BATON ROUGE — Fresh off of its victory in the inaugural Shoal Creek Intercollegiate two weeks ago, the LSU men’s golf team travels to Tampa, Fla., on Monday to compete in the seventh-annual Gary Koch Invitational at Old Memorial Golf Club. The course will play to a par 72 and 7,028 yards for the championship.
Joining the Tigers in the 12-team field are tournament co-hosts Florida and Kentucky, Arkansas, Central Florida, College of Charleston, Florida State, Georgia State, North Florida, Texas A&M, South Florida and Toledo.
LSU enters the tournament riding a wave of momentum after its tournament win and earning victories over five teams that participated in the NCAA Championships last season, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia State, SMU and Tennessee. The Tigers have posted a 21-6 overall record on the season and are currently 7-2 against teams ranked in Golfweek’s latest top 25 poll.
“Certainly, it has been good for our players to experience a taste of success this early in the season,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “We hope they understand it was a product of their approach to the game and the way they have competed against some really good teams.”
Winstead will play with a lineup of senior Andrew Lanahan, junior Chris Wells, sophomores Brian Noonan and Beck Troutman, and freshman Jarrod Barsamian. Wells, Troutman and Barsamian are each making their third tournament appearance of the season, while Lanahan and Noonan are making their second.
Wells leads the team with a 71.3 stroke average in six rounds and is coming off of his best performance of the season with an eighth-place tie in the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate. Troutman follows closely behind with a 71.8 stroke average in six rounds and posted a tie for fourth two weeks ago. Noonan is third on the team with a 72.7 stroke average, while Lanahan has a 73.0 average and Barsamian has a 74.2 average.
“Chris Wells has probably been our most consistent player this season, but I’ve really bee pleased with the way the team has competed as a whole,” Winstead said. “We have great potential. If we can just stay focused on playing our game and staying in the present by focusing on each shot, we have a chance to be in contention on Tuesday.”
The first and second round will be played Monday with a shotgun start at 8 a.m., and a final round will be played Tuesday to determine the champion. The Tigers are paired with College of Charleston on Monday and will tee off beginning at 8:40 a.m.