BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Senior Madelene Sagstrom rallied from a double bogey-bogey start to shoot 2-under par 70 and stands in a group tied for sixth place after 36 holes of the Southeastern Conference Women’s Golf Championship Saturday at the Greystone Golf and Country Club Legacy Course.
As a team, the Lady Tigers posted 5-over par, a six-shot improvement from Friday and stands at 16-over par 592 (299-293) after 36 holes. LSU, the fourth-ranked team in the Golfstat performance chart, is sixth in the standings.
It was a day, however, for low scores on a cloudy day as Texas A&M set the SEC Championship record for a single round with an 11-under 277, one shot better than the 278 Alabama shot in the 2010 event. The Aggies, tied for the lead at +5 after 18 holes, now stand at 6-under 570 and they are nine shots clear of second place South Carolina. The Gamecocks were 8-under on their rounds and are at +3 579 for 36 holes.
Tennessee is third at +8 584, one shot ahead of Vanderbilt at 585 with Alabama in front of LSU at +12, 588.
Sagstrom started the day in the shotgun format on the par four fifth hole with a double bogey and then bogeyed the par 5 sixth hole, putting her +3 on the day and +3 for the first 21 holes. But Sagstrom kept it together nicely and followed with back-to-back birdies on the par 4 seventh hole and the par 3 eighth hole.
Once to the back nine, Sagstrom recorded all pars with the exception of birdies on the par 3 13th and then she exacted a little revenge on the 18th hole with a birdie four to bring the round to 1-under heading back to the front for the final four holes.
The native of Sweden then birdied the first hole and parred in for the round of 70. She stands at 2-under 142, five shots out of the lead of Bianca Fabrizio of Texas A&M who followed a 70 up with a 67 for two-day total of 7-under 137, one shot back of Katelyn Dambaugh of South Carolina who is at 6-under 138. Dambaugh tied the single round tournament record of 65 on Saturday with 7 birdies and no bogeys on her card.
One of those she tied with 65 was former Lady Tiger Katy Harris in 2001 in the SEC event in Gainesville.
“I knew that my start wasn’t going to determine my round,” Sagstrom, who is second in the SEC in stroke average and on her way to a third straight first-team All-SEC selection, said. “I was going to keep my head up, worry about the things I could control and I just decided to go out and have fun and hit some good golf shots. I happened to hit the ball really well. I hit the ball really close. I’m happy.”
“She did a great job with her composure and that is something we have been working on with her,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen after the round. “I’m proud of her that she didn’t let it get to her. I was with her when she doubled the first hole and she was okay. She fought through it.”
A couple of other Lady Tigers fought through it as well as Mandeville junior Elise Bradley rallied from Friday’s 78 to shoot even par 72 with three birdies and Denmark sophomore Caroline Nistrup was able to get a birdie for the second straight day on 18 to finish at 2-over 74. Nistrup is at even par for 36 holes (70-74) and in a group tied for 11th place. Bradley moved up nine spots on the day to a tie for 33rd.
LSU also counted a 5-over 77 from sophomore Carly Ray Goldstein and freshman Claudia De Antonio posted a 6-over 78.
“We really want to play (Sunday),” said Bahnsen. “We want the opportunity to move up in the final standings. We are going to continue to try and play some really good golf and play within ourselves and try to get a good round under our belt as a team. We’ve had some good rounds individually, but there’s some great golf going on. I truly want to say my hat is off to A&M. They are playing great golf and South Carolina had a strong round.
“We weren’t quite sharp (Saturday),” she said. “But they kept fighting through it and that’s why we were able to hang in there with a decent round.”
After 36 holes, LSU is still tied for the lead with A&M on par 5 holes at 3-under par and is second behind Vanderbilt in birdies with a five-player total of 28 birdies. Vandy has 30. Bradley is tied for the individual lead on par 5 holes at -4 with Nistrup at -3. Sagstrom is second in par 3 scoring after 36 holes at 3-under and is tied for second in total birdies with nine.
The scoring average was over two strokes lower on Saturday from 76.66 to 74.10 for the 70 golfers. The par 5 18th is by far the easiest holes through two rounds, playing at 4.82 with two eagles and 46 birdies.
Heavy rains are predicted in the Birmingham area overnight, but the plan of tournament officials is to go forward with the final round in shotgun format at 10 a.m. on Sunday. LSU will start on the same holes 4-7 they started Saturday’s round on and they will play with Vanderbilt and Alabama. Live scoring is available at golfstatresults.com and on the Golfstat app.
Live updates during the round are available at www.Facebook.com/LSUwomensgolf and on Twitter @LSUwomensgolf.
SEC Women’s Golf Championships
Birmingham, Ala. – Greystone Country Club Legacy Course
Second Round Team Results (Par 288-576)
1. Texas A&M 293-277 – 570 -6
2. South Carolina 299-280 – 579 +3
3. Tennessee 293-291 – 584 +8
4. Vanderbilt 293-292 – 585 +9
5. Alabama 300-288 – 588 +12
6. LSU 299-293 – 592 +16
7. Arkansas 300-293 – 593 +17
8. Florida 299-295 – 594 +18
9. Georgia 306-289 – 595 +19
10. Mississippi State 308-291 – 599 +23
11. Auburn 307-295 – 602 +26
12. Kentucky 307-297 – 604 +28
13. Missouri 307-302 – 609 +33
14. Ole Miss 310-307 – 617 +41
Individual Top 10 (Par 72-144)
1. Bianca Fabrizio, Texas A&M, 70-67 – 137 -7
2. Katelyn Dambaugh, South Carolina, 73-65 – 138 -6
3. Jenny Hahn, Vanderbilt, 67-72 – 139 -5
4. Maddie Szeryk, Texas A&M, 73-67 – 140 -4
5. Gaby Lopez, Arkansas, 71-70 – 141 -3
T6. Madelene Sagstrom, LSU, 72-70; Justine Dreher, South Carolina, 70-72 – 142 -2
T8. Ally McDonald, Miss. State, 74-69 ; Emma Talley, Alabama, 75-68; Anna Newell, Tennessee – 143 -1
LSU Scores
T6. Madelene Sagstrom 72-70 – 142 -2
T11. Caroline Nistrup 70-74 – 144 E
T33. Elise Bradley 78-72 – 150 +6
T52. Carly Ray Goldstein 79-77 – 156 +12
T58. Claudia De Antonio 80-78 – 158 +14