BATON ROUGE – The 24th-ranked LSU women’s golf team makes its long-awaited fall season debut Friday when the Mason Rudolph Classic begins play at the Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn.
The start comes on the heels of one of the most successful summers for the LSU team both domestically and internationally.
The start of the actual playing season was pushed back to allow three of LSU’s golfers – senior Madelene Sagstrom, sophomore Caroline Nistrup and junior Nadine Dreher – to participate in the World Amateur Team Championships in Japan. Sagstrom finished 17th in the individual competition as Sweden finished in a tie for fifth, while Nistrup’s Denmark team made a big move in the final round to finish fourth.
Sophomore Carly Ray Goldstein won qualifying events through to the USGA Women’s Public Links and the Women’s Amateur and then advanced to match play in both events. Junior Elise Bradley won her second Louisiana Women’s Amateur state championship and the Collegiate Players Tour event at Santa Maria.
But now the collegiate season begins and a return to the play five, count four system of scoring and LSU opens at a familiar location, the Legends Club where LSU finished third in the 2012 NCAA Championships. But for the first time in the history of the event, the women will not play the North Course, but the South course instead.
Joining LSU and host Vandy (with A&B teams) in the field will be: Alabama, Auburn, Chattanooga, Clemson, GRU-Augusta, Kentucky, Lamar, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Princeton, Tulane and Virginia.
“We are very excited to get the season started again,” said LSU Head Women’s Golf Coach Karen Bahnsen, who is entering her 31st season as the head coach. “The girls have worked very hard and had great success in national and international events and I know that will help us as we get deeper into our schedule. It’s just the first event together this year, but we are all really looking forward to the chance to play.”
LSU’s lineup will be Sagstrom, Nistrup, Brady, Goldstein and Dreher for the three-day, 54-hole event that runs through Sunday. Sagstrom is a two-time All-SEC selection while Nistrup also earned All-SEC honors last year as well.
The tournament begins at 8 a.m. on Friday and live scoring will be available at LSUsports.net through BirdieFire.com.
Follow LSU women’s golf updates at www.Facebook.com/LSUwomensgolf and on Twitter @LSUwomensgolf.