BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – LSU sophomore golfer Caroline Nistrup dropped a 12-footer on the 18th hole for her third birdie of the second nine to post 2-under par 70 to pace the Lady Tigers in the first round of the rain-plagued Southeastern Conference Women’s Golf Championships at the Greystone Golf and Country Club’s Legacy Course.
Nistrup, from Denmark, had one birdie on the par-5 third hole and a bogey on the par 5-sixth hole to turn at 36, but had birdies on the par 5 11th, the par 3 13th and the 18th hole to counter a lone second nine bogey on the par 4 15th.
Nistrup, ranked No. 12 in the country in the Golfstat performance rankings, is in a three-way tie for second place with No. 13 Justine Dreher of South Carolina, Bianca Maurizio of Texas A&M and Florida’s Taylor Tomlinson, three shots behind first-round leader Jenny Hahn of Vanderbilt at 5-under 67.
“Caroline’s round was fantastic,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen.
Madelene Sagstrom of LSU, second ranked in the Golfstat rankings, finished her round at even par 72 and is in a tie for ninth with Kendall Martindale of Vanderbilt.
Sagstrom posted two-birdies on the front side in posting 2-under 34, and after a bogey-birdie-bogey start to the final nine holes, Sagstrom was able to get back to 2-under on the par 4 15th. Unfortunately, the senior got an extremely bad break on the par 5 final hole as her third shot flew the green and instead of going all the way down the hill, stopped with a steep side hill lie to a downhill pin. She struggled to get her ball on the green and had to settle for double bogey seven.
Sagstrom, who is second in the SEC in stroke average and looking to make her third straight All-SEC first team, is still in great shape, just five shots out of the individual lead entering Saturday’s second round.
The shotgun round was played in a steady rain that was heaviest when LSU came through the sixth through eighth holes on the front nine before nearly stopping for about 20 minutes. LSU, South Carolina and Mississippi State though, had to come home in some of the worst of the weather in the final hour of play.
The competition is extremely tight after the first day with No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 14 Tennessee and No. 19 Vanderbilt all tied for the lead at 5-over 293 in the play five, count four scoring system over the par 72, 6,308 yard layout. LSU, ranked fourth in the Golfstat rankings, is in another group of three tied for fourth at 11-over par 299 with No. 19 Florida and No.2 South Carolina.
No. 9 Arkansas and No. 30 Alabama are tied for seventh at +12 300, putting the top eight teams within seven shots of each other.
LSU had 13 birdies on the round among the five players to stand fourth among the 14-team field (Tennessee 15, Vandy & UK 14 each).
“It was so tough out there (Friday),” said Bahnsen after the round. “It was exhausting for the girls. The golf bags get wet and heavy. It gets tough to push the equipment around. The girls played hard, but we made a few mistakes late in the round. It was the first time we played the back nine (after most of Thursday’s practice round was washed out). It was like our practice round. We just need to go out (Saturday) and eliminate some mistakes and we will be fine.”
LSU’s other scores on the opening round included a 6-over 78 from junior Elise Bradley, a 7-over 79 from sophomore Carly Ray Goldstein and an 8-over 80 from freshman Claudia De Antonio.
Nistrup and Bradley each played the par 5s in -2, equaling the best of the opening round while Sagstrom and Nistrup played par 3s in 1-under par.
As a team (five-player), LSU’s -2 score was the lowest of the first round on the par 5s, two shots better than Vanderbilt’s score of even par.
The average score for the opening 70 rounds of the tournament, the first time the event was played on the Legacy Course after two years on the Founder’s Course at Greystone, was 76.66. The par-5 18th was the only hole that played under par at 4.96 with 19 birdies.
The weather forecast has seen a drastic change for Saturday and as of Friday evening was only showing a 10 percent chance of rain. The event will again use a shotgun format on Saturday with a 10 a.m. CT start to make sure that at least 36 holes are finished at the end of the day. The forecast for Sunday remains problematic and decisions regarding the third round will be made at the conclusion of play on Saturday.
Southeastern Conference Women’s Championships
At Birmingham, Alabama (Greystone Country Club)
First Round Team Results (par 288)
T1. Texas A&M; Tennessee, Vanderbilt 293 +5
T4. Florida, LSU, South Carolina 299 +11
T7. Arkansas, Alabama 300 +12
9. Georgia 306 +18
T10. Auburn, Kentucky, Missouri 307 +19
13. Mississippi State 308 +20
14. Mississippi 310 +22
First Round Top 10 individuals (par 72)
1. Jenny Hahn, Vanderbilt 67 -5
T2. Justine Dreher, South Carolina; Caroline Nistrup, LSU; Biance Fabrizio, Texas A&M; Taylor Tomlinson, Florida 70 -2
T6. Lucia Polo, Tennessee; Gaby Lopez, Arkansas; Michelle Butler, Missouri 71 -1
T9. Madelene Sagstrom, LSU; Kendall Martindale, Vanderbilt 72 E
LSU Scores
T2. Caroline Nistrup 70 -2
T9. Madelene Sagstrom 72 E
T40. Elise Bradley 78 +6
T46. Carly Ray Goldstein 79 +7
T55. Claudia De Antonio 80 +8