GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The LSU men’s golf team shot an even par 280 in the final round on Sunday to win the 2002 SunTrust Gator Invitational at the University of Florida Golf Course in Gainesville.
The Tigers rallied from a third-place tie after the first two rounds on Saturday to win their first tournament of the season, and first Gator Invitational title since 1988. LSU has now won the Gator Invitational three times in the tournament’s 25-year history. The Tigers also won in 1986. Only eight other teams besides Florida have won at the tournament, most recently Augusta State in 1998. Florida dominated the Gator, winning the team title every season from 1989-97.
LSU finished the event at 6-over par, one stroke ahead of Purdue, Florida and Alabama-Birmingham, who each finished in a three-way tie for second place.
Purdue was in eighth place after Saturday’s first two rounds and UAB led the 15-team field after Saturday’s play, holding a nine-stroke edge over Florida.
Augusta State rounded out the top five by finishing at 8-over par. No team finished under par for the tournament.
LSU finished the tournament with a 6-over 846 total and was led by senior Nathan Goulding’s second-place finish. Goulding fired a 6-under par 204 and finished four strokes behind medalist Graeme McDowell of UAB. McDowell, the 2001 Country Club of Louisiana Intercollegiate medalist, won the event with a 10-under 200 score. True freshman Heath West scored the first top 10 finish of his young career, shooting a 1-under 209 to finish eighth. Junior John Humphries shot a final-round 1-over 71 to finish in a 24th-place tie with five others. Humphries shot a 6-over 216 for the tournament.
Humphries drove the green on the 326-yard 17th hole for an eagle to highlight his final round. Jason Horrell finished 44th after completing the tournament with an 11-over 222 total. Garrett Prather shot a 17-over 227 to place 66th.
“We knew that we could play as well as we did today and that we could play with all the other golfers out here,” said LSU head coach Greg Jones. “I think we finally believed that we could win and we did in a real big way.”
One advantage for LSU may have been that they were not playing in the final group on Sunday. LSU was paired with College of Charleston and Georgia State and teed off an hour earlier than either Florida or UAB.
“We didn’t have to play in the final group today with all the pressure and the big crowd,” said Jones. “We nearly had to go into a playoff, because if either (Florida’s) Camilo Villegas, or (UAB’s) Graeme McDowell had made their putts on 18 we would have.”
“Both guys (Villegas and McDowell) had 15-foot putts and didn’t make them. Those are both All-Americans, so that is amazing,” Jones said.
The victory is Jones’ fourth as head coach in his third season in Baton Rouge. The Tigers will next travel to the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship on Feb. 18-19 at Ponte Vedra, Fla. The Tigers will then host the second-annual LSU Spring Invitational on March 1-3 at the University Club in Baton Rouge.
Course: University of Florida GC (Gainesville, Fla.)
Par: 70
Yardage: 6,701
TEAM SCORES
1.LSU 289-277-280-846 +6; t2. Purdue 292-285-270-847 +7; t2. Florida 282-283-282-847 +7; t2. UAB 274-282-291-847 +7; 5. Augusta State 291-275-282-848 +8; t6. Georgia State 285-285-286-856 +16; t6. Alabama 289-289-278-856 +16; 8. College of Charleston 285-291-286-862 +22; 9. Georgia Southern 287-289-288-864 +24; 10. North Florida 295-283-292-870 +30; 11. Florida State 289-291-296-876 +36; 12. Kentucky 301-296-291-888 +48; t13. Ohio State 313-293-284-890 +50; t13. Central Florida 298-298-294-890 +50; 15. South Florida 300-291-302-893 +53
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS
1.Graeme McDowell, UAB, 65-67-68-200 -10; t2. Nathan Goulding, LSU, 69-67-68-204 -6; t2. Clint Provost, Alabama, 69-68-67-204 -6; t4. Oliver Wilson, Augusta State, 73-65-68-206 -4; t4. Camilo Benedetti, Florida, 69-71-66-206 -4; t4. Scott Jamieson, Augusta State, 70-65-71-206 -4; 7. Camilo Villegas, Florida, 68-68-71-207 -3; 8. Heath West, LSU, 74-67-68-209 -1; 9. Chris Mayson, Purdue, 72-68-71-211 +1; t10. Daniel Ozley, UAB, 68-71-73-212 +2; t10. Shiv Kapur, Purdue, 73-71-68-212 +2; t10. Matt Torrance, North Florida, 68-70-74-212 +2
LSU SCORES
t2. Nathan Goulding 69-67-68-204 -6
8. Heath West 74-67-68-209 -1
t24. John Humphries 73-72-71-216 +6
t44. Jason Horrell 73-75-73-221 +11
t66. Garrett Prather 80-71-76-227 +17