JACKSON, Miss. — The 25th-ranked LSU men’s golf team opened play in Tuesday’s final round of the Reunion Intercollegiate with a narrow three-shot lead over the Arkansas Razorbacks, and that’s exactly where the Tigers finished to win their third tournament championship of the season.
The Tigers posted a 5-over par round of 293 in the final round at Reunion Golf and Country Club to finish with a winning 54-hole score of 25-over 889. The 19th-ranked Razorbacks finished three shots back in second place in the team standings with a score of 28-over 892.
LSU will enter next week’s SEC Men’s Golf Championships riding a wave of momentum as it is also the champions of the Gopher Invitational and John Hayt Invitational this season.
In what has already been a memorable season for the Tigers on the links, this marks the first time in five years that the team has captured three tournament titles in the same season.
The Tigers are now prepared to make their return to St. Simons Island, Ga., for the ninth-straight year to compete in the 2009 SEC Men’s Golf Championships as the tournament will be hosted by Frederica Golf Club for the second year in a row after calling Sea Island Golf Club its home from 2001-07. The three-day, 54-hole conference championship is scheduled for April 17-19.
“It’s good for the guys to experience this kind of success heading into next weekend,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. This is a really good golf course, and in a way I wish that the weather we had this week would have been a little bit better just so the rounds each of the last two days would have helped us prepare a little bit for what we’re going to see at Frederica.
“I’m proud of all the guys and how they played this week. We’ve definitely got our hands full for next week. We know that not only is Frederica going to be a difficult course to play, but the level of competition is going to be even more difficult because we play in the deepest conference.”
Not only did the Tigers end a five-year drought by winning their third tournament title of the year this week, but they made a little bit of history by having four players earn Top 10 finishes.
It is unclear when the last time LSU had at least four players finish among the Top 10 finishers on the leaderboard. Its previous best this season was three Top 10 players at the Gopher Invitational.
Sophomore John Peterson continues to prove why he is deserving of first-team All-SEC honors as he earned his team-leading fourth Top 10 finish of the season and his third in four events. He took sole possession of third place at the Reunion Intercollegiate after carding a 3-over par round of 75 on Tuesday for a 54-hole score of 6-over 222 over the course of two days of competition.
Peterson has placed third overall in each of the last two weeks after earning a third-place finish at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate on March 31. He earned his first career individual victory this spring at the John Hayt Invitational back on Feb. 24 while leading LSU to the team crown.
Tiger standout Sang Yi is also making a strong case for All-SEC honors in his rookie season as he matched Peterson for the team lead with his fourth Top 10 finish of the season at Reunion.
Yi fired his lowest round of the tournament with an even-par 72 in Tuesday’s final round to finish in sole possession of fourth place with a three-round total of 7-over 223. Like Peterson, Yi owns a total of three Top 10 finishes this spring, including a tie for ninth at the Gator Invitational back on Feb. 15 and a tie for fourth at the Schenkel/E-Z-Go Invitational on March 22.
While Peterson and Yi led the way for 54 holes, the round of the day belonged to stud sophomore Andrew Loupe, who fired an impressive 1-under 71 on a cold and windy afternoon at Reunion Golf and Country Club. Loupe finished the tournament in a tie for fifth place at 8-over 224.
After making the turn at 2-over par for the day, Loupe caught fire on the back nine with a total of four birdies in five holes, including holes No. 10, No. 12, No. 13 and No. 14. Despite a setback of bogey on the 16th hole, Loupe fired a 3-under 33 on the back nine and a 1-under 71 for the round.
Sophomore Clayton Rotz finished in seventh at 9-over 225 for his second Top 10 finish this year, while freshman Josh Jones finished in a tie for 28th place at 15-over 231 for the championship.
With LSU and Arkansas taking the top two spots, SEC rival Vanderbilt finished a distant third in the team standings with a 54-hole score of 36-over 900, while tournament host Ole Miss was the fourth-place finisher at 38-over 902 and North Florida finished in fifth at 50-over 914. The crown of individual champion went to Arkansas’ Andrew Landry, who fired a 1-under 215 for the week.
REUNION INTERCOLLEGIATE ? FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. LSU 297-299-293 ? 889 +25; 2. Arkansas 297-302-293 ? 892 +28; 3. Vanderbilt 306-296-298 ? 900 +36; 4. Ole Miss 311-303-288 ? 902 +38; 5. North Florida 314-298-302 ? 914 +50; 6. Auburn 313-302-302 ? 917 +53; 7. Mississippi State 309-313-299 ? 921 +57; 8. Southeastern Louisiana 319-309-295 ? 923 +59; T9. UNC-Greensboro 309-312-306 ? 927 +63; T9. UAB 309-313-305 ? 927 +63; 11. Southern Mississippi 311-301-321 ? 933 +69; 12. Louisiana Tech 322-319-310 ? 951 +87; 13. Memphis 317-317-318 ? 952 +88; 14. South Alabama 316-325-314 ? 955 +91; 15. Jackson State 326-324-318 ? 968 +104.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Andrew Landry, Arkansas, 72-72-71 ? 215 -1; 2. Adam Hofmann, Vanderbilt, 71-72-75 ? 218 +2; 3. John Peterson, LSU, 72-75-75 ? 222 +6; 4. Sang Yi, LSU, 73-78-72 ? 223 +7; T5. Andrew Loupe, LSU, 79-74-71 ? 224 +8; T5. Carlos Sainz, Mississippi State, 76-76-72 ? 224 +8; 7. Clayton Rotz, LSU, 76-74-75 ? 225 +9; T8. Sean Dale, Ole Miss, 76-71-79 ? 226 +10; T8. Jordan Gibb, North Florida, 76-76-74 ? 226 +10; T10. Glenn Northcutt, Auburn, 76-73-78 ? 227 +11; T10. Hudson Johnson, Vanderbilt, 82-73-72 ? 227 +11; T10. Zack Sucher, UAB, 74-76-77 ? 227 +11; T10. Ethan Tracy, Arkansas, 77-76-74 ? 227 +11
LSU SCORES
3. John Peterson, 72-75-75 ? 222 +6
4. Sang Yi, 73-78-72 ? 223 +7
T5. Andrew Loupe, 79-74-71 ? 224 +8
7. Clayton Rotz, 76-74-75 ? 225 +9
T28. Josh Jones, 76-76-79 ? 231 +15