BATON ROUGE – The sixth-ranked LSU women’s golf team made it a wire-to-wire in front winning weekend Sunday at the University Club, posting their first team win in the LSU Tiger Golf Classic since 2005.
Also, junior Elise Bradley made a 12-foot downhill birdie putt on the 54th hole to force sudden death and then post a par on the par-5 11th hole to score her first collegiate victory.
For LSU it was its 40th team victory in the history of the program which began in the 1979-80 season and it was the 39th win for the Lady Tigers under the direction of Coach Karen Bahnsen, who took over the program prior to the 1984-85 season.
Bradley becomes the 18th golfer in the history of the program to win a tournament as a member of the Lady Tiger squad and the 10th Lady Tiger to capture an LSU sponsored spring tournament dating back to 1982.
The Lady Tigers won the spring event for the eighth time and the fourth time at the University Club (the first since the2010 renovation. LSU won four times at the original site of the event, the old Fairwood Country Club and now has four wins at the U-Club (200, 2001, 2005, 2015).
The individual competition was ever changing and the big excitement in the final round after LSU posted a post-renovation course single round record of 8-under 280 on Saturday to open a 13-shot lead.
LSU senior Madelene Sagstrom started the day in the lead, Leslie Cloots of North Carolina eventually took over and opened up at one point a three-shot lead. Then it was Bradley and Mississippi State’s Rica Tse left to battle it out. They were playing together in the same group but not fully aware of the competition between them for the title until late in the round.
With the lead hers on the back nine, Bradley posted double bogey on the par 4 15th that tied the pair at 2-under entering the final three holes. Bradley bogeyed the 16th hole putting Tse, who was three-under par on her round (69) in the lead. Both players parred the par 5 17th setting it up for the 372-yard par 4 18th hole.
Both reached the fairway, but Bradley tried to cut off yardage over the signature 18-hole lake. But she nearly cut it too close ending up close to the water.
“That was too close for comfort,” Bradley said of her shot that landed no more than five yards from the lake. Bradley had 127 yards to the hole and placed it at the very top of a ridge 12 feet looking down on the cup. “After the double and the bogey, I thought it had cost me the tournament there.”
But the Mandeville junior gently touched the ball down the ridge and it dropped in for an even par round of 72. Tse two-putted for par and it was back to 10 for the sudden death playoff.
The seventh playoff in LSU women’s golf tournament history saw the pair get pars on the par 4 10th before heading to the par 5, 516-yard 11th hole (the longest hole on the tournament layout). Bradley hit a perfect drive leaving 220 yards to the green. She used an 8 iron to put the ball a very important 66 yards from the flag.
“That was key because I made birdie earlier in the round there and had an idea what the shot would be,” said Bradley.
Bradley put it to about 15 feet and just missed her par putt. Tse ended up in the left rough with no green to work with and would bogey the hole leaving one of the country’s most improved golfers this year an 18-inch tap-in for the title.
“In the moment, it seemed a lot longer than that,” she said.
Bradley (74-68-72) and Tse (76-69-69) both posted 2-under 214 which ties the fourth best 54-hole score in women’s college events in the years since the U-Club’s renovation.
Sagstrom, who finished second twice and third twice in her four years, just couldn’t get things going on the final day posting a 4-over 76 with just one birdie. She finished with an even par 216 (73-67-76) for solo third. Cloots finished in a group in fourth at 2-over 218 and was done in by back-to-back double bogeys on the 17th and 18th hole, her 11th and 12th of the day in the shotgun format. Kornie Maxoutopoulis of TCU and Ally McDonald of Mississippi State joined her in fourth.
It wasn’t a perfect round for LSU, but it was plenty enough to get the Tigers their third win of the year and third in the last five tournaments with two seconds sandwiched between the wins. LSU posted a 14-over 302 on the final day to finish at 15-over 879 for 54 holes (297-280-302). The Lady Tigers were five shots better than Mississippi State, ranked 11th, at 20-over 884 (306-285-293) on a day when the wind returned the course in the final few hours of the round.
“We didn’t play our best today,” Bahnsen said. “But at the same token, it was the second time (this season) we’ve won wire-to-wire and it didn’t get easier. I think we put a little pressure on ourselves in a lot of ways. Again, trying to win at home, you put pressure on yourself. I’m proud of the girls because we didn’t get off to a good start but they kept fighting all the way through. It was a learning experience. Mississippi State played well.
“I’m so proud of Elise,” Bahnsen said. “She’s a Louisiana girl. I saw some potential in her when I recruited her. I thought she could do some great things. She came back this year with a renewed confidence in herself. She worked really hard and confidence goes a long way.”
