BATON ROUGE — Freshman Bryant Lach and senior all-conference standout Chris Wells took advantage of Sunday’s mild conditions by firing matching 18-hole scores of 1-under par 70 to lead the LSU men’s golf team in the first round of the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate.
The duo is on the cusp of breaking into the top 10 of the leader board by finishing the first day of competition in a tie for 11th place, while the Tigers posted a team total of 4-over 288 to finish in a tie for eighth place with the 22nd-ranked Duke Blue Devils.
“Four-over par is one of our better rounds as a team this season,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “We still need to find a fourth score to post a competitive round, but it was good to see guys like Bryant and Chris play well for us today. Bryant is just a freshman right now, and as he develops he’ll be a good player for our team.”
Lach got off to a fast start after opening his round on the back nine as he made birdie on the par-four 11th hole and par-three 17th before making the turn at 1-under par with a nine-hole score of 34. The Texan added three birdies on his back nine along with one bogey and one double bogey to finish the day with his best round as an LSU Tiger.
Wells was not to be outdone by his teammate as he kicked off his round with a birdie on his first hole ? the par-five 10th ? while also making the turn with a nine-hole score of 1-under 34. He carded two birdies and two bogeys on the back nine to finish with a matching score of 70.
Junior Beck Troutman also played well for the Tigers in Sunday’s first round as the native of Fernwood, Miss., carded three birdies and four bogeys en route to his second-lowest round of the spring season with a 1-over 72 to finish the day in a tie for 28th place. Junior Brian Noonan and freshman Brent Blaum posted matching scores of 5-over 76 to tie for 59th.
“It was also good to see Beck finish with a good round today,” Winstead said. “There is still a lot of golf left to be played with 36 holes to go in the tournament. The wind is likely to pick up tomorrow, and it will be plenty challenging for our squad.”
The tournament is becoming a two-team race for the championship as Central Florida leads in-state rival Florida State by four strokes after posting a tournament record 18-hole score of 14-under 270. Baylor and Wake Forest follow in a tie for third place in the team standings at 1-under 283 for the tournament.
A pair of Golden Knights also sits atop the standings on the individual leader board as Preston Brown and teammate Greg Forest each fired matching rounds of 5-under 66 to take a one-stroke into the second round. Central Florida’s Nuno Henriques and Florida State’s Seath Lauer are each tied for third place after the first round at 4-under 67.
The Tigers will tee off alongside a pair of ACC rivals in Monday’s second round as they will compete with Duke and North Carolina beginning at 8 a.m. CDT. A final round is scheduled for Tuesday to decide the championship. Live scoring of the second and third rounds can be found online by logging on to www.golfstat.com.
TEAM SCORES (Par 284)
1. Central Florida 270 -14; 2. Florida State 274 -10; t3. Baylor 283 -1; t3. Wake Forest 283 -1; 5. Coastal Carolina 285 +1; 6. Augusta State 286 +2; 7. North Carolina 287 +3; t8. Duke 288 +4; t8. LSU 288 +4; 10. South Carolina 289 +5; 11. College of Charleston 291 +7; 12. Vanderbilt 292 +8; 13. NC State 297 +13; 14. Kentucky 301 +17; 15. Arkansas 307 +23
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 71)
t1. Preston Brown, Central Florida, 66 -5; t1. Greg Forest, Central Florida, 66 -5; t3. Jonas Blixt, Florida State, 67 -4; t3. Nuno Henriques, Central Florida, 67 -4; t3. Seath Lauer, Florida State, 67 -4; t6. Jeremy Frye, Baylor, 68 -3; t6. Keith Guest, Augusta State, 68 -3; t8. George Bryan IV, South Carolina, 69 -2; t8. Zack Byrd, Coastal Carolina, 69 -2; t8. Nicholas Smith, Florida State, 69 -2
LSU SCORES
T11. Bryant Lach 70 -1
T11. Chris Wells 70 -1
T28. Beck Troutman 72 +1
T59. Brent Blaum 76 +5
T59. Brian Noonan 76 +5