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Watch four college teammates nearly ace the same hole while playing together in competition
The fall college golf season looks nothing like we’re accustom to, with only two major Division I conferences (the SEC and Big 12) allowing schools to compete due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And those conferences are playing with certain restrictions in place to keep the golfers as safe as possible. (For a closer look at the uncertain 2020-’21 season, read my colleague Tod Leonard’s story.)
One of the few tournaments being held is this week’s Blessings Collegiate Invitational at The Blessings Golf Club outside Fayettville, Ark. The men’s and women’s teams from all 14 SEC schools are competing but are playing in fivesomes together to limit interaction among the golfers. The set-up creates the potential for some chaos—two players on the Georgia men’s golf team wound up playing the wrong ball on a hole—but also allowed for what happened with the LSU women’s squad during Round 1 on Monday.
As the Tigers stepped to the tee on the par-3 13th hole, playing 147 yards, four of the five players—Ingrid Lindblad, Latanna Stone, Jessica Bailey and Carla Tejedo Mulet—proceeded to make the game look way too easy.
As the Golf Channel commentator noted, all four made birdies, and the Tigers played their last six holes in nine under. By day’s end, they had shot a five-over 293 to sit in second place behind host Arkansas. Lindblad, last year’s national freshman of the year, held a share of the individual women’s lead with a five-under 67.