Kennesaw State coach Rhyll Brinsmead picks one player to walk 18 holes with during each tournament round. On Wednesday, she chose Ines Lescudier, a Frenchwoman who nearly told her coach to take a hike – respectfully, of course – when she stood 2 over through six holes.

But, they managed to stick it out in the final round of the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, and Lescudier put on a second-half show that her Aussie coach won't soon forget.

The sophomore from Marseille birdied seven consecutive holes on the back nine at Jekyll Island Golf Club to win the conference title. Lescudier is the first player from Kennesaw State to claim a 54-hole title.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Brinsmead said of Lescudier’s back-nine effort. Her 6-under 66, however, wasn’t enough to vault the Owls in front of East Tennessee State, which won by six.

In a game dominated by long-ball hitters, Lescudier through her incredible stretch gives hope to those who rely on hybrids and solid putting to get it around.

At 5 feet 4 inches, Lescudier carries three hybrids in her bag, and used one on two of her seven birdies. She hits it a mere ...

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Welcome to Golfweek’s Women's Midweek Report. We wanted to use this hump day to update you on all the latest women’s college news and give you a quick glance at what to look ahead to this weekend:

• • •

THE BIG 5

Stories you need to know . . .

TEAMS

1. Alabama: With a season-low 11-under 277 in the final round of the Ping/ASU Invitational, Alabama ended the regular season with victory No. 4. It’s the third consecutive for the Crimson Tide, and the first on the West Coast. Next up: the SEC Championship.

2. Duke: Speaking of East Coast teams excelling on the West Coast, the Blue Devils made a serious run at the Ping/ASU title, too. Duke held the 36-hole lead, but couldn’t keep up with the final-round Alabama rally. Duke finished second, but a victory would have been the first for the team this season.

3. Long Beach State: This team edged Tulsa by a single shot on April 16 at the Fresno State Lexus Classic. It’s the second victory this year, after the 49ers won their own Gold Rush in February.

4. Coastal Carolina: The Chanticleers won their sixth Big South Conference ...

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Conference play has begun, and we will be monitoring championships around the country here. Check back daily for news, results and photos as college postseason gets under way.

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Southern Conference

Moss Creek (Devil's Elbow), Hilton Head, S.C., April 14-16: Chattanooga won its fourth consecutive Southern Conference title with a six-shot victory over Furman. The Mocs’ 31-over 895 total is the lowest team score from the five years the tournament has been played at Moss Creek’s Devil’s Elbow course, and the second-lowest in conference history. Chattanooga sophomore Agathe Sauzon won the individual title after a one-hole sudden-death playoff with College of Charleston’s Mary Chandler Bryan. Scores

Big South Conference

The Patriot Club at Big Harbor, Ninety Six, S.C., April 14-16: Coastal Carolina won its sixth Big South Championship on April 16, and the third under current head coach Katie Quinney. The Chanticleers this year shot a 54-hole conference record 16-over 880, and were led by senior Brittany Henderson, the individual medalist. Scores

Atlantic Sun Conference

Jekyll ...

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Talley, a freshman, earned the first tournament victory of her career with a 9-under 207 total at the Ping/ASU Invitational. It was a 54-hole career best for Talley, who finished two shots ahead of UCLA's Erynne Lee and UC Davis' Demi Runas.

The Crimson Tide shot a season-low 11-under 277 on April 14 to win the Ping/ASU Invitational. Alabama began the final round four shots behind Duke, and ended up winning by nine shots with its 19-under 845 total at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz. The Ping is Alabama's third consecutive victory this spring, and it's the fourth victory this season.

Alabama, No. 2 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, posted an impressive final-round score of 11-under 277 and finished with a tournament-record 19-under 845 total to win the Ping/ASU Invitational going away Sunday at Arizona State’s Karsten Course in Tempe, Ariz.

The field included 11 of the top 25 teams in the Golfweek rankings.

Fourth-ranked Duke finished second at 10-under 854 ahead of a quartet of Pac-12 teams. No. 6 Arizona and No. 14 Stanford tied for third (862), followed by top-ranked USC, which had won its past two events, and No. 15 Arizona State in a tie for fifth (863). Two other top-10 Pac-12 schools – No. 8 UCLA and No. 10 Washington – tied for eighth and 11th, respectively.

Alabama freshman Emma Talley shot 68-69-70 to finish at 9-under 207 and win the individual title by two shots over Erynne Lee of UCLA and Demi Runas of UC Davis. Two of Talley’s teammates, junior Stephanie Meadow (T-8) and senior Jennifer Kirby (T-10), joined her in the top 10.

Oklahoma State won the SMU Dallas Athletic Club Invitational with a five-shot win over Oklahoma. This is the team’s second win of the season, but first since closing out the fall season at the Landfall Tradition. The Cowgirls were led by freshman Julie Yang – who, in her fifth career start, won by seven shots. Oklahoma State is No. 17 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

Junior Sophia Popov claimed medalist honors at the SDSU Farms Invitational on April 2. Popov tied the school record for career wins with five. This was her first win of the season after shooting rounds of 74-69-74 to win by one. Popov is No. 8 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

In just her fifth career collegiate tournament, Oklahoma State freshman Julie Yang captured her first individual title while helping Oklahoma State to a team victory at the SMU Dallas Athletic Club Invitational on April 5-7.

