STATESBORO, Ga. — The 14th ranked LSU men’s golf team shot a final-round 298 to place 13th at the 2001 Schenkel/E-Z-Go Invitational Sunday in Statesboro, Ga.
The Tigers shot an 890 for the two-day tournament and were 12th after 36 holes Saturday. The score of 890 was the highest the Tigers have shot all season. They posted an 886 at the Red River Classic Shootout in Dallas in October.
The nation’s No. 1 team, the Georgia Bulldogs, claimed their second straight Schenkel title by shooting a final round 1-under par 287. The Bulldogs Nick Cassini took medalist honors by firing a final-round 72. Cassini finished 6-under par with a 210 total.
Junior Nathan Goulding was the highest finisher for the Tigers, tying four other golfers for 25th place. Goulding shot a final round 72 to finish 3-over par with a total score of 219. Goulding shot a second-round 70 and a 77 in the first round.
Georgia edged host school Georgia Southern by four strokes. GSU shot a final-round 287, finishing one stroke ahead of Clemson, who placed third. Augusta State and Florida rounded out the top five. It was the third second-place finish for the Eagles at the Schenkel. They also placed second in 1977 and 1979.
Georgia’s Erik Compton placed alone in second place and four golfers tied for third place. The tournament held at Forest Heights Country Club featured six of the top ten teams in the country, and 13 of the top 20 individual golfers.
Craig Taylor tied for 40th for LSU, Alan Morgan finished 49th, John Humphries 52nd, and Garrett Prather placed 76th. It was the ninth straight tournament that the Tigers have had at least one golfer finish in the top 25.
The Bulldogs of Georgia defended their title from last season, where they also had the top individual golfer- Bubba Watson, Watson finished in 20th place Sunday.
The Tigers will look to regroup when they travel to Augusta State March 30 to participate in the Cleveland Golf/ASU Invitational.
TEAM SCORES
1. Georgia 286-281-287-854; 2. Georgia Southern 285-286-287-858 ; 3. Clemson 283-284-292-859; 4. Augusta State 300-284-283-867; 5. Florida 281-296-293-870; 6. Northwestern 295-287-291-873; 7. East Tennessee State 290-294-292-876; 8. South Carolina 291-292-297-880; 9. Duke 293-290-298-881; 10. North Carolina State 296-291-297-884; 11. Auburn 296-293-297-886; 12. Tennessee 305-292-291-888; 13. LSU 299-293-298-890; 14. North Carolina 297-296-298-891; 15. Ohio State 308-295-297-900.
TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS
1. Nick Cassini, Georgia, 71-67-72-210; 2. Erik Compton, Georgia, 71-67-72-211; t3. D.J. Trahan, Clemson, 70-70-72-212; t3. Bubba Dickerson, Florida, 66-74-72-212; t3. Chris Wisler, East Tennessee State, 71-70-71-212; t3. Bryant Odom, Georgia, 68-71-73-212.
LSU SCORES
T25. Nathan Goulding 77-70-72-219 +3; T40. Craig Taylor 73-73-76-222 +6; T49. Alan Morgan 72-76-76-224 +8; T52. John Humphries 77-74-74-225 +9; 76. Garrett Prather 80-81-78-239 +23.