylor continued. "Emma really kept us in it on the first round and the rest of the team rallied all weekend."

The Razorbacks won the event with an 888, followed by No. 7 Virginia with an 895. Top-ranked Alabama was tied for third with 18 Tennessee and No. 4 Duke who all counted 900.

Host and fifth-ranked LSU was sixth with 902 followed by No. 17 Wake Forest with 909, No. 25 Texas A&M with 910, North Carolina State with 911 and No.42 Louisville rounding out the top with 914, in the 21-team field.

The Razorbacks return to campus to prepare for the Mountain View Collegiate, March 25-26, in Tucson, Ariz.