BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s golf team captured its first tournament championship of the season Sunday by winning the fifth annual LSU Spring Invitational at the University Club with a three-round total of 1-over par 865.
The Tigers used ideal playing conditions to shoot a 5-under 283 in the final round to win the title by six strokes over Lamar.
The victory marked the fifth time LSU has won its annual Spring Invitational and its 10th tournament title in the Greg Jones era. Jones now has 25 tournament victories in his 12-year coaching career.
“This win is fun for a lot of reasons,” Jones said. “As the day started, Lamar came at us. They made a bunch of birdies early, but we overcame that. We had the pressure, we had to sleep on the lead, they came at us but we handled it. We took care of our ball and took care of our business.”
Beck Troutman entered Sunday’s play with a three-shot lead and would not relinquish his spot atop the leaderboard. The freshman was one of three Tigers to fire a 2-under 70 in the final round to capture medalist honors for the first time in his career.
Troutman finished two strokes ahead of Julian Colmenares of Jacksonville State with a total of 5-under 211. He is the first Tiger to claim medalist honors since John Humphries won the same event in 2003 with an identical score.
“It’s been a goal of mine to win a college golf tournament and I think it’s great,” Troutman said. “It gives me a lot of confidence, especially for the rest of this season. I will have a lot of confidence that I can play well in the next few tournaments.”
Jones said he was impressed with Troutman’s ability to compete under pressure.
“He knows he can play very sound, solid golf under pressure,” Jones said. “He’s demonstrated that at a very young age as a freshman. It will give him confidence that he knows he’s a good player and he won’t ever have any doubts. It should only motivate him even more. I hope he gets into that winner’s circle a lot in his time at LSU.”
LSU’s Chris Wells earned the best finish of his career and his sixth top-10 finish of the season by placing fifth with an even-par 216. Senior Heath West also finished in the top 20 for the Tigers by tying for 12th with a 4-over 220.
Despite recording a tournament-best 7-under 281 in the final round, Lamar was unable to overcome an eight-shot deficit to claim the title.
“We got off to a good start, but it’s tough to make up eight shots against a team like LSU on their home golf course,” said Lamar head coach Brad McMakin. “We came out and put a little heat on them, but the better team won.”
Lamar was led by Andre Metzger’s 4-under 68, and the Cardinal senior finished in a tie for eighth with a 2-over 218. Freshman Dawie VanDerWalt also finished in a tie for eighth.
Juan Serrano of Southeastern, La., fired the lowest round of the tournament with a 5-under 67 Sunday to finish in a tie for sixth. First-round leader Patrick Sullivan of Arkansas-Little Rock finished three shots back in third place with a 2-under 214.
LSU will return to action at the SEC Championships in Sea Island, Ga., at Sea Island Golf Club, April 15-17.
Jones believes this win will give his team the confidence it needs heading into the postseason.
“It’s going to give our guys confidence that they can handle anything that’s thrown at them since we played this tournament under pressure and with tough conditions,” Jones said. “We should be ready for the post season, and I think they are confident and believe in themselves.”
LSU SPRING INVITATIONAL — FINAL ROUND
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. LSU 292-290-283 — 865 +1; 2. Lamar 299-291-281 — 871 +7; 3. Jacksonville State 304-295-290 — 889 +25; t4. Mississippi State 298-302-290 — 890 +26; t4. UT-Arlington 292-303-295 — 890 +26; t6. Maryland 302-296-295 — 893 +29; t6. UL-Lafayette 302-303-288 — 893 +29; t6. Middle Tennessee State 295-303-295 — 893 +29; t6. South Alabama 294-302-297 — 893 +29; t10. Arkansas-Little Rock 292-313-293 — 898 +34; t10. Arkansas State 297-294-307 — 898 +34; t12. Furman 293-308-299 — 900 +36; t12. Southeastern, La. 303-297-300 — 900 +36; t14. Southern Mississippi 313-294-294 — 301 +37; t14. Tulane 297-303-301 — 901 +37; 16. South Florida 305-306-296 — 907 +43; 17. Memphis 311-314-296 — 921 +57
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Beck Troutman, LSU, 72-69-70 — 211 -5; 2. Julian Colmenares, JSU, 72-72-69 — 213 -3; 3. Patrick Sullivan, UALR, 69-75-70 — 214 -2; 4. Tyrone Mordt, UTA, 70-74-71 — 215 -1; 5. Chris Wells, LSU, 74-72-70 — 216 E; t6. Justin Lowe, ULL, 72-72-73 — 217 +1; t6. Juan Serrano*, SLU, 77-73-67 — 217 +1; t8. Dawie VanDerWalt, Lamar, 75-72-71 — 218 +2; t8. Andre Metzger, Lamar, 77-73-68 — 218 +2; t10. Justin Elliott, USM, 80-69-70 — 219 +3; t10. Hugo Leon, SLU, 76-73-70 — 219 +3;
LSU SCORES
1. Beck Troutman 72-69-70 — 211 -5
5. Chris Wells 74-72-70 — 216 E
t12. Heath West 75-75-70 — 220 +4
t22. Brandon Aydlett 71-74-78 — 223 +7
t29. Brent Struthers * 76-78-70 — 224 +8
t46. Jeff Riemann * 78-79-70 — 227 +11
t60. Jake Shaw * 76-79-74 — 229 +13
t71. Aaron Smith * 79-71-81 — 231 +15
t83. Garrett Runion 78-85-73 — 236 +20
* – indicates player competing as an individual