March 14, 2009

BATON ROUGE, La. – Junior Benedicte Toumpsin turned in her second straight round under par and stands tied for fourth place after two days at the rain-soaked LSU Golf Classic at The University Club in Baton Rouge, La. As a team, the Gamecocks dropped two spots into a tie for 10th place at 21-over through two rounds.

Toumpsin, a native of Belgium, led South Carolina with a 1-under-par 71 in Saturday’s second round to stand at 3-under through 36 holes, three shots out of the tournament lead. The junior got as low as 3-under on her round today after rolling off four straight birdies on holes 13-16, but back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 2 and 3 to drop her back to 1-under.

Freshman Katie Burnett followed up her 73 on Friday with a 2-over 74 on Saturday with an up-and-down round that featured four birdies along with six bogeys. Burnett was solid on the par 3s and par 5s at 1-under on both, and she stands in a tie for 23rd heading into Sunday’s final round.

The rest of the team, however, did not fare so well on a rainy Saturday on the Bayou. Cayci Ruppe came in with a 79, Meredith Taylor had an 81 and Taylor Barrett shot an 82. Taylor Weaver, playing as an individual, signed for a 79 in round two.

Virginia leads the team competition at 4-under after their second straight round in red numbers today. Wake Forest is second, eight shots back at 4-over, and SEC foe Arkansas fired the best round of the weekend with a 4-under 284 today to grab third place at 6-over.

Individually, Callie Nielson of Virginia continues to lead after a 1-under 71 today, moving her to 6-under for the tournament. Arkansas’ Lucy Nunn and North Carolina’s Allie White are tied for second at 4-under heading into the final round of play.

Sunday’s final round will once again begin with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Central, and the Gamecocks will be paired with Colorado and Notre Dame. Live results can be obtained through golfstat.com.

CAROLINA RESULTS
T4. Benedicte Toumpsin – 70-71=141 (-3)
T23. Katie Burnett – 73-74=147 (+3)
T66. Cayci Ruppe – 74-79=153 (+9)
T80. Taylor Weaver – 77-79=156 (+12)*
T82. Meredith Taylor – 76-81=157 (+13)
T82. Taylor Barrett – 75-82=157 (+13)
* Playing as an individual

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Virginia (-4)
2. Wake Forest (+4)
3. Arkansas (+6)
T4. Tulane (+7)
T4. North Carolina (+7)
6. LSU (+8)
7. Louisville (+14)
8. TCU (+15)
9. Kentucky (+16)
T10. Colorado (+21)
T10. Notre Dame (+21)
T10. South Carolina (+21)
T13. Furman (+22)
T13. UNC Wilmington (+22)
15. NC State (+26)
16. Mississippi (+27)
17. Coll. of Charleston (+31)
18. Mississippi State (+36)