Bradley has continued a year with two other top fours to go with the victory and should push her higher in the Golfweek and Golfstat performance rankings where she has made one of the biggest gains in one season in the country. She presently is 38 in Golfstat and 35th in Golfweek after being well down in the triple digits at the start of the year.
The final day would also see LSU count a second 76 from sophomore Caroline Nistrup and a 78 from Carly Ray Goldstein.
LSU will now begin preparations for the post-season that begin on April 17-19 with the annual Southeastern Conference championship at the Greystone Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.
Follow LSU women’s golf at www.Facebook.com/LSUwomensgolf and on Twitter @LSUwomensgolf.
LSU Tiger Golf Classic
The University Club – Baton Rouge, La.
Final Team Results (Par 288-864)
1. LSU 297-280-302 – 879 +15; 2. Mississippi State 306-285-293 – 884 +20; 3. TCU 300-298-297 – 895 +31; 4. Tulane 302-288-307 – 897 +33; 5. Wake Forest 317-297-293 – 907 +43; 6. Colorado 316-291-303 – 910 +46; 7. North Carolina 313-294-306 – 913 +49; 8. Notre Dame 312-292-310 – 914 +50; T9. UCF 307-311-299 – 917 +53; T9. Denver 303-308-306 – 917 +53; 11. Oklahoma 315-308-306 – 929 +65; 12. NC State 314-309-311 – 934 +70; 13. Kentucky 316-306-313 – 935 +71; 14. Missouri 321-308-309 – 938 +74; 15. UNC Wilmington 325-309-319 – 953 +89; 16. UTSA 324-321-314 – 959 +95
Individual Top 20 (Par 72-216)
1. Elise Bradley, LSU, 74-68-72 – 214 -2 (won playoff on second extra hole)
2. Rica Tse, Miss. State, 76-69-69 – 214 -2
3. Madelene Sagstrom, LSU, 73-67-76 – 216 E
T4. Kortnie Maxoutopoulis, TCU, 75-71-72; Ally McDonald, Miss. State, 78-69-71; Leslie Coots, UNC, 72-71-75; — 218 +2
T7. Chieh Jessica Peng, Miss. State, 73-71-75; Allison Emrey, Wake Forest, 76-70-73; Emily Penttila, Tulane, 74-70-75; – 219 +3
T10. Gemma Dryburgh, Tulane, 75-69-77; Kelly McGovern, TCU, 72-73-76; Esther Lee, Colorado, 76-71-74; — 221 +5
13. Caroline Nistrup, LSU, 75-71-76 – 222 +6
T14. Alexandra Bonetti, TCU, 74-75-74; Brittany Fan, Colorado, 81-70-72; — 223 +7
T16. Brogan Townend, UTSA, 75-74-75; 16. Haley Mills, Kentucky, 80-74-70; — 224 +8
18. Ashley Armstrong, Notre Dame, 80-69-76 – 225 +9
T19. Marissa Dodd, Wake Forest, 79-76-71; 19. Ashley Holder, UCF, 78-76-72; Jessica Carty, Denver, 76-77-73; Hannah Wood, Oklahoma, 72-75-79; — 226 +10
LSU Scores
1. Elise Bradley 74-68-72 – 214 -2
3. Madelene Sagstrom 73-67-76 – 216 E
13. Caroline Nistrup 75-71-76 – 222 +6
T27. Carly Goldstein 75-76-78 – 229 +13
56. Claudia De Antonio 77-81-79 – 237 +21
T64. Sydney Cavin 80-79-81 – 240 +24
T79. Nadine Dreher 84-74-88 – 246 +30
Miscellaneous Tiger Classic Facts
LSU wins for the eighth time (4 at UCLUB)
Wins in 1985, 1986, 1995, 1998 at Fairwood Country Club LSU–Fairwood Invitational
Wins at UClub post 2000 were 2000, 2001, 2005
Elise Bradley is the 10th LSU player to win the LSU sponsored event
Winners at Fairwood Country Club
Jenny Lidback in 1986
Jackie Gallagher in 1988
Kristi Coats in 1993
Ashley Winn in 1995
Lisette Lee in 1998
Winners at the U-Club
Tina Howard (2000)
Meredith Duncan (2002)
Elise Bradley (2015)
Winner of LSU-Tulane sponsored event at English Turn during U Club renovation
Megan McChrystal (2010)
Seventh time overall, second straight year and fourth time at U-Club for a playoff.
40th team win for LSU in its program history (started 1979-80 season) (39th for Karen third this season)
Winning individual score of 214 ties for fourth best 54 hole score in U-Club post-renovation women’s golf events
LSU’s 879 by one shot is the new team low 54-hole score since renovation topping 880 by Tennessee in 2012 LSU Golf Classic.