BATON ROUGE — The 23rd-ranked LSU men’s golf team fired a 9-under par 279 on Saturday to lead the Second-Annual LSU Spring Invitational by two strokes after one round.
Heavy rain forced Friday’s round to be cancelled, so the 20-team field teed off at 7:36 a.m. on Saturday with the first round. The second and final round will begin at the same time on Sunday at the University Club. The original format had the teams playing one round on each of the tournament’s three days. Tulsa, last season’s runner-up, is two shots behind LSU at 7-under par. College of Charleston is in third place at 5-under, and Jacksonville State and Mississippi State are tied for fourth at 1-under par.
There is a five-way tie for first place in the individual standings after one round. LSU’s Heath West and John Humphries are in the mix with 4-under par 68s. Tulsa’s David Inglis, last year’s medalist, is in sixth place after shooting a 3-under 69. Tiger redshirt freshman Tucker Ervin, one of five individuals playing for LSU, is tied for 11th place after firing a 2-under 70. Junior Jason Horrell is in a tie for 16th place with teammate and individual player Neil Self at 1-over par.
Senior Nathan Goulding and junior Garrett Prather are tied for 27th place after both shot an even-par 72 on Saturday. Goulding is looking for his third-straight top-10 finish, and fourth this season. Jeff Riemann, and individual for LSU, is in 44th place after shooting a 1-over 73. Brandon Aydlett, another individual and a redshirt freshman is in 52nd place at 2-over par. Junior individual Chip Lee is in 88th place with a 6-over 78. Aydlett saw action in his first tournament of the season on Saturday. The Monroe, La., native took a redshirt last season.
“I was really impressed with all of our scores today, but especially from those guys who played as individuals,” said LSU head coach Greg Jones. “We had five freshman out there playing today, four redshirt freshman and a true freshman (Heath West), so that is just really awesome.”
West, a Dothan, Ala., native is making a strong push for Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year. West is looking for his third top-20 finish and second top-10 finish of the season. He is second on the team with a 72.4 stroke average. West fired a 1-under 209 at the Gator Invitational last month to help lead LSU to the team title.
“Collectively the field shot pretty well today, the scores were good and the tournament simply will be decided on what looks to be a cold and blustery day tomorrow,” said Jones. “The crew out here at the club did a fantastic job getting this place ready to play today, because when I left here last night I thought there was no chance that we could play.”
Thunderstorms are expected to move into the area on Sunday, and temperatures are expected to drop drastically. LSU will tee of between 9:20 a.m. and 9:52 a.m. and is paired with Tulsa College of Charleston. The Tigers are looking to defend their title from a year ago, in which LSU shot a 9-over 873 to edge Tulsa by five strokes.
Agate to follow:
TEAM SCORES
1. LSU 279 -9; 2. Tulsa 281 -7; 3. College of Charleston 283 -5; t4. Jacksonville State 287 -1; t4. Mississippi State 287 -1; 6. South Alabama 288 E; 7. Central Florida 290 +2; t8. Texas-Arlington 291 +3; t8. Southeastern Louisiana 291 +3; 10. Oral Roberts 292 +4; 11. UNC-Charlotte 293 +5; t12. Tulane 294 +6; t12. Memphis 294 +6; t14. Kansas State 295 +7; t14. South Florida 295 +7; t14. Arkansas State 295 +7; 17. Louisiana-Lafayette 296 +8; 18. Middle Tennessee State 298 +10; 19. Troy State 300 +12; 20. Rhode Island 303 +15
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS
t1. Codie Mudd, Mississippi State, 68 -4; t1. Mark Sullivan, Tulane, 68 -4; t1. Andreas Christensson, Oral Roberts, 68 -4; t1. Heath West, LSU, 68 -4; t1. John Humphries, LSU, 68 -4; t6. Bruce McDonald, College of Charleston, 69 -3; t6. David Inglis, Tulsa, 69 -3; t6. Matt LeConche, Central Florida, 69 -3; t6. Daniel Brunson, College of Charleston, 69 -3; t6. Daniel de Leon, Southeastern Louisiana, 69 -3
LSU SCORES
t1. Heath West 68 -4
t1. John Humphries 68 -4
t11. Tucker Ervin 70 -2 (I)
t16. Jason Horrell 71 -1
t16. Neil Self 71 -1 (I)
t27. Nathan Goulding 72 E
t27. Garrett Prather 72 E
t44. Jeff Riemann 73 +1 (I)
t52. Brandon Aydlett 74 +2 (I)
t88. Chip Lee 78 +6 (I)
*(I)- Played as an Individual