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Peterson, Men's Golf Take Lead at Gopher Invitational

by LSUsports.net (@LSUsports)
Day 2 Results +0
Peterson, Men's Golf Take Lead at Gopher Invitational

WAYZATA, Minn. — After opening the season with an impressive 4-under 284 in the opening round, the LSU men’s golf team posted a team total of 1-over 289 in Saturday’s second round to take a four-shot lead at the 2008 Gopher Invitational at Spring Hill Golf Club.

The Tigers, who are in the clubhouse with a two-round total of 3-under 573, traded spots on the leaderboard with 24th-ranked Texas after the Longhorns finished at 7-over 295 on their round and 1-over 577 for the championship hosted by the University of Minnesota.

With its performance, LSU has put itself in position to win its first tournament title in four years with its last championship coming at the inaugural Shoal Creek Intercollegiate in the fall of 2005.

And sophomore John Peterson is a big reason why as the Fort Worth native catapulted himself to the top of the individual standings after following his 4-under 68 in the opening round with a 2-under 70 in the second round to take a two-shot lead over Texas All-American Charlie Holland at 6-under 138. Like the team standings, the two switched places on the leaderboard.

Peterson is on the verge of accomplishing what no LSU golfer has in more than four seasons with another solid round on Sunday as former Tiger Beck Troutman is the last to win an individual title when he claimed medalist honors at the LSU Spring Invitational in March 2005.

Peterson is also well on his way to the best tournament finish of his collegiate career after firing a career low 3-under 213 to finish tied for fifth at the Bank of America Intercollegiate last spring.

He finished in a flurry after falling back to even-par on his round with a double bogey on the par-five 16th hole. Peterson, displaying the resolve of a seasoned veteran, carded back-to-back birdies on the par-three 17th and par-four 18th holes to get back to 2-under and grab a two shot lead in the standings heading into the final round on Sunday morning.

But Peterson is not the only Tiger that finds himself in the Top 10 of the leaderboard as freshman and fellow Texan Sang Yi currently sits in a tie for seventh place at 1-under 143 for the championship. After firing a 2-under 70 in his collegiate debut Friday, Yi followed with a 1-over 73 in Saturday’s second round to finish the day five shots out of the lead.

Sophomore Andrew Loupe finished the day with a 1-over 73, while fellow sophomore Clayton Rotz holed out with a 3-over 75 on his round as the duo is currently in a tie for 22nd place after 36 holes with a cumulative score of 3-over 147 on the weekend.

True freshman Josh Jones showed great improvement in the second round as he finished with a 1-over 73 following his opening-round 9-over 81 on Sunday and finish the day in a tie for 46th.

It appears to be a four-team race for the team title as LSU and Texas are followed by Pepperdine and Iowa in the team standings. The Tigers lead Pepperdine by six shots as the waves are posted a two-round total of 3-over 579, while Iowa is seven shots back at 4-over 580. Rounding out the top five are Marquette, Washington and Wisconsin as they are tied for fifth place at 13-over 589.

As was the case in the second round, the Tigers will tee off alongside Texas and Pepperdine in Sunday’s final round as they will go off the front nine beginning at 9 a.m. CT. Live scoring of the third and final round will be provided by Golfstat and can be found online at www.golfstat.com.

2008 GOPHER INVITATIONAL ? SECOND ROUND RESULTS

TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
1. LSU 284-289 ? 573 -3; 2. Texas 282-295 ? 577 +1; 3. Pepperdine 291-288 ? 579 +3; 4. Iowa 299-281 ? 580 +4; T5. Marquette 298-291 ? 589 +13; T5. Washington 292-297 ? 589 +13; T5. Wisconsin 304-285 ? 589 +13; 8. Arkansas 305-286 ? 591 +15; 9. Minnesota 298-295 ? 593 +17; 10. SMU 311-302 ? 613 +37; 11. Yale 307-313 ? 620 +44; 12. Iowa State 311-315 ? 626 +50.

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. John Peterson, LSU, 68-70 ? 138 -6; 2. Charlie Holland, Texas, 67-73 ? 140 -4; T3. Cole Peevler, Iowa, 74-67 ? 141 -3; T3. Mike Van Sickle, Marquette, 74-67 ? 141 -3; t5. Patrick Datz, Minnesota, 73-69 ? 142 -2; T5. Dustin Schwab, Marquette, 73-69 ? 142 -2; T7. Sang Yi, LSU, 70-73 ? 143 -1; T7. Andrew Putnam, Pepperdine, 73-70 ? 143 -1; T7. Nick Taylor, Washington, 73-70 ? 143 -1; T10. Jordan Elsen, Wisconsin, 71-73 ? 144 E; T10. Vince India, Iowa, 75-69 ? 144 E; T10. Andrew Landry, Arkansas, 75-69 ? 144 E; T10. David Lingmerth, Arkansas, 74-70 ? 144 E.

LSU SCORES
1. John Peterson 68-70 ? 138 -6
T7. Sang Yi 70-73 ? 143 -1
T22. Andrew Loupe 74-73 ? 147 +3
T22. Clayton Rotz 72-75 ? 147 +3
T46. Josh Jones 81-73 ? 154 +10