The LSU Lady Tigers golf team found itself in a position of having to win a two-team playoff with Florida State to advance back to the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships Saturday at the NCAA Central Regional golf tournament at the University of Texas Golf Course.

The playoff was for the eighth and final spot in the championships from the regional to be held in Albuquerque, N.M., May 20-23. By the time the playoff started on hole number one, weather was surrounding the golf course, adding to the drama of the event.

Caroline Martens, Amalie Valle and Alexis Rather went out in the first group of the playoff with two Florida State players. Martens, Valle and the Florida State golfers all made par, but senior Rather, whose score earlier in the day didn’t count in the team total, made what would prove to be the winning stroke when she chipped in from the right fringe on the par-4 hole for a birdie putting LSU in the lead at one under par.

The final group went off with three Florida State players and LSU’s Megan McChrystal and Rebecca Kuhn. No one was able to do better than par as an intense thunderstorm that would include golf ball size hail moved over the course as play finished. LSU won with a score of minus one but the tournament wasn’t officially over at that point.

“Alexis is our fifth-year senior, and she sank that chip shot for us to send us to the NCAA's on a day where she really struggled on the course,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “She’s been such a force on the team, and when we were sitting around waiting for the playoff, we told her that she needed to do something for us to earn her keep today. Seriously, it is fitting that she be the person to make the decisive shot for us. I am extremely excited for her and of course, for our whole team.”

“I chipped well all week here,” said Rather, “and was fairly confident that I should do that. I almost putted it. I was pretty close, but elected to go with the chip because there was some funny grass in my way and I wanted to get over that. I hit it right where I wanted to, and fortunately for us, it rolled and went in.”

However, in a cruel twist of fate, if the 20-minute rainstorm had not cleared to allow the final three teams that were not in contention to finish the round, the round would have been declared incomplete by the NCAA and scores would have reverted back to Friday’s 36-hole totals and wiping out LSU’s finish. But the round was completed shortly before 8 p.m. and the playoff stood, putting LSU in the championships.

The playoff win advances LSU back to the championships for the first time since 2006 and for the ninth time in school history. This was the first time the Lady Tigers were involved in a playoff for the team spot, although ironically the last time LSU was in a regional in Texas, Brooke Shelton had to win a playoff to advance as an individual qualifier in 2005.

The Lady Tigers spent much of the final round working in the seventh through ninth positions, holding on to the eighth spot before dropping to the ninth spot behind teams just starting the round. But LSU’s position was even more unsure as the unofficial computer calculations had LSU missing qualifying by one shot.

But once the official scorecards were checked, LSU did find itself in the tie with Florida State at 38-over par. Florida State got three strokes back on LSU in the final round, 297-300, creating the tie with the Lady Tigers.

“We had an incredibly emotional finish at the end of our regulation round, because looking at the golf stats, it looked like we were out of it by one shot,” said Bahnsen. “On 16, we thought that we had to par in, but we had one bogey there. I thought and the team thought, wow, we’ve missed it (the NCAAs) by one. The girls were all crying, but then we found out that the North Carolina State score had to be adjusted and that they were actually at plus-39. We knew we were at plus-38 and then we thought that we were in (to the NCAA nationals). Well, I did not know that my number one player (Megan McChrystal) had made another bogey that I did not know about, so we went from thinking we were out, then that we were in, and then we found out that we were in a playoff!

“So, from that point on, I told them to calm down and collect their emotions and they did that. They stayed relaxed and we said, let’s just go do it.”

North Carolina State and Nebraska both finished one shot out of the mix at 39-over par 903.

LSU shot its second 300 of the competition on the final day and it was LSU’s two freshmen who contributed as Amalie Valle posted a 1-over 73 and Megan McChrystal a 2-over 74. For McChrystal, the 74 followed back-to-back rounds of 73-73 and she finished in a tie for 14th place at 4-over 220. Valle finished in her first NCAA regional in a tie for 34th. LSU also counted a 3-over 75 from Rebecca Kuhn and a 6-over 78 from Caroline Martens.

Also qualifying for the national championship from the Central Regional were No. 3 UCLA with a 3-under-par 861. The Bruins were followed by No. 6 Purdue at 7-over 871. Denver was third at 882, two shots ahead of TCU in fourth at 884 with Texas A&M in fifth at 885. It was 11 strokes back to No. 9 Alabama at 896 (32-over) in sixth with Texas in seventh at 899 (35-over).