WINDERMERE, Fla. — The 24th-ranked LSU men’s golf team wrapped up its fall season on a cold and windy afternoon that proved difficult for the 18-team field in the final round of the 2008 Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational, finishing the tournament in 15th place on Tuesday.
With winds gusting more than 20 mph and a wind chill dipping into the low 40s, 90 golfers teeing it up for 18 of the best teams in the country were only able to average a score of 78.66 on the final day of the championship with only two rounds breaking par on the afternoon.
The tournament featured an NCAA Championship caliber field with a total of seven teams ranked in the Top 10 and 12 teams ranked in the Top 20 of the latest Golfstat Top 25.
“This is truly an outstanding event that is played on a great course that is a true test of golf,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “It certainly exposed some areas of our game that definitely need to improve over the winter break, and we will work toward that heading into the spring.”
LSU managed a 15th-place finish in its first ever appearance in one of the most prestigious events of the regular season after wrapping up the competition with a 25-over 313 in the final round and a 54-hole team score of 47-over 911. Fourth-ranked Georgia successfully defended its title by 17 shots after blistering Isleworth Golf and Country Club with a cumulative 3-over 867.
Freshman Sang Yi led the Tigers on the final day of the competition by carding his third straight round of 4-over 76 to finish the three-day event in a tie for 41st place at 12-over 228.
Senior Jarrod Barsamian and sophomores Andrew Loupe and John Peterson finished the day with matching rounds of 7-over 79 toward LSU’s score for the afternoon. Peterson wrapped up the day in a tie for 20th on the leaderboard at 7-over 223, while Barsamian was tied for 67th at 18-over 234 and Loupe was tied for 77th at 22-over 238. Freshman Josh Jones tied for 47th at 13-over 229.
The Tigers will head into the winter break with confidence after wrapping up the fall campaign with one tournament championship in their season opener at the Gopher Invitational before tying for the top spot at the Squire Creek Invitational just two weeks ago.
“We had a lot of positives this fall,” Winstead said. “John Peterson had a solid fall, and I feel that all three of our freshmen had moments of successful play. We’ve got a talented group of young men on this team, and the way we performed this fall is proof of that. It also shows there is room for improvement, and our guys will look forward to improving every day.”
LSU will break for more than three months before opening the spring season with its annual trip to Gainesville, Fla., to compete in the Gator Invitational hosted by the University of Florida at the Mark Bostick Golf Course. The two-day event is scheduled for Feb. 14-15, 2009.
ISLEWORTH-UCF COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL ? FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. Georgia 294-277-296 ? 867 +3; 2. Alabama 287-291-306 ? 884 +20; 3. Indiana 289-285-312 ? 886 +22; 4. Texas Tech 294-292-302 ? 888 +24; 5. Southern California 290-289-315 ? 894 +30; T6. Clemson 296-298-301 ? 895 +31; T6. Georgia Tech 299-288-308 ? 895 +31; 8. Stanford 301-292-308 ? 901 +37; T9. Oklahoma State 296-297-309 ? 902 +38; T9. UCLA 299-301-302 ? 902 +38; T11. Illinois 301-294-311 ? 906 +42; T11. Central Florida 300-310-296 ? 906 +42; 13. Texas 300-289-318 ? 907 +43; 14. Arizona 312-292-305 ? 909 +45; 15. LSU 302-296-313 ? 911 +47; 16. South Carolina 297-302-313 ? 912 +48; 17. Kentucky 299-310-317 ? 926 +62; 18. Charlotte 304-295-328 ? 927 +63.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Russell Henley, Georgia, 71-67-74 ? 212 -4; T2. Jorge Campillo, Indiana, 68-71-75 ? 214 -2; T2. Alex Martin, Indiana, 72-68-74 ? 214 -2; 4. Matthew Giles, Southern California, 72-69-74 ? 215 -1; T5. Bud Cauley, Alabama, 74-72-70 ? 216 E; T5. Garrett Merrell, Texas Tech, 73-70-73 ? 216 E; T5. Kyle Stanley, Clemson, 72-70-74 ? 216 E; T5. Hudson Swafford, Georgia, 73-68-75 ? 216 E; 9. Matthew Swan, Alabama, 68-72-77 ? 217 +1; T10. Jamie Lovemark, Southern California, 75-68-75 ? 218 +2; T10. Cameron Tringale, Georgia Tech, 71-72-75 ? 218 +2.
LSU SCORES
T20. John Peterson 74-70-79 ? 223 +7
T41. Sang Yi 76-76-76 ? 228 +12
T47. Josh Jones 76-73-80 ? 229 +13
T67. Jarrod Barsamian 76-79-79 ? 234 +18
T77. Andrew Loupe 82-77-79 ? 238 +22