BATON ROUGE — The SMU Mustangs opened the final round of the University Club Intercollegiate with a five-shot lead and never looked back. They set a 54-hole scoring record for a men’s collegiate tournament at the U-Club Tuesday by firing a 39-under 825, breaking the old mark of 851 set by LSU at the 2004 LSU Spring Invitational.
“In one word — outstanding,” said SMU head coach Jay Loar. “It was a wonderful team effort, and every kid did his job in this tournament. We had two tie for second place, and we just collectively had a great team effort.”
Baylor sophomore Jeremy Alcorn won medalist honors by one shot over SMU’s Will Dodson and Colt Knost by firing a U-Club men’s collegiate record 13-under 203, including a 67 in the final round.
“I’m happy to finally win one,” said Alcorn. “I’ve been close the last few weeks, and I haven’t finished very well. I drove the ball real well, hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens and I finally got a little more consistency with the putter. That’s why it feels good to win.”
After recording a scoring average of 71.76 in the first two rounds, participants in the 14-team field averaged 72.08 in the final round. LSU head coach Greg Jones said that there was a reason for the higher scores.
“I think there were a lot of factors for that,” said Jones. “The players in the field are probably a little tired after 36 holes, the course and flags were a little bit tougher today and the wind blew just enough to alter some shots.”
Sophomore Chris Wells paced tournament host LSU to a sixth place team finish by shooting a 10-under 206. The Tigers recorded a 16-under 848 for the tournament.
Wells earned his third top-10 finish of the season by finishing in sixth place. Fellow Tiger Heath West finished in a tie for 17th with a 5-under 211, including a final round 3-under 69.
“Those two have been our one-two punch this year,” said Jones. “Chris has been solid all year, and it is typical that if he goes to a tournament, he shoots two or three rounds under par. I’m glad to see Heath get into the 60s for the first time. Something ought to be said about his toughness and his heart after tearing his ACL Wednesday at practice and playing on it. It just goes to show what kind of character and pride he has.”
The Tigers will be off for three months before returning to action in the Gator Invitational at the University of Florida Golf Club in Gainesville, Feb. 5-6.
UNIVERSITY CLUB INTERCOLLEGIATE
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. SMU 275-274-276 — 825 -39; 2. Arkansas 275-279-278 — 832 -32; 3. Ole Miss 281-278-281 — 840 -24; 4. Georgia Southern 282-277-286 — 845 -19; 5. Alabama 288-277-281 — 846 -18; 6. LSU 284-278-286 — 848 -16; 7. Auburn 284-282-283 — 849 -15; t8. North Florida 288-283-280 — 851 -13; t8. Kent State 280-284-287 — 851 -13; 10. Tulane 286-283-283 — 852 -12; 11. Baylor 285-285-284 — 854 -10; t12. UAB 292-281-290 — 863 -1; t12. Mississippi State 280-289-294 — 863 -1; 14. College of Charleston 288-292-295 — 875 +11
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Jeremy Alcorn, Baylor, 68-68-67 — 203 -13
t2. Will Dodson, SMU, 68-67-69 — 204 -12
t2. Colt Knost, SMU, 72-65-67 — 204 -12
t4. Michael Thompson, Tulane, 68-68-69 — 205 -11
t4. Jason Turner, Arkansas, 67-69-69 — 205 -11
6. Chris Wells, LSU, 69-66-71 — 206 -10
t7. Clint Provost, Alabama, 72-67-68 — 207 -9
t7. Jordan Dempsey, Ole Miss, 69-69-69 — 207 -9
t9. Matt Bortis, Arkansas, 68-69-71 — 208 -8
t9. Matthew Myers, Auburn, 70-69-69 — 208 -8
LSU SCORES
6. Chris Wells 69-66-71 — 206 -10
t17. Heath West 71-71-69 — 211 -5
t24. *Beck Troutman 70-70-73 — 213 -3
t38. Jeff Riemann 69-70-78 — 217 +1
t43. *Brent Struthers 75-73-70 — 218 +2
t62. Brandon Aydlett 75-73-73 — 221 +5
t62. Garrett Runion 77-71-73 — 221 +5
t66. *Aaron Smith 75-78-70 — 223 +7
t69. *Jake Shaw 71-74-79 — 224 +8