GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The LSU men’s golf team shot a 25-over par 305 on Sunday in the final round of the SunTrust Gator Invitational to finish ninth out of 15 teams at the University of Florida Golf Course.
The Tigers, along with the other 14 teams in the field, battled substantial wind and rain during Sunday’s final round and the scores showed that as no team shot under par. LSU struggled and shot its second-highest round of the season to fall four places in the standings after being in fifth place after 36 holes. The nation’s top-ranked team and host Florida won the Gator title by shooting an 8-over par 848, placing 11 strokes ahead of second- place UAB, who finished at 19-over 859. UAB’s Chris Cousins claimed medalist honors after firing a 3-under 207.
Senior Garrett Prather shot an 8-over 78 on Sunday but still managed a top-15 individual finish, as he tied for 13th place at 6-over 216. Prather recorded both his lowest tournament score of the season and best finish. Junior Andrew Lanahan tied for 20th place after shooting an 8-over 218, his second top-20 finish of the season.
Junior Heath West shot a respectable 5-over 75 on Sunday, but was hurt by two other rounds over par and managed just a 41st-place finish, just his second finish outside the top 10 this season. West leads the Tigers with four top-10 finishes this season. True freshman Ivan Brannan, making his LSU debut; shot a 16-over 226 to tie for 55th place. Junior Jeff Riemann shot a 17-over 227 to finish tied for 58th place.
“It was tough out there today and we just simply did not play very well,” said LSU head coach Greg Jones. “The weather was not good for anyone and we did not play the way we needed to at all in order to make a real move,” said Jones.
Kentucky finished third at 26-over 866, seven shots behind UAB, while North Florida placed fourth at 27-over 867. Alabama moved up from eighth place after shooting a 14-over 294 on Sunday to finish fifth at 32-over 872.
LSU will participate in the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship from Feb. 8-10 at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
TEAM SCORES (Par 840)
1. Florida 281-280-287 — 848 +8; 2. UAB 283-286-290 — 859 +19; 3. Kentucky 285-287-294 — 866 +26; 4. North Florida 285-289-293 — 867 +27; 5. Alabama 299-279-294 — 872 +32; 6. Tennessee 289-287-297 — 873 +33; t7. Georgia State 297-285-293 — 875 +35; t7. Florida State 293-284-298 — 875 +35; 9. LSU 288-287-305 — 880 +40; 10. Baylor 298-285-304 — 887 +47; t11. Purdue 296-284-308 — 888 +48; t11. Central Florida 293-290-305 — 888 +48; 13. Ohio State 293-298-302 — 893 +53; 14. Georgia Southern 293-298-309 — 900 +60; 15. College of Charleston 306-295-308 — 909 +69
TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS (Par 210)
1. Chris Cousins, UAB, 67-70-70 — 207 -3; 2. David Skinns, Tennessee, 72-68-70 — 210 E; t3. Kasper Jorgensen, Georgia State, 72-70-69 — 211 +1; t3. Camilo Villegas, Florida, 70-69-72 — 211 +1; t5. John Holmes, Kentucky, 68-72-72 — 212 +2; t5. Tigh VanLeeuwen, UAB, 72-70-70 — 212 +2
LSU SCORES
T13. Garrett Prather 68-70-78 — 216 +6
T20. Andrew Lanahan 70-72-76 — 218 +8
T41. Heath West 76-72-75 — 223 +13
T55. Ivan Brannan 75-75-76 — 226 +16
T58. Jeff Riemann 75-73-79 — 227 +17