The LSU women’s golf team joins forces with resurgent Tulane this weekend when they co-host the Tiger/Wave Classic in New Orleans at English Turn Country Club.The tournament is a top draw among women’s golf teams, as 16 of the top-50 teams in the country will participate in the event, including four of the top-10 and nine of the top-20.The event has been held in Baton Rouge at the University Club the past nine years but moved to English Turn because of the University Club’s still-incomplete renovation.The No. 20 Lady Tigers are coming off two disappointing finishes in their spring tournaments. While junior Megan McChrystal and sophomore Tessa Teachman have been stellar as usual, the rest of the lineup has struggled to shoot low.The absence of freshman Mary Michael Maggio has hindered the Lady Tigers’ scoring. Maggio underwent surgery on her shoulder and has missed both tournaments this spring.”She had a shoulder surgery over the break, and we’re hoping and praying that we’re going to get her back, at least in time for the postseason.” said LSU coach Karen Bahnsen. “Can we compete? Yes, but it’s hard to replace a player that shoots par golf with a player that shoots 78 or 79, that’s a big adjustment.”Maggio owns the third-best stroke average for the Lady Tigers this season, behind McChrystal and Teachman, at 75.7 strokes per round. In her absence, juniors Amalie Valle, Abby Oberthier and sophomore Jacqueline Hedwall will round out the team.Though the tournament was played at the University Club in 2009, the Lady Tigers can take some solace in the performance by Hedwall and Valle at the Tiger Classic last season.Both golfers finished in the top-15 at the tournament last season, powering LSU to a third-place finish behind defending champion Virginia and Tulane.Teachman and McChrystal will form the one-two punch for the Lady Tigers again this weekend. The two have combined to nab three top-10 finishes this season and boast the only stroke averages on the team below 74.Though the tournament is in New Orleans, the Lady Tigers have gotten little practice on the course because of some un-cooperative weather. But Bahnsen feels the course will offer challenges to every team.”Tulane will certainly know the course better than we do, so they will certainly have more of the home-course advantage,” Bahnsen said. “But we’ve been able to get the girls down there four or five times in recent weeks, so they have been able to get a good idea as to how this course will play.”The Lady Tigers have won the tournament seven times since the tournament’s inception in 1982.——Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]