Both the No. 4 Lady Tigers and No. 17 Tigers golf teams tee off in their first action of the season this weekend with decidedly different outlooks.
While both teams claimed individual NCAA championships last season, the Lady Tigers return more of their core.
The Lady Tigers start the 2011-12 season Sunday in the Cougar Classic at Yeamans Hall Club in South Carolina, the home state of LSU sophomore and defending Women’s NCAA Champion Austin Ernst.
While the Lady Tigers do have to replace five departed seniors — including All-American Megan McChrystal — a talented trio of newcomers added to Ernst and senior Tessa Teachman has coach Karen Bahnsen bubbling with excitement.
“We did lose Megan and a couple of players that played for us regularly, but I feel very good about our team,” Bahnsen said. “We added some very strong players to our already strong group. The three new players are tremendous contributors. I feel very confident we’re going to have a good year.”
In Ernst and Teachman, the Lady Tigers have two golfers who have compiled 10 top-10 finishes in their career and a combined 74.5 career scoring average.
The Lady Tigers will only carry six players this season — an unusually low number, as teams bring at least five to tournaments — but Bahnsen said every one of them will have a chance to contribute to the team effort.
The newcomers boast impressive achievements of their own.
Freshman Madelene Sagstrom is a member of the Swedish National Team and was ranked No. 7 in the Swedish Ladies rankings.
The Lady Tigers also added two transfer students.
Sophomore Lindsay Gahm, the 2010 Big 10 Freshman of the Year, transferred from Indiana, where she posted a team-best scoring average of 75.45 strokes.
Junior transfer Katrina Hegge rounds out the newcomers as the only one with a career victory. She won the Fresno Lexus Classic as a member of the University of San Francisco.
Meanwhile, the Tigers will look to rebound from the loss of 2010-11 NCAA Champion John Peterson and First Team All-SEC member Andrew Loupe in their season opening tournament at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic in Rocky Face, Ga.
The Tigers will look to their lone senior, Sang Yi, to lead the scoring effort.
Yi posted a career-best 73.6 scoring average in his junior campaign. But behind Yi, LSU will have to rely on a group of unproven underclassmen.
Sophomores Franco Castro, Smylie Kaufman and Andrew Presley and freshman Curtis Thompson round out the lineup for the Tigers.
 
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Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]