AWENDAW, S.C. — Freshman Brent Blaum followed the first-round efforts of fellow freshman Bryant Lach by firing a matching score of 1-under par 70 on Monday to lead the LSU men’s golf team in the second round of the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate.
Blaum improved six strokes from his 5-over 76 in the first round to finish with a two-round total of 4-over 146. The Tigers also improved their standing as they are now in sole possession of sixth place at 8-over 576 with back-to-back team rounds of 4-over 288.
The native of Coral Gables, Fla., was steady throughout his round as he carded birdies on the par-five sixth and par-four 16th holes before finishing with a bogey on the difficult par-four 18th hole en route to the lowest round as an LSU Tiger.
The Tigers are still paced by the consistent play of senior all-conference standout Chris Wells, who followed his 1-under 70 in the first round with a solid 1-over 72 in the second round to sit in a tie for 15th place with a cumulative score of even-par 142.
Junior Brian Noonan also showed dramatic improvement in the second round as he improved five shots with an even-par round of 71 highlighted by a string of three straight birdies on holes No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 before making the turn at 2-under for the afternoon. The native of Austin, Texas, enters the final day of competition in a 40th-place tie at 5-over 147 for the championship.
Lach, who equaled Wells’ effort with his best collegiate round on Sunday with a 1-under 70, is set to tee off in Tuesday’s final round in a tie for 29th place at 3-over 145 after carding a 4-over 75 on Monday. Junior Beck Troutman posted an 18-hole score of 83 in the second round to finish the day with a 36-hole total of 13-over 155.
“Today’s round was a bit better than yesterday given that the wind was more of a factor on the course,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “Brent posted a good round for us, and it’s good to see our two freshmen play as well as they have this week. Chris played another solid round and it was good to see Brian bounce back and play better.”
Central Florida continues to hold the advantage in the race for the team championship in one of the premier young tournaments in college golf as it leads Wake Forest by four strokes heading into Tuesday’s final round with a team total of 10-under 558. Florida State and Baylor remain in contention for the team title as they are tied for third place at 5-under 563.
Golden Knight standout Greg Forest followed his opening round score of 5-under 66 with an equally impressive round of 4-under 67 on Monday to take a four-stroke lead of his own in the race for medalist honors with a cumulative score of 9-under 133. Jeremy Frye of Baylor is in second place at 5-under 137 followed by teammate Jeremy Alcorn in third at 4-under 138.
The Tigers are set to tee off from the front nine in Tuesday’s final round beginning at 7:40 a.m. CDT as they are paired with Baylor and Coastal Carolina. Live scoring of the final round will be provided by Golfstat can be found online by logging on to www.golfstat.com.
TEAM SCORES (Par 568)
1. Central Florida 270-288 ? 558 -10; 2. Wake Forest 283-279 ? 562 -6; t3. Florida State 274-289 ? 563 -5; t3. Baylor 283-280 ? 563 -5; 5. Coastal Carolina 285-290 ? 575 +7; 6. LSU 288-288 ? 576 +8; 7. Augusta State 286-292 ? 578 +10; 8. Duke 288-291 ? 579 +11; 9. North Carolina 287-293 ? 580 +12; 10. South Carolina 289-294 ? 583 +15; t11. College of Charleston 291-295 ? 586 +18; t11. Kentucky 301-285 ? 586 +18; 13. NC State 297-293 ? 590 +22; 14. Vanderbilt 292-300 ? 592 +24; 15. Arkansas 307-293 ? 600 +32
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 142)
1. Greg Forest, Central Florida, 66-67 ? 133 -9; 2. Jeremy Frye, Baylor, 68-69 ? 137 -5; 3. Jeremy Alcorn, Baylor, 70-68 ? 138 -4; t4. Dustin Groves, Wake Forest, 70-69 ? 139 -3; t4. Matthew Savage, Florida State, 72-67 ? 139 -3; t6. Wallace Booth, Augusta State, 71-69 ? 140 -2; t6. Moises Cobo, Coastal Carolina, 71-69 ? 140 -2; t6. Nuno Henriques, Central Florida, 67-73 ? 140 -2; t6. Dustin Johnson, Coastal Carolina, 70-70 ? 140 -2; t6. Webb Simpson, Wake Forest, 72-68 ? 140 -2; t6. Andy Winings, Kentucky, 71-69 ? 140 -2
LSU SCORES
T15. Chris Wells 70-72 ? 142 E
T29. Bryant Lach 70-75 ? 145 +3
T37. Brent Blaum 76-70 ? 146 +4
T40. Brian Noonan 76-71 ? 147 +5
T73. Beck Troutman 72-83 ? 155 +13