GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The LSU men’s golf team struggled in the final round of the 2003 SunTrust Gator Invitational on Sunday in brutal weather conditions, shooting a 40-over par 320 to finish 12th out of 15 teams at the University of Florida Golf Course in Gainesville.
The Tigers, the defending tournament champions, finished the tournament with a 62-over par 902 total after being just 11 strokes off the lead entering the final round. Augusta State won the team title with a 29-over 869 and ASU’s Oliver Wilson claimed medalist honors by finishing at even-par 210. Augusta State finished ahead of host Florida by three strokes.
Purdue placed third at 42-over 882, College of Charleston was fourth at 45-over 885, and Vanderbilt and Charleston Southern tied for fifth place at 50-over 890.
Senior John Humphries was one of a few bright spots for the Tigers on Sunday as he shot a final-round 7-over 77 but still finished in a three-way tie for sixth place, his first top-10 finish of the season and fourth time to place in the top 20. Humphries now has six top-10 finishes in his career.
Sophomore Heath West shot a 10-over par 80 Sunday to tie for 17th place at 11-over par 221, his third top-20 finish of the season. Both Humphries and were in the top five after Saturday’s action. True freshman and Florida native Aaron Smith tied for 55th place at 20-over 230, junior Jason Horrell tied for 60th place at 24-over 234, and redshirt freshman Adam Swope finished 72nd at 32-over 242.
The Gator Invitational marked the third time this season that LSU has had at least two golfers finish in the top 20 in the same tournament. Humphries, West, and Jeff Riemann all placed in the top 20 at the Windon Memorial Classic Sept. 29-Oct. , and West and Humphries also did it at the Coca-Cola Tournament of Champions Oct. 21-22 in Knoxville, Tenn.
“We just did not play very well today, it is just that simple,” said LSU head coach Greg Jones. “Aaron (Smith) and Adam (Swope) were each making their first-career appearances but that is no excuse because we all know we can play much better than we showed today,” Jones said.
“It would have been nice to come here and play a lot better, especially considering that we won this tournament a year ago, but we just need to learn from our mistakes here and move on to the next tournament,” Jones said.
LSU will next participate in the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship on Feb. 17-18 at the Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
TEAM SCORES (Par 840) 1. Augusta State 280-291-298 — 869 +29; 2. Florida 296-281-295 — 872 +32; 3. Purdue 283-297-302 — 882 +42; 4. College of Charleston 293-292-300 — 885 +45; t5. Vanderbilt 291-301-298 — 890 +50; t5. Georgia Southern 288-291-311 — 890 +50; 7. Georgia State 304-277-310 — 891 +51; 8. Alabama 301-296-296 — 893 +53; 9. UAB 305-288-303 – 896 +56; 10. Florida State 299-293-305 — 897 +57; 11. Kentucky 298-287-316 — 901 +61; 12. LSU 294-288-320 — 902 +62; 13. Ohio State 303-312-299 — 914 +74; 14. North Florida 299-306 319 — 924 +84; 15. South Florida 315-300-320 — 935 +95
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS (Par 210) 1. Oliver Wilson, Augusta State, 67-70-73 — 210 E; 2. Brandt Snedker, Vanderbilt, 69-73-69 — 211 +1; 3. Ari Savolainen, Florida, 71-70-72 — 213 +3; 4. James Vargas, Florida, 72-71-72 — 215 +5; 5. Ty Harris, Georgia State, 74-66-76 — 216 +6
LSU SCORES t6. John Humphries 70-70-77 — 217 +7
t17. Heath West 71-70-80 — 221 +11
t55. Aaron Smith 76-73-81– 230 +20
t60. Jason Horrell 77-75-82 — 234 +24
72. Adam Swope 85-75-82 — 242 +32