The LSU women’s golf team opens up the 2014-2015 season at the Mason Rudolph Championship in Franklin, Tennessee today.
Ranked number 18 by Golfweek, the Lady Tigers are ready to tee-up the new season after ending their previous season with a 20th place finish in last year’s NCAA regional.
“We have a good group this year, and I’m just excited to represent LSU,” said All-SEC senior Madelene Sagstrom.
The Mason Rudolph Championship, hosted by Vanderbilt University, will be held at the Vanderbilt Legends Club and include a strong field of teams ranked in the top 25 by Golfweek including tournament host No. 11 Vanderbilt and No. 13 Alabama.
LSU head coach Karen Bahnsen said she looks forward to the challenge of going up against the country’s top talent.
“If you look at our schedule, every single tournament we play in is loaded…” Bahnsen said, “I want to play against the best every week, because that’s who I want to beat.”
Bahnsen sees matching up against strong talent as a way to improve, but she said she will try to keep the focus on the team’s process, rather than worry about the competition.
“We honestly just want to go out and play our best golf,” Bahnsen said, “If we can just worry about ourselves, the rest of that stuff just kind of takes care of itself.”
The team wants to focus on controlling their swings and allowing their hard work off the course to guide them.
“Like always, we’re just trying to do our best and try to bring what we have been working on [in practice] to the course, and do what we’ve been practicing to do.” Sagstrom said.
Sophomore Caroline Nistrup – who was named to last year’s All-SEC First Team and All-SEC Freshman Team – said she is determined to improve on a year that included a runner-up finish at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
“Since it’s the first tournament, I’m just going to go out and try out some new stuff I’ve been working on in the summer, and try not to think so much about the result but more on the process,” Nistrup said.
The Lady Tigers finished 11th at the Cougar Classic in South Carolina, last season’s opening-tournament. Last year’s team returns Sagstrom and Nistrup along with juniors Elise Bradley and Nadine Dreher, and sophomore Carly Ray Goldstein to start this week’s tournament.
The Mason Rudolph Championship will tee off at 8 a.m. today and will last through the weekend, ending on Sunday.