RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – The seventh ranked LSU women’s golf team looks to begin the march back to the NCAA golf championships as the spring portion of the season gets underway Sunday with the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, hosted by Purdue.
The event, held at the Greg Norman designed Rio Mar Beach Resort River Course, is the first of four tournaments for the LSU women in the 2012 portion of the season, highlighted by the annual renewal of the LSU Women’s Golf Classic at the University Club in Baton Rouge, March 9-11.
Joining LSU and host Purdue in the field are: Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa State, Kent State, Michigan, Nebraska, N.C. State, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Southern Methodist, TCU and Texas Tech.
LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen feels her team is ready to get back on the course in competition.
“The girls are excited to get this semester under way,” said Bahnsen. “They have been working as hard as any team I’ve seen work (in preparation for the spring). They are very motivated and they have sent some lofty goals. We have to take it one step at a time and build on every tournament. The first tournament is really about knocking a lot of the rust off. I intentionally booked two tournaments back-to-back in good weather so we can try to get off to a good quick start.”
The team will come back Tuesday night after the final round of the Puerto Rico event and go to the Central District Invitational in Florida which starts on Feb. 20.
The weather in Baton Rouge has been outstanding for the team to practice in and for the U-Club now just a month out from the LSU Classic.
“The weather has been wonderful so far,” Bahnsen said. “The golf course is already green, which is going to help us for our tournament. The weather has allowed the girls to work really hard. We are ready to get this show on the road.”
All six players will be on the trip as LSU will play a team lineup of senior Tessa Teachman, Curtis Cup member and defending NCAA champion sophomore Austin Ernst, senior Jacqueline Hedwall, sophomore Lindsay Gahm and freshman Madeline Sagstrom. Katrina Hegge will play as an individual for LSU.
In the fall, Ernst averaged 72.8 strokes per round, Teachman 72.9, Sagstrom 73.0, Hedwall 73.3 and Gahm 75.4 as LSU won two of the four fall events.
Live scoring for the Puerto Rico Classic, which begins with a 6 a.m. CST shotgun and runs through Tuesday, can be found at LSUsports.net through Golfstat.com. Follow LSU Basketball on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LSUwomensgolf and on Twitter @LSUwomensgolf.