BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s golf team will open its 2005-06 season Monday in the Coca-Cola Tournament of Champions hosted by the University of Tennessee at Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville. The course will play to a par 71 and 6,932 yards for the championship.
The Tigers, led by first-year head coach Chuck Winstead, will play 36 holes Monday and the final 18 holes Tuesday against a 15-team field that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Tennessee from the Southeastern Conference. Rounding out the field is the College of Charleston, the Finnish National Team, Florida State, Georgia Southern, Missouri, North Florida, Tulane, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
“I am definitely excited about competing against teams in our conference,” Winstead said. “I hope we can get a little acclimated with the teams we will be competing against. However, golf is a different sport than a lot of other sports. None of those other teams will have any affect on how LSU plays. I’m interested to see how we play and what improvements we must make to be successful this season.”
Winstead will play with a lineup of junior Chris Wells, sophomores Brian Noonan, Brent Struthers and Beck Troutman, and true freshman Jarrod Barsamian. Wells is the top-returning Tiger after finishing the 2004-05 season with a 72.83 stroke average in 12 tournament appearances en route to earning Second-Team All-SEC honors.
Troutman recorded a 74.13 stroke average in 10 tournament appearances, while Struthers played in six tournaments with a 75.5 average. Noonan redshirted last season after transferring from St. Edward’s University of Division II where he was named the Heartland Conference Player of the Year and an Honorable Mention All-American as a freshman.
“One of the things that is important for these guys is to be able to stay in the present and focus on what they’re doing with each particular shot,” Winstead said. “The best players have the ability to not look forward and not look back. They are able to focus on the task at hand and play each shot. If we are able to do that, we’ll be fine.”
Winstead believes that Holston Hills Country Club, which was designed by famous golf course architect Donald Ross, is a great place for the Tigers to begin their season. Ross is also the designer of the historic Course No. 2 at Pinehurst.
“It’s a terrific golf course that’s very fair and not overly long,” Winstead said. “It’s got Donald Ross signature crown greens. This is a tight golf course where the par fives can be had. If we place it well off the tee and control the distances with our wedges into the greens, we can make some birdies.”
LSU is paired with Georgia Southern and Virginia Tech in the first two rounds and will tee off beginning at 8:45 CDT.