Levy Trail

I walked with the Geezers on the Levy Trail this morning for 40:52. ...A player from Louisiana State and Sweden named Ingrid Lindblad led the first round of the U.S. Women's Open most of the day today as I watched on a streaming service called Peacock. I wrote a long note about her and her team when they played in the Stephens Cup at the Alotian Club last fall. Lindblad, by the way, is currently alone in second, one stroke back. Her score of six-under-par was the lowest ever by an amateur in the Women's Open. Obviously, I hope she wins. Here's that note:

JACKSON T. STEPHENS CUP report by Pete Perkins

The LSU Tigers women’s golf team might have worked itself into a position for early favoritism for next spring’s SEC and NCAA Championships.

They won stroke- and match-play championships in the first Jackson T. Stephens Cup at the Alotian Club in Roland on Monday through Wednesday.

“I can finally breathe after getting off those greens,” LSU Coach Garrett Runion said. “Those are the fastest greens I have ever seen in college golf, but they are so good. You can make putts, so it was a real treat to be out here. Thankfully, [our team] handled it very well.”

LSU won the match-play final 4-1-0 over South Carolina on Wednesday, led by a 3&1 win by Elso Svensson over Justine Fournand and a 3&2 win by Corlo Tejedo over Tai Audit.

LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad was 1-up over South Carolina’s Hannah Darling through 16 holes. After Darling drove 270 yards on the 488-yard par-5 17th, she and Lindblad were told the team competition was decided in LSU’s favor. Common to match-play team events, Lindblad and Darling left their match where it stood.

Lindblad drove her cart to the 18th green where she immediately hugged her champion teammates.

“I teed up my ball, and someone said, ‘We’re done,’ ” Lindblad said. “That can happen sometimes.”

Lindblad said she had an up-and-down week, highlighted by her Stephens Cup stroke-play medalist title on Tuesday.

“Yesterday, I started birdie-double, so I wasn’t really sure how it was going to turn out after that, but I played really good after that,” she said.

Runion said he was impressed throughout by Lindblad’s play.

“She played absolutely great,” he said. “The way she was down a couple shots on the second day [of stroke play] and came back to win, she’s just a competitor. She’s tough to beat.”

Lindblad led Darling 3-up through 11 holes, but Darling advanced to 1-down on the following two holes. They then played even until the championship was declared.

Runion said the Stephens Cup should assist his team in its 2022 championship pursuits. 

“This was a great experience,” Runion said.