March 22, 2013

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (seminoles.com) - Florida State senior Jessica Negron shot an even par 72 and is in a tie for fourth place in the individual standings and the Seminole women's golf team is in a tie for third place in the team standings after the first round of the LSU Tiger Classic at the University Club. The Seminoles are the only team in the 14-team field with three players - Negron, sophomore Laure Castelain (tied for eighth) and freshman Olivia Hullert (tied for eighth) - in the top 10 of the individual standings and are only eight strokes behind Arkansas in the fight for the team title.

Arkansas, which has two players in the top four of the individual standings, holds the team lead with a 293 total. The Razorbacks hold a five stroke lead over Tulane and an eight stroke lead over Florida State and TCU which are both tied for third with two rounds remaining to be played. A trio of players - Gabriela Lopez of Arkansas, Erica Popson of Tennessee and Maribel Lopez Porras of Tulane - share the individual lead with identical scores of 1 under par 71.

Florida State, which entered the event ranked 43rd nationally by Golfstat, is ahead of No. 18 Georgia (10th place), No. 20 NC State (fifth place), No. 29 Tennessee (seventh place) and No. 30 LSU (eight place) in the team standings heading into Saturday's second round.

Playing on her 22nd birthday, Negron (Ocala, Fla.) was very consistent as she carded two birdies, two bogeys and 14 holes scored at par. She was never more than one stroke over par and was one stroke under par during her back nine. Negron has now carded four rounds of even par or better golf in her last seven rounds and three tournaments.

"I was able to be aggressive all day because of the confidence that I am playing with right now," said Negron. "I am very confident in my swing and have been for the last couple of weeks. We have to continue to listen to our coaches and stick to our game plan. If we do that we should continue to play well during the final two rounds of the tournament."

Castelain (Bordeaux, France) and Hullert (Baerum, Norway) are in a tie for eighth place in the individual standings with identical scores of 1 over par 73. Castelain led the Seminoles with four birdies while Hullert carded two.

Castelain finished at even par with three birdies over her first nine holes and was one over par with one birdie on her second set of nine holes (she began the day on hole No. 10). She was never more than two strokes over par and was one stroke under par during the majority of her first nine holes.

Hullert also played very consistently and was never more than one stroke over par during the round. She totaled two birdies on her first none holes and carded eight of nine holes at par on her second set of nine holes.

"I thought we did a really good job today of sticking to our game plan," said Head Coach Amy Bond. "Our focus was to stay in the middle of the fairways and the greens and we did that very well today. We need to continue to stay with our plan and ultimately finish stronger. We are happy with where we are - we just have to keep our momentum moving in a positive direction."

The start time for Saturday's shotgun start has been change to 8:30 a.m. because of a possibility of inclement weather in the area.

LSU Tiger Golf Classic/March 22-24, 2013/par 72
University Club/Baton Rouge. La./First Round FSU Results
T3/14.  Florida State        301
T4.     Jessica Negron       72
T8.     Laure Castelain      73
T8.     Olivia Hullert       73
T55.    Mary Beth Ramsay     83
T62.    Malin Jansson        84

LSU Tiger Golf Classic/March 22-24, 2013/par 72
University Club/Baton Rouge. La./First Round Team Results
1.    Arkansas        293   8.    LSU                 306
2.    Tulane          298   9.    Missouri            309
T3.   Florida State   301   10.   Georgia             315
T3.   TCU             301   11.   Wake Forest         316
5.    NC State        302   12.   Ole Miss            322
6.    Kentucky        304   13.   Louisiana Monroe    323
7.    Tennessee       305   14.   UNC Wilmington      335

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Summertime Fun With Golfer Laure Castelain

Summertime Fun With Golfer Olivia Hullert

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