Yang shot 6-under 210 to win by seven shots over Oklahoma's Chirapat Jao-Jvanil, who carded a 1-over 217. Louisville's Emily Haas was third at 6 over.

The Cowboys won the team title by five shots over the Sooners, totaling 32-over 896 to Oklahoma's 901. Ohio State (906) finished third while Denver (911) and Texas-San Antonio (923) rounded out the top five.

Top five from this past week in college golf …

1. THE MAJORS ARE HERE: This past week it was the women playing in the Kraft Nabisco Championship and next week it will be the men at The Masters. Alabama’s Stephanie Meadow and Florida’s Camilla Hedberg were the only two college players to make the cut at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Three other players missed the cut - Duke's Lindy Duncan, Florida's Isabelle Lendl and USC's Doris Chen. Next week at The Masters we will see U.S. Amateur champion Steven Fox of Chattanooga, top-ranked California’s Michael Weaver and Florida’s T.J. Vogel.

2. STEVEN FOX CHASING WIN: Speaking of Fox, the U.S. Amateur champion turned in his best performance this spring with a runner-up finish at the BancorpSouth Intercollegiate. Fox, who is ranked No. 140 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, also turned in a second-place finish last fall at the AutoTrader.com College Classic. Fox has just one career college victory which came in his freshman season at the Furman Intercollegiate when he shared medalist honors with Clemson’s Ben Martin.

3. USC WOMEN LOOKING SOLID: Compared to California’s wins this ...

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No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings proved again why they deserve to be at the top.

The Trojans won the SDSU Farms Invitational on April 2 at the Farms Golf Club in Rancho Fanta Fe, Calif., for its third straight win, and fourth of the season.

“Well obviously we're really excited with their overall performance,” head coach Andrea Gaston said. “Everybody’s score is counting and we’re excited to see everyone playing so well.”

The 11-under 875 total was good for a 21-stroke victory over Arizona. It is also the first time the women won three or more team titles in a row dating back to the 2008. That year they won the NCAA Championship.

Not only did junior Sophia Popov claim medalist honors for the fifth time in her career, all four other Trojans – Annie Park (3rd), Kyung Kim (T-4), Doris Chen (T-4) and Rachel Morris (T-10) – finished in the top 10.

Popov’s win tied the school record for career wins. This was also her first win of this season. She shot rounds of 74-69-74 to win by one shot over Arizona’s Manon Gidali.

Meanwhile, all five Trojans are ranked in the top ...

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RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Robert Meadow was reaching for water bottles after carting his daughter Stephanie’s crimson Alabama team bag off the Dinah Shore Tournament Course on Thursday. It was a sneaky hot day in the desert for the Ulsterman, who has donned the white caddie jumpsuit this week at the Kraft.

Meadow, a junior on Alabama’s team and Golfweek’s No. 4-ranked player in the country, hasn’t played a tournament in the desert since junior golf. She was fourth at the 2010 AJGA Thunderbird International at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“It’s very tough; greens are firm,” Meadow said of the course. “You kind of just shoot at the pin and fire.”

Starting on the back, Meadow double-bogeyed No. 13 and bogeyed No. 15. She had three birdies on the front to get to 1-over 73 for the day.

Meadow attended a three-day Vision54 camp in January, and has kept in touch with co-founders Pia Nilsson and Lynn Mariott since. They waited for her off the ninth green on Thursday. This week, they have Meadow concentrating on decreasing the tension in her upper body.

“Their scope of things is so big,” Meadow said. “It’s ...

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RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – There’s a new carrot in women’s college golf, and the reward is major. The Annika Award – presented by the Annika Foundation and Haskins Commission – will honor the most outstanding player in NCAA Division I golf. The winner receives an exemption into the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

“We all want to encourage young girls to play the game, to stay in the game and to develop in the game,” said Sorenstam. ‘I think this is one way to do that.”

The prestigious Haskins Award, honoring the late Fred Haskins, has recognized the top player in men’s college golf the last 41 years. Winners of the Haskins Award include Ben Crenshaw and Phil Mickelson, both three-time winners, as well as Tiger Woods (1996), Luke Donald (1999) and Graeme McDowell (2002). This marks the first time there’s a female equivalent.

The award will be presented in the fall of 2014 at a soon-to-be-announced college tournament in Orlando, Fla. Golfweek is the official media partner of the Annika Award and will organize the college event.

Sorenstam, winner of the 1991 NCAA Championship, played college golf at Arizona and won seven tournaments. She turned pro in 1992, after finishing ...

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Virginia won the Bryan National Collegiate on March 31 at Bryan Park in Browns Summit, N.C. It was the Cavaliers' first title since Sept. 2010 and fifth in the program’s history. Virginia, No. 17 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, beat four top-10 teams to claim victory.

Notre Dame’s Ashley Armstrong won the Briar’s Creek Invitational on March 26 to claim back-to-back victories. Her three-shot win, was the third of her collegiate career. Armstrong shot rounds of 74-71-72 at the Golf Course at Briar’s Creek.