AWENDAW, S.C. — The LSU men’s golf team fought through windy conditions Monday to complete the opening round of the Hootie at Bull’s Bay Intercollegiate in a tie for ninth place with a 15-over par 299. The second round of the afternoon was suspended due to darkness.
LSU head coach Greg Jones called the conditions on the course as difficult as he has ever seen in his 12 years of coaching.
“It’s the most brutal wind I have seen in my life to play golf in,” Jones said. “It was blowing 35 mph or more all day long. We hung in there and had to battle the wind just like everybody else. Where we are after the first round doesn’t really bother me. I felt like 299 was five or six shots too many, but it’s something that we can recover from.”
Jones said that the team was able to recover well in the second round despite having to stop play with two holes remaining.
“We’re actually playing really good in the afternoon round,” Jones said. “We’re sitting at about even par with two holes left and will probably move up a couple of spots because of the way we’re playing in the second round.”
The wind did not appear to affect Heath West as the Tiger senior fired a 1-under 70 to finish the first round in seventh place. It was the lowest score recorded by West since he shot a 3-under 69 in the opening round of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 5.
“I told coach (Mark) McEntire this morning that Heath is going to play well,” Jones said. “He seemed to have that look that I haven’t seen in a good while like he expected to play good, which told me he was ready to go. He was just solid all day long and made very few mistakes.”
Sophomore Chris Wells is currently in a tie for 34th after carding a 4-over 75, while senior Jeff Riemann and freshman Beck Troutman are in a tie for 56th with a 6-over 77. Senior Brandon Aydlett finished the first round in 72nd with a 10-over 81.
Augusta State leads the tournament by 12 strokes over South Carolina and Auburn after recording an incredible 8-under 276. Jones said it might be the most impressive round of golf he has seen as a coach.
“The score that Augusta State shot was probably the best round I’ve seen in my career,” Jones said. “That was just phenomenal. They have about three or four international players on their squad, and they see those kinds of conditions all the time. They just ate that up.”
The remainder of the second round will begin at 6:30 a.m. CST followed by the final round beginning at approximately 8:30 a.m.
HOOTIE AT BULL’S BAY INTERCOLLEGIATE — FIRST ROUND
TEAM SCORES (Par 284)
1. Augusta State 276 -8; t2. South Carolina 288 +4; t2. Auburn 288 +4; t4. Kentucky 290 +6; t4. Georgia Tech 290 +6; 6. N.C. State 291 +7; 7. Wake Forest 294 +10; 8. Georgia 296 +12; t9. LSU 299 +15; t9. Florida State 299 +15; t9. Alabama 299 +15; t12. Vanderbilt 300 +16; t12. North Carolina 300 +16; t14. College of Charleston 303 +19; t14. Clemson 303 +19
TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS (Par 71)
t1. Chan Song, Georgia Tech, 66 -5; t1. Scott Jamieson, Augusta State, 66 -5; 3. Kalle Edberg, Augusta State, 67 -4; t4. Alex Hamilton, South Carolina, 68 -3; t4. Patton Kizzire, Auburn, 68 -3
LSU SCORES
7. Heath West 70 -1
t34. Chris Wells 75 +4
t56. Jeff Riemann 77 +6
t56. Beck Troutman 77 +6
72. Brandon Aydlett 81 +10