BREMERTON, Wash. — LSU freshman John Peterson played his first career postseason round on Thursday and walked away from the 18th hole at Gold Mountain Golf Club in a tie for eighth after posting an even-par 72 in the first round of the NCAA West Regional.
After teeing off from the first hole in the afternoon wave at the Olympic Course, Peterson quickly dropped to 1-under for his round following a birdie at the par-four second hole.
He made the turn at 1-over following a birdie on the par-five sixth and three bogeys on No. 3, No. 5 and No. 9. Peterson then closed his round strong on the back nine with birdies on the par-five 11th and par-five 14th with a bogey on the par-three 12th hole to finish the day at level par.
The native of Fort Worth, Texas, paced the Tigers in Thursday’s first round as the squad posted a team score of 16-over 304 to finish the day in a four-way tie for 17th place in the team standings. Teams are looking to finish in the top 10 in order to qualify for the 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships to be held in West Lafayette, Ind., from May 28-31.
The top two individuals not among the top 10 teams will also advance to compete at the NCAA Championships, and Peterson’s even-par 72 puts him in a tie for the No. 2 spot outside the top 10.
“John didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary today, but he just played a very solid round of golf,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “I’d call it a typical John Peterson type of round. He hit the ball well and hit a lot of fairways and greens. That’s always a recipe for a good round.”
Despite a solid performance by Peterson, the Tigers were unable to finish strong after sitting just outside the Top 10 of the team standings in a tie for 11th place with only fellow freshman Andrew Loupe still on the course in the final group.
Loupe was 3-over par for his round after 13 holes but carded back-to-back birdies on the par-five 14th and the par-four 15th to pick up two shots and drop to 1-over with just three holes to play. But the Baton Rouge native followed with consecutive double bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes to fall back to 5-over where he finished with LSU’s second-lowest round of the day at 5-over 77.
Junior Jarrod Barsamian matched Loupe’s effort with a 5-over 77, while the Tigers also counted a 6-over 78 by freshman Clayton Rotz and senior Brian Noonan carded a 7-over 79 on Thursday.
“We kind of let the round slip away from us at the end today, which is unfortunate because they played a lot better than what they finished,” Winstead said. “We played well for 15 holes but just didn’t finish the round like we should have. I know it’s especially frustrating for the guys to see a round that started out as well slip away like it did coming down the stretch.
“I think they’ll play much better tomorrow. We’re better than what we played today, and I expect as the guys collect themselves tonight and get an early round tomorrow that they’ll go out and post a good score and get right back in the thick of this thing.”
Teams from the Pac-10 Conference dominated the first round of play as Oregon currently holds a two-stroke lead over tournament host Washington, Southern California and UCLA in the race for the team championship. The Ducks fired an impressive 1-over par round of 289 on Thursday.
Oregon senior Joey Benedetti also leads a deep field in the race for medalist honors after firing a first-round best of 3-under 69. Pepperdine’s Eric Shriver finished one shot back in second place.
After playing the opening round with Oregon State and Pepperdine, the Tigers will tee off alongside the Beavers and Waves in the Friday’s second round as they start from the back nine at 10:35 p.m. CDT. Live scoring of the NCAA West Regional is provided by Golfstat and can be found online by logging on to the organization’s official website at www.golfstat.com.
2008 NCAA WEST REGIONAL ? FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 288)
1. Oregon 289 +1; t2. Southern California 291 +3; t2. UCLA 291 +3; t2. Washington 291 +3; 5. Pepperdine 292 +4; 6. St. Mary’s 294 +6; t7. Clemson 295 +7; t7. North Carolina 295 +7; 9. Stanford 296 +8; 10. Texas 299 +11; t11. Central Florida 301 +13; t11. UNLV 301 +13; t13. Texas Tech 302 +14; t13. Oregon State 302 +14; t13. San Diego State 302 +14; t13. Kentucky 302 +14; t17. LSU 304 +16; t17. Florida State 304 +16; t17. Arizona State 304 +16; t17. Wisconsin 304 +16; t21. California 305 +17; t21. Kansas State 305 +17; 23. Oklahoma 306 +18; 24. San Diego 308 +20; 25. Denver 309 +21; 26. Navy 312 +24; 27. Columbia 314 +26.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 72)
1. Joey Benedetti, Oregon, 69 -3; 2. Eric Shriver, Pepperdine, 70 -2; t3. Kevin Chappell, UCLA, 71 -1; t3. Rob Grube, Stanford, 71 -1; t3. Nick Taylor, Washington, 71 -1; t3. Isaiah Telles, Oregon, 71 -1; t3. Dan Woltman, Wisconsin, 71 -1; t8. John Peterson, LSU, 72 E; t8. Chadd Cocco, St. Mary’s, 72 E; t8. Tom Glissmeyer, USC, 72 E; t8. Rory Hie, USC, 72 E; t8. Jamie Lovemark, USC, 72 E; t8. Chase MacFarland, North Carolina, 72 E; t8. Michael McRae, St. Mary’s, 72 E; t8. Derek Sipe, Oregon, 72 E; t8. Kyle Stanley, Clemson, 72 E; t8. Darren Wallace, Washington, 72 E; t8. Chris Ward, Texas Tech, 72 E
LSU SCORES
T8. John Peterson 72 E
T82. Jarrod Barsamian 77 +5
T82. Andrew Loupe 77 +5
T99. Clayton Rotz 78 +6
T112. Brian Noonan 79 +7