RALEIGH, NC – LSU senior golfer Madelene Sagstrom won her second title of the season and sophomore Caroline Nistrup finished second to propel the seventh-ranked LSU women’s golf team back to the NCAA Championship Tournament with a fourth-place tie finish Saturday in the NCAA Raleigh Regional at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course.
LSU advances to the Championship event for the 13th time in school history since the NCAA event began in 1982 and the 12th time that Hall of Fame Coach Karen Bahnsen of LSU has taken her Lady Tigers to the event. LSU finished back-to-back third place in the last two appearances in 2011 and 2012.
The event will be conducted in a new format, May 22-27, at the Concessions Club in Bradenton, Florida. The team champion will be determined for the first time in match play with television coverage for the first time in over a decade by The Golf Channel.
A finish in the top six by the LSU team was needed this year in the new four-regional format and LSU posted an 8-over 296 to get home for 54 holes in 24-over par 888, tying with Alabama. The pair tied for fourth. Three Southeastern Conference teams will go to Bradenton from this region as South Carolina took the regional championship at 13-over 877.
Other advancing teams were Northwestern, NC State and Campbell. Campbell was the last qualifier at 28-over par, four shot clear of seventh-place Ohio State at 32-over.
“They played so hard,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen of her Lady Tigers. “It was big time windy and some of the stiffest wind was when we hit 11-14 where we struggled. The girls really did a good job of regrouping and being ready to play (Saturday). That was big for us. I’m so happy for the girls. This can make for a stressful week.”
For Sagstrom, the SEC Golfer of the Year and the No. 2 player in the nation as rated by Golfstat and Golfweek, the performance in Raleigh is part of a long run that began back in October at the Lady Tar Heel. Since a final round 69 in that event, Sagstrom has played 33-under par in the last 22 rounds. She has also posted five consecutive post-season rounds under par dating back to the second round of the SEC Championships.
Sagstrom posted a 2-under par 70 in the final round to win wire-to-wire and going away with 8-under par 208 (68-70-70). For Sagstrom it was her third career golf title at LSU, making her just one of seven golfers in the history of the women’s program to win three or more individual tournament titles.
The senior from Sweden owned the first three holes of the competition, the par 5 (514 yard) first, par 3 (181 yards) second and the par 5 (526 yards) third with birdies on all three the first day, the two par fives on the second round and the second and third holes on Saturday. In the three rounds, she had 11 birdies and just one bogey in the 27 front nine holes over the three days.
Sagstrom for the tournament played the par 3s and par 4s each at 1-under par and led the field with a -6 score on the par 5s. Sagstrom led the field with 15 total birdies.
The senior will be making her second appearance in the NCAA Championships as she was a freshman on the 2012 LSU team that finished third. Sagstrom shot 11-over par and was T51 for the Lady Tigers.
Nistrup also had a strong tournament tying for second at 2-under par 214 after a final round of 2-under 70 (71-73-70). The sophomore from Denmark had a four-birdie, no bogey front nine Saturday and eight birdies during the three-days of competition. Nistrup also tied with Sagstrom with a 1-under total on the par 4 holes.
“Madelene (Sagstrom) tore up the front nine all weekend,” said Bahnsen. “She really held her composure so well. Caroline (Nistrup) did a great job as well. It’s so wonderful to see them both finish 1-2,” said Bahnsen.
Nistrup tied with Lena Schaeffner of Coastal Carolina and Schaeffner is one of the three individuals not on the six advancing teams that will advance to the championships to compete for the individual crown. She will be joined by Taylor Totland of Furman (T5, E) and Karolina Vickova of Florida (8, +1).
Louisiana junior Elise Bradley used three key birdies over the final nine holes to keep her finish of the round in order to help the Lady Tigers with a 1-over 37 en route to 4-over 76. She finished at 10-over par 226 (74-76-76) and in a group T35.
LSU also counted an 80 as both sophomore Carly Ray Goldstein and junior Nadine Dreher posted 8-over par on the final day.
LSU used Sagstrom and Nistrup’s front nine play to counter some of the issues on holes 11-14 during the course of the weekend. LSU over the three days posted 4-under par for its counting scores on holes 1-9. LSU had 37 total birdies among the five players in the competition, second to only NC State.
The other three regionals were also deciding their NCAA qualifiers on Saturday. Three other SEC teams – Tennessee, Texas A&M and Arkansas — were expected to make the 24-team field as well along with the Tulane Green Wave.
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NCAA Raleigh Regional
Raleigh, North Carolina
Final Team Results (Par 288-864)(Top 6 Advance)
1. South Carolina 295-286-296 – 877 +13
2. Northwestern 302-292-291 – 885 +21
3. NC State 290-306-291 – 887 +23
T4. LSU 288-304-296; Alabama 294-295-299 – 888 +24
6. Campbell 293-305-294 – 892 +28
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7. Ohio State 292-304-300 – 896 +32
8. Florida 299-307-296 – 902 +38
9. Coastal Carolina 303-290-310 – 903 +39
T10. Furman 298-308-298; Iowa State 303-303-298 – 904 +40
12. Mississippi State 300-306-299 – 905 +41
13. UCF 296-303-309 – 908 +44
14. Charleston 304-305-301 – 910 +46
15. GRU Augusta 303-309-300 – 912 +48
16. Wichita State 312-312-306 – 930 +66
17. Seton Hall 309-318-311 – 938 +74
18. Fairleigh Dickinson 328-331-327 – 986 +122
Individual Top 10 (par 72-216)
1. Madelene Sagstrom, LSU, 68-70-70 – 208 -8
T2. Caroline Nistrup, LSU, 71-73-70; Lena Schaeffner, Coastal Carolina, 73-70-71 – 214 -2
4. Emma Talley, Alabama, 70-70-75 – 215 -1
T5. Taylor Totland, Furman, 70-74-72; Rachael Taylor, NC State, 69-75-72; Justine Dreher, S. Carolina, 71-73-72 – 216 E
8. Karolina Vickova, Florida, 74-73-70 – 217 +1
T9. Celia Barquin, Iowa State, 75-70-73; Hana Lee, Northwestern, 73-74-71 – 218 +2
LSU Scores
1. Madelene Sagstrom 68-70-70 – 208 -8
T2. Caroline Nistrup 71-73-70 – 214 -2
T35. Elise Bradley 74-76-76 – 226 +10
T86. Nadine Dreher 75-85-80 – 240 +24
92. Carly Ray Goldstein 81-89-80 – 250 +34