EUGENE, Ore. – Baylor’s Laura Lonardi finished ties for 27th place with a 54-hole score of 2-over-par 218 at the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship. Lonardi shot 3-over 75 in Sunday’s third round at Eugene Country Club, which ultimately cost her a tiebreaker to advance to Monday’s final round.
The top 15 teams and top nine individuals not on those teams advanced to the final round. Lonardi’s 54-hole score of 2-over was good enough to advance, but she lost the third-round score tiebreaker to three players also at 2-over. In an unusual twist, one of the players who advanced through the third-round score tiebreaker was BYU’s Kendra Dalton, who played her third round (70) on Thursday because BYU does not compete on Sundays. UC Davis’ Andrea Wong (67) and Florida’s Kelly Grassel (72) also advanced with better third-round scores as part of their 54-hole totals of 2-over-par 218. The only other player to not advance at 2-over was Texas’ Sophia Schubert (73).
Lonardi began her round with a par on No. 1 and a birdie on No. 2 to drop to 2-under for the tournament. Bogeys and No. 3 and No. 6 dropped her back to even-par, and two more bogeys on No. 11 and No. 13 moved her to 2-over. After three straight pars, Lonardi made a crucial birdie on No. 17, but for the third consecutive round she bogeyed No. 18, which ended up costing her the opportunity to advance in Monday’s final round.
Lonardi finished tied for third among the 12 players who qualified for the NCAA Championship as individuals. She finished behind Wake Forest’s Jennifer Kupcho (-7) and Purdue’s August Kim (E), and tied with UC Davis’ Wong (-2).
Lonardi’s tie for 27th place was the sixth-best NCAA Championship individual finish in program history, trailing Dylan Kim’s fourth place finish in 2015, Jaclyn Jansen’s tie for 14th in 2012, Josefin Svenningsson’s tie for 20th in 2004, her own tie for 21st in 2015 and Hayley Davis tie for 21st in 2015.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Lonardi finished her Baylor career with the second-best stroke average in program history at 74.12, which trailed only Hayley Davis’ 73.00.
- Lonardi’s 72.39 stroke average for her senior season was the third-best single-season stroke average in program history, trailing Davis’ 2014-15 (72.32) and 2012-13 (72.88) seasons.
- Lonardi finished the tournament with 38 pars over 54 holes, tied for eighth-most in the 132-player field.
- Lonardi tied for 12th in par-5 scoring average at 4-under 4.67.
STAT OF THE DAY
74.12 – Laura Lonardi finished her Baylor career with a 74.12 stroke average over 117 career rounds, which ranks as the second-best stroke average in program history.
TOP QUOTE
“Unfortunately, she drove it about as bad as I’ve seen her drive it all year this week, and this is not a golf course where you can drive it poorly,” head coach Jay Goble said after the round, while waiting to see if Lonardi would advance to the fourth day. “You really have to keep it in the fairway and keep it in play. To shoot 2-over and really hit your driver as bad as you’ve hit it all year, we’re trying to figure something out. She hit some really good drives today, which was promising. We just hope we have a chance to fight another day. You want to play all four rounds, and you want to be out there to finish off your career on a high note. And I really think if she gets the chance to play tomorrow, she’ll do really well.
