TAMPA, Fla. — The LSU men’s golf team shot a 14-over 590 Monday at the Gary Koch/Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate to place seventh after two rounds of play.
The tournament is being played at the Old Memorial Golf Club in Tampa, Fla. The par-72 course has a yardage of 7,236.
The Tigers shot a 3-over 291 in round two, led by junior Garrett Prather’s 1-under 71. LSU is 25 shots behind current leader and co-host Florida. The Gators, the 2000 national champions, fired a 15-under 273 in the second round to take a 14-stroke lead over Kentucky into Tuesday’s final round. LSU shot a first-round 11-over 299 total.
Florida, the defending champion and co-host for the event with Central Florida was led by sophomore Camilo Villegas on Monday. Villegas shot a second-round 10-under 62 in the second round to set a course record.
Villegas is atop the individual leader board, four strokes ahead of teammate Bubba Dickerson with one round left. Prather is tied for 15th with three others. He shot a first-round 75. Junior John Humphries is tied with teammate Nathan Goulding for 19th. Humphries and Goulding shot a 73 and 72 in the second round respectively.
True freshman Heath West is in 38th place, and redshirt freshman Jason Horrell is tied for 63rd.
The nation’s top-ranked team, Texas Christian, is in third place, 15 strokes behind Florida. North Florida and Ohio State are tied for fourth place. North Carolina State is in sixth place, two strokes ahead of LSU.
Ohio State’s Justin Collins is tied with Dickerson for second place. Four golfers are tied for fourth place.
LSU finished third out of 15 teams at the Gary Koch a year ago. The Tigers shot a 3-over 867 total to finish behind champion Florida and Ole Miss. The Tigers are looking for their second top-10 finish of the 2001-02 season.
LSU finished eighth in their first tournament of the season, then placed 14th at the Adams Cup two weeks ago in Newport, R.I.
A strong finish at the Gary Koch should bode well for the Tigers in the long run. LSU is competing against a strong field that includes three of the top-10 teams according to Golfweek, and a handful of teams from LSU’s district. Number one TCU, eighth-ranked Ohio State and 10th-ranked Florida are currently ranked in the top 10 nationally by Golfweek.
The 15 teams will tee off at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday for final round action. LSU will next travel to Knoxville, Tenn., Oct. 22-23 for the Coca-Cola Tennessee Tournament of Champions.
TEAM SCORES
1. Florida 292-273–565 -11; 2. Kentucky 289-290–579 +3; 3. TCU 296-284–580 +4; t4. North Florida 293-289–582 +6; t4. Ohio State 290-292–582 +6; 6. North Carolina State 294-294–588 +12; 7. LSU 299-291–590 +14; 8. Ole Miss 297-295–592 +16; t9. Florida State 306-294–600 +24; t9. South Florida 304-296–600 +24; t11. Rhode Island 305-297–602 +26; t11. College of Charleston 304-298–602 +26; 13. Texas A&M 308-295–603 +27; 14. Georgia State 306-306–612 +36; 15. Central Florida 312-305–617 +41
TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS
1. Camilo Villegas, Florida, 73-62–135 -9; t2. Bubba Dickerson, Florida, 70-69–139 -5; t2. Justin Collins, Ohio State, 68-71–139 -5; t4. Adam Rubinson, TCU, 71-70–141 -3; t4. Jason Moon, North Carolina State, 72-69–141 -3; t4. Ricardo Carrillo, South Florida, 72-69–141 -3; t4. Brad Schwartz, North Florida, 71-70–141 -3
LSU SCORES
t15. Garrett Prather 75-71–146 +2
t19. John Humphries 74-73–147 +3
t19. Nathan Goulding 75-72–147 +3
t38. Heath West 75-75–150 +6
t63. Jason Horrell 78-77–155 +11