BREMERTON, Wash. — The 2007-08 season came to a close for the LSU men’s golf team on Saturday evening as the squad finished in 22nd place at the 2008 NCAA West Regional held at the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Gold Club.
The Tigers carded a team tournament low 11-over par round of 299 in the final round to wrap up the championship with a three-day score of 52-over 916.
Jarrod Barsamian paced the Tigers for the second consecutive day as the junior from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., fired an even-par 72 to finish in a tie for 57th in the individual standings at 10-over 226. Barsamian carded five birdies on Saturday, including two in the final three holes on the back nine to close the final round.
Freshmen standouts Clayton Rotz and Andrew Loupe each enjoyed their lowest rounds on Day 3 of the championship as Rotz posted a 2-over 74 and Loupe carded a 3-over 75.
Senior Brian Noonan wrapped up his LSU career with a 6-over par 78 in the final round and a 54-hole score of 20-over 236 for the tournament. Freshman John Peterson closed with an 82 for a three-round score of 16-over par 232 in his first career postseason appearance.
Southern California held off Pac-10 rival Oregon to capture the team title at the NCAA West Regional. The second-ranked Trojans posted an even-par 288 on Saturday to close the competition at 2-under 862. The Ducks carded a three-day total of even-par 864 to finish second, while Clemson followed in third place with a 3-over 867.
The Top 10 teams at this year’s regional championship earned the right to compete at the 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships to be held at Boilermaker Golf Club in West Lafayette, Ind., from May 28-31.
Those qualifying for the national championships in order of finish at the NCAA West Regional were Southern California, Oregon, Clemson, Washington, UCLA, Stanford, St. Mary’s (CA), Arizona State, San Diego State and Texas.
Oregon’s Joey Benedetti ran away with medalist honors this weekend as the senior blistered the course with a 3-under 69 for the third straight day and finished the tournament nine strokes under par with a cumulative score of 207. Southern California’s Rory Hie, Saint Mary’s Michael McRae and Washington’s Nick Taylor tied for second with a three-round total of 5-under 211.
The top two individuals not among the top 10 teams in the final standings also advanced to the NCAA Championships and include Pepperdine’s Eric Shriver and Wisconsin’s Dan Woltman.
While their season was cut short of a trip to the NCAA Championships, the Tigers showed why they are one of the rising programs in men’s college golf while competing with the youngest starting five in the Southeastern Conference for much of the 2007-08 season.
Loupe, Peterson and Rotz led the way for much of the season as each was named to the eight-man SEC All-Freshman Team released following the SEC Championships, while the trio finished the season ranked No. 3 in the Golfstat Top 25 Freshman Impact Ranking for 2007-08.
They also helped lead the Tigers to their first appearance in an NCAA Regional since 2005 while finishing the season ranked No. 37 in the final rankings released by Golfstat.
The season also saw dramatic improvement from the likes of Barsamian and sophomore Bryant Lach. Lach improved his scoring average by more than three strokes from his freshman season a year ago, while Barsamian cut more than two strokes off his average between his sophomore and junior seasons. They will return to lead the Tigers again next season.
The Tigers look to be even stronger next season with the addition of the nation’s fourth-ranked recruiting class according to Golfweek. Among those set to join the program are two of the nation’s top 20 recruits for the Class of 2008, including Josh Jones of The Colony, Texas, and Sang Yi of Carrollton, Texas.
2008 NCAA WEST REGIONAL ? FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. Southern California 291-283-288 ? 862 -2; 2. Oregon 289-290-285 ? 864 E; 3. Clemson 295-285-287 ? 867 +3; 4. Washington 291-294-289 ? 874 +10; 5. UCLA 291-294-291 ? 876 +12; 6. Stanford 296-297-285 ? 878 +14; 7. Saint Mary 294-301-289 ? 884 +20; 8. Arizona State 304-285-296 ? 885 +21; T9. Pepperdine 292-301-295 ? 888 +24; T9. San Diego State 302-303-283 ?+24; T9. Texas 299-299-290 ? 888 +24; 12. Texas Tech 302-296-291 ? 889 +25; 13. Oklahoma 306-289-297 ? 892 +28; 14. Wisconsin 304-290-300 ? 894 +30; 15. North Carolina 295-306-294 ? 895 +31; 16. Oregon State 302-295-301 ? 898 +34; 17. Kentucky 302-291-307 ? 900 +36; 18. Kansas State 305-299-298 ? 902 +38; 19. UCF 301-302-300 ? 903 +39; 20. California 305-296-303 ? 904 +40; 21. Florida State 304-305-305 ? 914 +50; 22. LSU 304-313-299 ? 916 +52; 23. Denver 309-301-309 ? 919 +55; 24. UNLV 301-311-308 ? 920 +56; 25. San Diego 308-310-309 ? 927 +63; 26. Navy 312-309-310 ? 931 +67; 27. Columbia 314-327-309 ? 950 +86;
TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL (Par 216)
1. Joey Benedetti, Oregon, 69-69-69 ? 207 -9; T2. Rory Hie, Southern California, 72-70-69 ? 211 -5; T2. Michael McRae, Saint Mary, 72-69-70 ? 211 -5; T2. Nick Taylor, Washington, 71-69-71 ? 211 -5; 5. Sihwan Kim, Stanford, 73-71-68 ? 212 -4; T6. Tom Glissmeyer, Southern California, 72-71-70 ? 213 -3; T6. Rob Grube, Stanford, 71-73-69 ? 213 -3; T8. Kevin Chappell, UCLA, 71-72-71 ? 214 -2; T8. Erik Flores, UCLA, 73-70-71 ? 214 -2; T10. Phillip Mollica, Clemson, 76-68-72 ? 216 E; T10. Sam Saunders, Clemson, 73-72-71 ? 216 E; T10. Eric Shriver, Pepperdine, 70-76-70 ? 216 E; T10. Derek Sipe, Oregon, 72-71-73 ? 216 E; T10. Isaiah Telles, Oregon, 71-76-69 ? 216 E;
LSU SCORES
T57. Jarrod Barsamian 77-77-72 ? 226 +10
T97. Clayton Rotz 78-79-74 ? 231 +15
T101. John Peterson 72-78-82 ? 232 +16
T114 Andrew Loupe 77-83-75 ? 235 +19
T122 Brian Noonan 79-79-78 ? 236 +20
NOTE: Texas and San Diego State advance out of a three-way team play-off for the final two spots: San Diego State -2, Texas -2, Pepperdine E. Pepperdine’s Eric Shriver is the first individual qualifier. Wisconsin’s Dan Woltman eagled the par-5 hole #9 in a three-way playoff for the final individual spot with Wisconsin’s Tyler Obermueller and Boise State’s Troy Merritt.