Freshman Caroline Nistrup started her LSU career on a high note as the No. 22 Lady Tigers opened the 2013-14 season at the Cougar Classic in Charleston, S.C., which concluded Tuesday.
The team posted a combined 23-over-par, good for an 11th-place finish at the 20-team event. The Lady Tigers’ finish was seven spots lower and 15 strokes better than their Cougar Classic outing last season.
“The team is playing hard, and I’m pleased with what I have seen in our first event,” said LSU coach Karen Bahnsen in a news release.
Nistrup, a Dragoer, Denmark native, played consistently throughout the three-day tournament with rounds of 73 on Sunday and an even 72 on Monday and Tuesday. Her 1-over-par weekend placed her tied for 13th out of 108 golfers in her first collegiate tournament.
But Nistrup wasn’t the only Lady Tiger to stand out at the Cougar Classic.
It was the third time junior Madelene Sagstrom began her season at Yeamans Hall Golf Club in the Cougar Classic. She finished 4-over-par and tied for 30th overall, but shot the best round of the weekend for the team with a 1-under-par on Monday.
In her second season after transferring from the University of Louisiana-Monroe, senior Ali Lucas ended the weekend tied for 37th place. Her 5-over-par performance was nine strokes better than last year’s start.
Senior Lindsay Gahm was 6-over-par in the last round Tuesday and ended 13-over-par for the weekend. Gahm, who played in all 29 rounds in 2012-13 and all 34 rounds in 2011-12, enters the season as the team’s veteran and looks to improve her play.
The Cougar Classic kicked off coach Bahnsen’s 30th season as the LSU women’s golf coach. The team’s finish is the best since the 2011 Cougar Classic when former standout Austin Ernst and the LSU team won the tournament.
LSU returns from Charleston with a three-week break from tournament play. The Lady Tigers return to action Oct. 5 at the Schooner Fall Classic in Norman, Okla., and continue tournament play every weekend in October.