ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — After opening the 2009 SEC Men’s Golf Championships by firing a 1-under par round of 71 on Friday, LSU sophomore John Peterson equaled that performance on Saturday with a 1-under 71 in the second round at Frederica Golf Club.
Peterson also finished in a tie for eighth place on the leaderboard for the second-straight day as he finds himself seven shots out of the lead heading into Sunday’s final round.
Behind Peterson’s effort, the Tigers cut seven shots from their first-round total with a team round of 6-over 294 on Saturday to finish the afternoon in 10th place in the team standings. LSU’s squad has posted a 36-hole score of 19-over 595 in two days of competition at the SEC Championships.
The No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs are running away with the team championship as they will be 10 shots clear of second-place Arkansas when they tee off in the final round. With four golfers finishing the day in the Top 10 of the leaderboard, the Bulldogs fired a 7-under par 281 on Friday for a 36-hole score of 13-under 563. Arkansas follows in second place at 3-under 573.
Florida’s Billy Horschel is two shots clear of Kentucky’s Jordan Blann in the individual standings as the Gator All-American fired a 5-under 67 on Saturday after opening the championship with an impressive 4-under 68 on Friday. Blann teed off in the second round with a one-shot lead.
Georgia is led by Hudson Swafford in fifth place at 4-under 140, Adam Mitchell in a tie for sixth at 3-under 141 and both Brian Harman and Russell Henley in a tie for eighth at 2-under 142.
Peterson is also in a tie for eighth place on the leaderboard with a two-day total of 2-under 141 as he is in position to become the first LSU Tiger to earn a Top 10 finish at the SEC Championships since All-American John Humphries tied for fifth place in 2003.
After carding a 5-over 77 in Friday’s opening round, sophomore Andrew Loupe added a score of 1-over 73 to LSU’s team total on Saturday as he currently sits in a tie for 40th place at 6-over 150.
Loupe is joined in a 40th-place tie by freshman standout Sang Yi, who has posted back-to-back 3-over par rounds of 75 in his first career appearance at the SEC Championships. Sophomore Clayton Rotz and freshman Josh Jones are each in a tie for 53rd place at 12-over 156. Rotz fired a 3-over 75 to match Loupe on the day, while Jones finished with a 6-over 78.
The Tigers will play with Auburn and Tennessee in Sunday’s final round as they tee off from the back nine beginning at 7:50 a.m. CT. Live scoring can be found online at www.golfstat.com.
SEC MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS ? SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
1. Georgia 282-281 ? 563 -13; 2. Arkansas 290-283 ? 573 -3; 3. Florida 292-285 ? 577 +1; 4. South Carolina 293-286 ? 579 +3; 5. Kentucky 297-285 ? 582 +6; 6. Mississippi State 293-290 ? 583 +7; 7. Vanderbilt 292-293 ? 585 +9; 8. Ole Miss 296-290 ? 586 +10; 9. Alabama 308-284 ? 592 +16; 10. LSU 301-294 ? 595 +19; 11. Tennessee 305-292 ? 597 +21; 12. Auburn 301-300 ? 601 +25.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. Billy Horschel, Florida, 68-67 ? 135 -9; 2. Jordan Blann, Kentucky, 67-70 ? 137 -7; T3. David Lingmerth, Arkansas, 70-69 ? 139 -5; T3. Carlos Sainz, Mississippi State, 71-68 ? 139 -5; 5. Hudson Swafford, Georgia, 71-69 ? 140 -4; T6. Adam Mitchell, Georgia, 72-69 ? 141 -3; T6. Mark Silvers II, South Carolina, 68-73 ? 141 -3; T8. John Peterson, LSU, 71-71 ? 142 -2; T8. Brian Harman, Georgia, 70-72 ? 142 -2; T8. Russell Henley, Georgia, 71-71 ? 142 -2.
LSU SCORES
T8. John Peterson, 71-71 ? 142 -2
T40. Andrew Loupe, 77-73 ? 150 +6
T40. Sang Yi, 75-75 ? 150 +6
T53. Josh Jones, 78-78 ? 156 +12
T53. Clayton Rotz, 81-75 ? 156 +12