BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s golf team is slated to wrap up the 2006-07 season this weekend as it travels to Greensboro, Ga., for an appearance in the Linger Longer Invitational beginning Sunday at Reynolds Plantation.
The Oconee Course at Reynolds Plantation ? a design of famous golf course architect Rees Jones ? will play host to the event as it will play to a par 72 and 7,393 yards for the championship.
Mercer University welcomes an impressive 15-team field to this year’s tournament as a total of seven teams enter the weekend ranked in the latest Golfstat Top 25 poll.
Joining the Tigers and tournament host Mercer are top-ranked Georgia, No. 3 Alabama, No. 15 Louisville, No. 20 Georgia State, No. 22 Charlotte, No. 23 North Carolina, No. 24 Florida State, Augusta State, Chattanooga, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State, Memphis and Mississippi State.
Georgia is back to defend its title from a year ago when it posted a 54-hole team total of 9-under par 855. Trevor Murphy of Charlotte will also look to defend his individual crown as he fired an impressive score of 5-under 211 before winning medalist honors in a playoff.
LSU head coach Chuck Winstead has elected to play with a familiar lineup as four of five Tigers return after making an appearance at the SEC Men’s Golf Championships three weeks ago.
Senior Chris Wells is set to make his final appearance in the purple and gold as he has started all 10 tournaments for the Tigers this season. He has enjoyed tremendous success in his three-year career at LSU as he is a two-time All-SEC selection with nine top-10 finishes and a career stroke average of 73.2.
Wells will be joined by junior Brian Noonan and freshmen Brent Blaum, Bryant Lach and Brian Leveille. Noonan is making his 10th tournament appearance of the season, while Blaum and Lach return to the lineup following their first career appearance at the SEC Championships in April.
Leveille, a native of Basking Ridge, N.J., and son of former LSU golfer Dave Leveille, will be making his collegiate debut this weekend after receiving a redshirt as a true freshman last season.
The Linger Longer Invitational features an unusual format as all five Tigers will play together on the first day of the competition. The team will tee off from the 10th tee at 7:40 a.m. CDT followed by a second round beginning at 12:40 p.m. A final round is scheduled for Monday with tee times beginning at 7 a.m.
Live scoring of the event will be provided by Golfstat and can be found online on the organization’s official website, www.golfstat.com.