PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The LSU men’s golf team shot a 7-over par 295 Tuesday in the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship at Sawgrass Country Club to finish seventh in the 17-team field.
“It was a solid event, but I think we’re looking for something else,” said LSU head coach Greg Jones. “We’re due to bust through here any minute now. We’re getting ourselves in position to do well, and one of these days in the last round we’re going to break through and do something pretty special.”
Sophomore Chris Well earned his fourth top-10 finish of the season by tying for sixth with a 3-over 219, while fellow sophomore Garrett Runion tied for 28th with a 7-over 223. Freshman Beck Troutman was one stroke behind Runion in a tie for 32nd, and seniors Heath West and Jeff Riemann tied for 50th and 59th, respectively.
“We’re right there. We were right in the mix to start the day,” Jones said. “We got off to a pretty good start but just had a couple of bad holes that hurt us coming up the back nine.”
The Florida Gators captured the team title by five strokes over Alabama with a 10-over 874, and Florida’s Matt Every won medalist honors by firing the only score under par, a 1-under 215.
The Tigers will break for one month and return to action in the Schenkel/E-Z-Go Invitational at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Ga., March 19-20.
“We just need to help our younger guys arm themselves with more shots so that they can be more aggressive more often,” Jones said. “They need to be more aggressive in certain spots. We’re also going to be working on the confidence of some of our older guys – our seniors. We will be leaning on them heavily as we move down the stretch.”
MERCEDES-BENZ COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP – FINAL ROUND
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. Florida 292-302-280 – 874 +10; 2. Alabama 297-291-291 – 879 +15; 3. UCLA 292-300-291 – 883 +19; 4. Augusta State 293-303-288 – 884 +20; t5. Tennessee 291-305-290 – 886 +22; t5. South Carolina 286-306-294 – 886 +22; 7. LSU 288-307-295 – 890 +26; 8. North Florida 301-300-290 – 891 +27; 9. Kentucky 293-308-292 – 893 +29; 10. Duke 294-310-292 – 896 +32; 11. Central Florida 301-300-298 – 899 +35; t12. Coastal Carolina 306-305-291 – 902 +38; t12. Georgia State 293-318-291 – 902 +38; 14. Arkansas 300-312-296 – 908 +44; 15. UAB 299-309-301 – 909 +45; 16. Northwestern 308-320-295 – 923 +59;17. Florida State 322-305-303 – 930 +66
TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Matt Every, Florida, 71-73-71 – 215 -1; t2. Tyler Brown, North Florida, 74-71-71 – 216 E; t2. Major Manning, Augusta State, 73-69-74 – 216 E; 4. Joakim Renstrom, UCLA, 71-74-72 – 217 +1; 5. Dustin Johnson, Coastal Carolina, 71-75-72 – 218 +2
LSU SCORES
t6. Chris Wells 70-77-72 – 219 +3
t28. Garrett Runion 75-75-73 – 223 +7
t32 Beck Troutman 72-77-75 – 224 +8
t50. Heath West 71-78-78 – 227 +11
t59. Jeff Riemann 76-78-75 – 229 +13