BEAUMONT, Calif. — One of the top college players in the country in 2015 proved she was ready for life as a professional. Madelene Sagstrom (Enkoping, Sweden) posted a women’s course record 8-under 64 in her first round as a professional to grab the lead at the IOA Championship presented by Morongo Casino Resort & Spa as play was suspended due to darkness at 5:54 p.m. with one group left on the 18th hole still to finish.
Therese O’Hara (Copenhagen, Denmark) posted a 5-under 67 and is in solo second. Alexandria Jacobsen (Palm City, Fla.) and Jenny Coleman carded 4-under 68’s while Kendall Dye (Ormond, Okla.) is unofficially 4-under through 17 holes. Round one will resume at 7:15 a.m. while round two gets underway.
Sagstrom, who started on the back nine, opened with a birdie on 10 and an eagle three on the par-5 11th to get to 3-under after two holes. She made bogey on 12, but closed her outward nine with a birdie on 16, a birdie on 17 and a par on 18 to make the turn in 32.
“I started off crazy good, I made birdie on 10 and then holed it for eagle on 11 so I just found my flow and kept going,” said the 23-year-old Sagstrom. “It is such a beautiful place here and I’m just happy to be out here playing again.”
Sagstrom had 75-yards to the pin with a wedge in her hand on 11 and spun the ball right in the hole.
“It hit behind the hole and spun in and the scorekeeper was going crazy,” said Sagstrum. “I didn’t see it, but it went in.”
Sagstrom, a 2015 finalist for the ANNIKA Award and the SEC Player of the Year, said she has been trying to avoid focusing on her score and the results are coming.
“I’m trying to be in the here and now and just loving everything around me,” said Sagstrom, who is traveling with her former roommate at LSU Lindsay Gahm. “When I was done, I didn’t even care what the score was because I just loved playing golf.”
As a senior at LSU, she become the first player in program history to post a season scoring average of under 72 (71.48). She posted 18 career top 10 finishes.
“My time at LSU prepared me for what to expect going into the big world,” said Sagstrom, who was spotted by LSU head coach Karen Bahnsen when playing in a few AJGA tournaments in the states. “I played against the best players at LSU and I will play against them again out here. I just tried to take advantage of everyday I had at school.”
Sagstrom grew up in a small town outside of Stockholm. Her parents started playing golf when she was born and quickly caught the bug. She made the national team in 2009 and then went to LSU.
Her mentor is former PGA TOUR and European Tour player Robert Karlsson, who has 11 career European Tour wins. They met through the national team a little over a year ago.
“The national team asked me if I wanted to have him at Q-School with me in December and I said ‘yes’ because of his experience, he’s played in over 500 tournaments,” Sagstrom explained. “He knows the game and he teaches me everything he can.
She even called Karlsson when she arrived at Tukwet Canyon and asked him how to deal with higher elevation.
“He’s just trying to give the experiences that he has to me,” said Sagstrom. “We’ve become really close friends because he is trying to help me become a better person and player.”
Sagstrom played the par-5 holes a combined 4-under and that is by design. She is a very aggressive player and gets that thirst for playing on the edge from watching the guys.
“I have this thing for when guys hit the golf ball, the sound of it and the flight of it and I like the aggressiveness that they have,” said Sagstrom. “I see myself as an aggressive person so I want to play aggressive golf.”
Sagstrom finished in a tie for fifth at Stage II of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament, but missed the 72-hole cut at final stage.
LSU’S TESSA TEACHMAN POSTS A 69: Tessa Teachman (Baton Rouge, La.) played in just two events on the Symetra Tour in 2015 and since joining the Tour in 2013, she has only made three starts due to limited status. She was excited to get into the first event of the year and made the most of the opportunity in round one with a 3-under 69.
“It was very good, an early tee time so I was just going out there and trying to set the pace,” said Teachman, who grew up in Rochester, N.Y before relocating to Louisiana and playing at LSU. “I just got out there and got going and the course has shaped up a lot since we’ve been here. It was kind of just one of those easy rounds.”
Teachman took advantage of the par-5 holes with three birdies.
“The par fives are definitely attackable on this course,” said Teachman, who had a look at a fourth birdie on a par-5 at her finishing hole. “I could have gone for the ninth hole too, but I laid up. I think there a lot of birdies to be had.”
Teachman, who appeared on Golf Channel’s reality show Big Break Myrtle Beach in 2014, spent most of her off season at LSU training for the season. She said she made a few swing changes, but nothing major.
“I was just excited to come out and play and get one under the belt,” said Teachman. “I wanted to see where the game is and I was pleasantly surprised.”
Teachman is one of four former LSU Tigers in the field and she actually played with all four at some point during her career.