BATON ROUGE — The 27th-ranked LSU men’s golf team rallied from a 12-stroke deficit entering the final round of play to win the fourth-annual LSU Spring Invitational title by one shot over Furman on Sunday at the University Club to complete one the biggest comebacks in the program’s history.
The Tigers, 14 shots off the lead after Friday’s first round, fired a sizzling 10-under par 278 on Sunday to edge Furman by one shot to win their fourth-consecutive Spring Invitational title and finish at 13-under 851. Furman shot a 3-over 291 in the final round to finish at 12-under 852. The Paladins held a four-shot lead over Middle Tennessee State after Saturday’s second round, but could not hold on. Middle Tennessee finished fourth at 5-under 859, while Jacksonville State shot a 4-under 284 in the final round to move up to third, finishing at 9-under 855.
The Tigers’ 851 total is a 54-hole tournament record. The previous mark was an 868 shot by LSU to win last season’s event. UNC-Charlotte and Central Florida tied for fifth place at 2-under 862. Tulane’s Michael Thompson defeated Furman’s T.J. Blanford in a one-hole playoff to win the individual title. Both players finished at 9-under 207, a 54-hole tournament record, as Thompson carded a par on No. 10 to beat Blanford.
Junior Heath West led the way for the Tigers, as the Dothan, Ala., native fired a 4-under 68 on Sunday to finish 12th. West completed the tournament at 4-under par 212 to record his fifth top-20 finish of the season. Junior Andrew Lanahan and senior Garrett Prather each shot a 2-under 214 to tie for 16th place. Junior Jeff Riemann recorded a 3-under 69 on Sunday to finish at 1-under 215 and tie for 23rd place. Junior Brandon Aydlett tied for 36th at 3-over 219.
The Tigers’ lineup of West, Lanahan, Prather, Riemann, and Aydlett has now combined to win all three of LSU’s tournaments this season. LSU previously won the Baylor Invitational in September and the Country Club of Louisiana Intercollegiate in October. The latest victory gives LSU head coach Greg Jones eight tournament wins in his five seasons in Baton Rouge.
“I am extremely proud of our players because they fought hard and really raised the intensity while maintaining their focus,” said Jones. “We had a tough assignment coming into today being down 12 strokes, and we knew it was going to be difficult, but we did it and I have never been more proud of a team for doing what they did in my career as I am of this one today,” said Jones.
“We really had to adjust both physically and mentally because we were not used to the way these greens were playing out here and we also knew that this was our home tournament and there was a lot of pressure, but we overcame all that and all the curveballs that we thrown at us and pulled it out,” said Jones.
LSU had five players compete as individuals in the tournament. Junior Greg Mason shot a 1-over par 217 to tie for 30th place. Fellow junior Jason Horrell tied for 36th at 3-over 219. Sophomore David Pollet shot a 5-over 221 to tie for 50th place, true freshman Garrett Runion shot an 8-over 224 to finish tied for 60th, and sophomore Aaron Smith finished 88th at 24-over 240.
“We knew we had a huge hole to get out of after Friday’s round, being behind by 14 strokes, but we told ourselves not to panic and just follow the game plan, because you can also never control what other teams do, and that is what we did. We went out there and took care of our own ball and got it done,” said Jones.
The Tigers will next participate in the 2004 edition of the Southeastern Conference Championships from April 16-18 in Sea Island, Ga. LSU is in good shape to make its third NCAA Regional appearance in the last four seasons based on its current ranking and tournament wins.
