GAINESVILLE, Fla. — LSU golfers Brent Blaum and Sang Yi each posted scores of 2-over par 142 in two rounds of action Saturday to lead the Tigers on the first day of the SunTrust Gator Invitational at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
After beginning the day at 3-over through the first nine holes, Blaum closed strong with two birdies on his back nine to finish with a 1-over 71 opening-round score. The junior then notched three birdies in Round 2 and matched his first-round total with another 1-over 71.
Yi got off to a blistering start, firing six birdies en route to an impressive 3-under 67 score after Round 1. The freshman carded a 5-over 75 to finish at 2-over for the day. The Tigers’ duo currently sits in a tie for 24th-place with one round left to go.
As a team, LSU wrapped up Day 1 with a cumulative score of 13-over 573 and will enter Sunday’s final-round action in ninth-place in the team standings.
Sophomore Andrew Loupe shot five birdies in the second round to tally an even-par 70 and close with a two-round total of 4-over 144. Fellow sophomore John Peterson and freshman Josh Jones recorded scores of 6-over 146 and 11-over 151, respectively.
Host Florida jumped out to a commanding 10-stroke lead after firing a sizzling team score of 15-under 545. The Gators’ Toby Ragland currently leads the field with a 7-under 133, while teammate Billy Horschel is in second-place with a 5-under 135.
The Tigers are paired with Florida State and North Florida in Sunday’s final round and will tee off from the back nine beginning at 9 a.m. (CST). Live scoring of the third and final round will be provided by Golfstat and can be found online by logging on to www.golfstat.com.
GATOR INVITATIONAL FIRST AND SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (PAR 560)
1. Florida 269-276 545 -15; 2. Ole Miss 274-281 555 -5; 3. Duke 279-284 563 +3; 4. Coastal Carolina 279-286 565 +5; 5. Central Florida 281-285 566 +6; 6. Tennessee-Chattanooga 280-288 568 +8; 7. North Florida 285-284 569 +9; 8. Florida State 288-282 570 +9; 9. LSU 285-288 573 +13; 10. Georgia State 286-288 574 +14; 11. Mississippi State 290-287 577 +17; 12. Wake Forest 288-292 580 +20; 13. Georgia Southern 289-293 582 +22; 14. UAB 292-296 588 +28
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (PAR 140)
1. Toby Ragland, Florida, 68-65 133 -7; 2. Billy Horschel, Florida, 65-70 135 -5; 3. Sam Lyons, Coastal Carolina, 66-70 136 -4; T4. Sean Dale, Ole Miss, 67-70 137 -3; T4. Mu Hu, Florida, 71-66 137 -3; T4. Derek Rende, Tennessee-Chattanooga, 69-68 137 -3; T7. Tim McKenney, Florida, 68-70 138 -2; T7. Simon Ward, Central Florida, 68-70 138 -2; T9. Tyson Alexander, Florida, 68-71 139 -1; T9. Jeff Dennis, North Florida, 69-70 139 -1; T9. Jonathan Randolph, Ole Miss, 71-68 139 -1
LSU SCORES
T24. Brent Blaum 71-71 142 +2
T24. Sang Yi 67-75 142 +2
T37. Andrew Loupe 74-70 144 +4
T49. John Peterson 73-73 146 +6
69. Josh Jones 77-74 151 +11