Purple and gold proved to be the lucky colors of LSU freshman Caroline Nistrup.
The 19-year-old followed her fourth-place finish at the Schooner Fall Classic last weekend by shooting a 4-under-par 212 at the 38th annual Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Nistrup’s score was good for a tie for third individually which led LSU to an 11th-place, 23-over-par finish.
With Nistrup’s second consecutive top-five performance, LSU coach Karen Bahnsen is impressed with the newcomer’s contributions early in her collegiate career.
“She’s just done fantastic,” Bahnsen said. “She’s just this very strong, very steady player emotionally. So, she’s putting herself in positions to have a chance to win some tournaments, and hopefully she can break through this year and do it.”
The tournament ended Sunday with No. 4 Duke taking home the team title by 11 strokes. Of the 18 teams that competed at University of North Carolina’s Finley Golf Course, 12 ranked in the top 25.
Duke placed three golfers in the top six as Blue Devils’ Celine Boutier and Laetitia Beck tied for third place with Nistrup. Vanderbilt sophomore Jenny Hahn’s 5-under-par final-round lifted her past Nistrup by one stroke as Sunday afternoon rolled around and aided the No. 19 Commodores second-place finish.
Nistrup’s 1-over-par 73 first round hindered her from catching up to Clemson’s Ashlan Ramsey, whose 9-under-par 207 for the tournament gave her the individual crown.
The Tigers won the Tar Heel Invitational in 2011, but Bahnsen said she wasn’t concerned with finishing outside the top 10 in 2013.
“Go look at the rankings of all the field, and it’s an extremely strong field,” Bahnsen said. “We’d love to win … but also it’s about building, and getting better and better and stronger. I’d love to start coming out of the gate great, but we’ve got a couple young ones in there and we want to try to just keep getting better.”
Nistrup completed a 4-under-par tournament with an even-par 72 round on Sunday.
The Denmark native fired her second-straight 5-under-par second round Saturday after her score of 65 last weekend in Norman, Okla. Nistrup’s bogey-free round of 67 on Saturday was tied for a tournament-best and moved her into second place entering Sunday’s final round.
Junior Madelene Sagstrom followed her first career individual title at the Schooner Classic by posting a 7-over-par 223 in Chapel Hill, which was second-best among the Tigers.
Senior Lindsay Gahm recorded her 2013 season-best score of 11-over-par, while freshman Carly Ray Goldstein made her Tiger debut at the Tar Heel Invitational with a 16-over-par outing.