Fourth-annual LSU Spring Invitational — April 2-4, 2004
Baton Rouge, La. — University Club
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. LSU 288-285-278 — 851 -13; 2. Furman 278-283-291 — 852 -12; 3. Jacksonville State 287-284-284 — 855 -9; 4. Middle Tennessee State 274-291-294 — 859 -5; t5. UNC-Charlotte 286-281-295 — 862 -2; t5. Central Florida 292-282-288 — 862 -2; t7. South Florida 293-282-290 — 865 +1; t7. Louisiana-Lafayette 290-284-291 — 865 +1; 9. Tulane 288-290-289 — 867 +3; 10. Xavier 292-284-294 — 870 +6; 11. South Alabama 286-290-297 — 873 +9; 12. Memphis 292-289-296 — 877 +13; 13. Arkansas-Little Rock 290-291-297 — 878 +14; 14. Arkansas State 297-294-290 — 881 +17; 15. Southern Mississippi 302-291-293 — 886 +22; 16. Maryland 295-303-295 — 893 +29; 17. Mississippi State 305-296-294 — 895 +31
TOP 25 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
**1. Michael Thompson, Tulane, 69-68-70 — 207 -9; 2. T.J. Blanford, Furman, 66-68-73 — 207 -9; 3. Barry Roof, Central Florida, 72-67-69 — 208 -8; 4. Sonny Nimkhum, Central Florida, 71-69-69 — 209 -7; t5. Scott Crisco, Arkansas State, 70-71-69 — 210 -6; t5. Nick Mackay, Jacksonville State, 67-73-70 — 210 -6; t5. Matt Davidson, Furman, 69-70-71 — 210 -6; t5. Matias Anselmo, Jacksonville State, 71-67-72 — 210 -6; t9. Matt Mincer, UNC-Charlotte, 71-70-70 — 211 -5; t9. Gareth Maybin, South Alabama, 68-71-72 — 211 -5; t9. Jason Kokrak, Xavier, 74-68-69 — 211 -5; 12. Heath West, LSU, 71-73-68 — 212 -4; t13. Chris Wheeler, Tulane, 70-74-69 — 213 -3; t13. Josh Lampley, South Alabama, 67-71-75 — 213 -3; t13. Blake Bivens, Middle Tennessee State, 66-73-74 — 213 -3; t16. Miles Maillet, Xavier, 70-71-73 — 214 -2; t16. Charlie Gibson, Middle Tennessee State, 71-68-75 — 214 -2; t16. Andrew Lanahan, LSU, 72-71-71 — 214 -2; t16. Neal Grusczynski, Xavier, 71-72-71 — 214 -2; t16. Brad Quiri, South Florida, 74-68-72 — 214 -2; t16. Scott McNeil, UNC-Charlotte, 69-69-76 — 214 -2; t16. Garrett Prather, LSU, 74-70-70 — 214 -2; t23. Ryan Shears, South Florida, 73-73-69 — 215 -1; t23. Alan Weant, Memphis, 70-71-74 — 215 -1; t23. Jeff Riemann, LSU, 71-75-69 — 215 -1
**Won in playoff
LSU SCORES
12. Heath West 71-73-68 — 212 -4
T16. Andrew Lanahan 72-71-71 — 214 -2
T16. Garrett Prather 74-70-70 — 214 -2
T23. Jeff Riemann 71-75-69 — 215 -1
T36. Brandon Aydlett 74-71-74 — 219 +3
LSU Individuals
T30. Greg Mason 68-76-73 — 217 +1
T36. Jason Horrell 72-72-75 — 219 +3
T50. David Pollet 70-74-77 — 221 +5
T60. Garrett Runion 74-71-79 — 224 +8
88. Aaron Smith 79-82-79 — 240 +24
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE SCORES
T26. Craig Trahan 71-71-74 — 216 E
T26. Brett Ashmore 69-75-72 — 216 E
T36. Steven Pena 77-72-70 — 219 +3
T42. Tobias Winberg 75-70-75 — 220 +4
T50. Doron Mommsen 75-71-75 — 221 +5
TULANE SCORES
1. Michael Thompson 69-68-70 — 207 -9
T13. Chris Wheeler 70-74-69 — 213 -3
T56. Bill Roach Jr. 74-75-74 — 223 +7
T74. Mark Sullivan 79-73-76 — 228 +12
T83. Bill Gutknecht 75-79-79 — 233 +17