BATON ROUGE — After finishing in a tie for fourth place with a brilliant 11-under par round of 277 in the final round at the SEC Men’s Golf Championships on Sunday, the Tigers have vaulted themselves into the national rankings with the release of all three national polls Wednesday.
LSU is ranked among the Top 20 teams nationally for the second week in a row in the Golfweek Performance Index as it the team checks in at No. 18.
The Tigers also cracked the Golfstat Top 25 at No. 21 this week, while they have also jumped up three spots to No. 22 in the latest Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches Top 25 released Wednesday.
The team will head into NCAA Regional play with three team titles under its belt this season with wins at the Gopher Invitational, John Hayt Invitational and Reunion Intercollegiate. LSU has snapped a five-year drought as this marks the first time since the 2003-04 season that the club has captured at least three team championships in the same season.
Not only that, but it is the first time since 2002 that the Tigers have earned a top-four finish at the SEC Men’s Golf Championships with their tie for fourth place last weekend.
Sophomore standout John Peterson continues to lead the squad as he earned a third-place finish in the individual standings at the SEC Championships, becoming the first Tiger to earn a top-five finish at the conference tournament since John Humphries tied for fifth place back in 2003.
For his performance, Peterson has moved up 10 spots to No. 27 in the men’s collegiate individual rankings released by Golfweek on Wednesday. Peterson entered the SEC Championships as the 37th-ranked college golfer in the country according to the publication.
Peterson is making a strong case for All-SEC and All-America honors this season as his five Top 10 finishes leads the team and his impressive scoring average of 72.37 ranks No. 6 among all golfers in the Southeastern Conference this season. He has also earned a third-place finish in each of his last three tournament appearances, in addition to winning individual medalist honors at the John Hayt Invitational back on Feb. 24.
The native of Fort Worth, Texas, is the first LSU Tiger to win an individual tournament title since 2005 when former Tiger Beck Troutman won medalist honors at the LSU Spring Invitational.
The Tigers are awaiting an at-large berth into the NCAA Regionals, which will be announced by the NCAA Selection Committee on Monday, May 4.
Six NCAA Regionals will be held May 14-16 on the following courses: Galloway National Golf Club (Galloway, N.J.); University of Texas Golf Club (Austin); Lake Merced Golf Club (Daly City, Calif.); Red Tail Golf Club (Sorrento, Fla.); The Club at Olde Stone; (Bowling Green, Ky.); and Karsten Creek Golf Club (Stillwater, Okla.).
Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index
1. Oklahoma State, 69.78
2. Georgia, 69.81
3. Southern California, 70.16
4. Stanford, 70.65
5. Washington, 70.70
6. Clemson, 70.74
7. Georgia Tech, 70.88
8. Florida, 70.91
9. Arkansas, 71.13
10. Alabama, 71.17
11. South Carolina, 71.20
12. Texas A&M, 71.24
13. Indiana, 71.28
14. Illinois, 71.28
15. Texas Tech, 71.32
16. Arizona State, 71.39
17. UCLA, 71.42
18. LSU, 71.44
19. TCU, 71.45
20. Central Florida, 71.46
21. Colorado State, 71.42
22. Texas, 71.56
23. UNLV, 71.56
24. San Diego State, 71.61
25. NC State, 71.65
Golfstat Top 25
1. Georgia
2. Southern California
3. Clemson
4. Oklahoma State
5. Stanford
6. Washington
7. Arkansas
8. Alabama
9. Georgia Tech
10. Indiana
11. Florida
12. Texas A&M
13. South Carolina
14. Arizona State
15. Texas Tech
16. Illinois
17. TCU
18. UCLA
19. NC State
20. Texas
21. LSU
22. San Diego State
23. Tennessee
24. Central Florida
25. UNLV
Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches’ Top 25
Team (Points) Last
1. Georgia (594) 1
2. Oklahoma State (566) 2
3. Southern California (542) 3
4. Clemson (517) 4
5. Stanford (474) 5
6. Washington (450) 9
7. Georgia Tech (416) 10
8. Alabama (405) 8
9. Florida (399) 6
10. Indiana (396) 7
11. South Carolina (315) 11
12. Illinois (287) 15
13. Arkansas (285) 21
14. Texas Tech (281) 12
15. TCU (257) 17
16. Texas (205) 18
17. Arizona State (198) 21
18. NC State (161) 16
19. UCLA (160) NR
20. Tennessee (132) 14
21. Texas A&M (126) 24
22. LSU (115) 25
23. Central Florida (107) 20
24. Colorado State (94) 19
25. UNLV (75) 13