WACO, Texas — The LSU men’s golf team earned its first tournament victory of the season, winning the Baylor Invitational by two strokes on Tuesday at Bear Ridge Golf Club.
The Tigers fired a 4-over par 868 to place two shots ahead of Southeastern Louisiana for the program’s first victory since winning the 2003 LSU Spring Invitational last March. LSU entered the final round just one shot behind host Baylor, but the Bears struggled on Tuesday, shooting a 14-over 302 to finish in fourth place.
“I’m happy for the guys to win a tournament this early in the season so that now they know they can do it,” said LSU head coach Greg Jones. “The guys did their job and it paid off today.”
“Our guys kept the heat on Baylor today and ended up with the win, and we beat some good teams,” said Jones. “The way we handled the situation this morning was nice because we just played the course and did not worry about the scores. They just took care of business.”
Lamar finished third at 8-over par 870, Baylor placed fourth at 11-over 875 and Texas Tech and Texas-San Antonio tied for fifth at 12-over 876.
Junior Jeff Riemann earned his first-career top-10 finish by shooting a 1-over par 217 to tie for ninth place with teammates Andrew Lanahan and Heath West. Lanahan, a junior college transfer from Midland Junior College, also earned his first top-10 finish as he shot rounds of 69-74-74. West earned his sixth top-10 finish of his career, shooting 67-75-75 to finish ninth. West fired a career-low 5-under 67 in round one. All five LSU golfers finishes in the top 25.
Senior Garrett Prather shot a 4-over 220 to tie for 20th place, his sixth-career top-20 finish. Junior Brandon Aydlett recorded the best finish of his career by tying for 24th place at 5-over 221. Aydlett, who birdied two of the final three holes, fired an even-par 72 on Tuesday. LSU placed three golfers in the top 10 for the first time in the Jones era, and the win gave Jones his seventh since taking over prior to the 1999-2000 season.
Lamar’s Chris Stroud claimed medalist honors as he fired a 14-under 202 to place eight strokes ahead of Texas Tech’s Andrew Dresser, who shot a 6-under 210.
Next up for the Tigers is a trip to the Windon Memorial Classic on Oct. 6-7 at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Ill.
Overall Scoring:
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. LSU 282-292-294 – 868 +4; 2. Southeastern Louisiana 293-290-287 – 870 +6; 3. Lamar 292-287-293 – 872 +8; 4. Baylor 288-285-302 – 875 +11; t5. Texas Tech 296-297-283 – 876 +12; t5. Texas-San Antonio 294-290-292 – 876 +12; 7. Iowa State 301-286-295 – 882 +18; 8. Wichita State 297-287-301 – 885 +21; 9. Arkansas-Little Rock 296-292-299 – 887 +23; 10. SMU 293-295-300 – 888 +24; 11. Miami (Ohio) 303-297-290 – 890 +26; 12. North Texas 295-300-298 – 293 +29; 13. Rice 303-302-294 – 899 +38; 14. Sam Houston State 303-307-303 – 913 +52
TOP TEN INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Chris Stroud, Lamar, 65-68-69 – 202 -14; 2. Andrew Dresser, Texas Tech, 69-72-69 – 210 -6; 3. Mike Mezei, Texas-San Antonio, 72-69-71 – 212 -4; t4. Jeremy Frye, Baylor, 68-69-76 – 213 -3; t4. Lee Sanders, Arkansas-Little Rock, 70-71-72 – 213 -3; 6. Jeremy Lyons, Iowa State, 78-67-78 – 215 -1; t7. Judd Easterling, Wichita State, 70-67-78 – 215 -1; t7. Shawn Stefani, Lamar, 72-72-71 – 215 -1; t9. Jeff Riemann, 72-70-75 – 217 +1; t9. Mervyn Owens, Southeastern Louisiana, 75-72-70 – 217 +1; t9. Andrew Lanahan, LSU, 69-74-74 – 217 +1; t9. Steven Tiley, Southeastern Louisiana, 71-73-73 – 217 +1; t9. Heath West, LSU, 67-75-75 – 217 +1
LSU SCORES
t9. Jeff Riemann 72-70-75 – 217 +1
t9. Andrew Lanahan 69-74-74 – 217 +1
t9. Heath West 67-75-75 – 217 +1
t20. Garrett Prather 74-73-73 – 220 +4
t24. Brandon Aydlett 74-75-72 – 221 +5