The LSU women’s golf team is setting sail to pick up the spring portion of their season. The No. 24 Lady Tigers (44-17-0) compete on Feb. 15 in the Lady Puerto Rico Classic in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
The golfers hope to continue on the success from the fall. They shot a season-best score of 23-under par (279, 284, 278) pushing the team into its only first-place finish at The Alamo Invitational in the fall. The final round score of 278 was one shot off the LSU single round record, and it was the Lady Tigers’ first tournament win since the 2012 NCAA Regionals.
LSU coach Karen Bahnsen tallied her 37th title as the women’s golf coach in her teams last victory. Bahnsen, an LSU alumna, seeks to bring the Lady Tigers back to the NCAA Championships as she did as a player in the late ’80s and many times as a coach.
LSU was led by sophomore Caroline Nistrup, who shot a season best 11-under par to gain a second-place finish for the Tigers. Nistrup led the way for most of the season with three top ten finishes in her fall stint.
She was followed closely by junior Elise Bradley, who finished her last performance of the season in San Antonio at 6-under par. Her 71-69-70 overall score of 210 was only five strokes behind Nistrup and earned fourth place.
The Lady Tigers seek to reproduce an opening performance in the spring like in the fall. They opened the fall with a motivating 54-hole score 285-292-298 for a second-place title at the Mason Rudolph Championships.
LSU completed the tournaments five strokes ahead of third-place Mississippi State, who finished at 16-over par (292-292-296). Vanderbilt ended as the tournament champion, shooting an even-par score of 864.
LSU was led by senior and All-Southeastern Conference performer Madelene Sagstrom, who shot one of her best scores of the season at 1-over par 217 for the tournament. Sagstrom was six strokes behind competition leader Jenny Hahn from Vanderbilt at 5-under par.
Sagstrom finished as one of the top 30 golfers in each tournament of the first half. Bradley, meanwhile concludes her half-season as a top 15 finisher in all four tournaments.
Bradley concluded the fall at 303-33 pacing her a win percentage of .902. She shot 10 rounds below or even to par during the half season. Bahnsen has been watching Bradley’s development as a player and acknowledges that she was the rock of their team in the early season.
LSU strives to attain back to back tournament victories as it competes in a 15 team field in the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, including Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia and LSU from the SEC.