TAMPA, Fla. — Junior All-American John Peterson led the LSU men’s golf team during Saturday’s competition at the Gary Koch Invitational with back-to-back rounds of 5-under par 67 at Old Memorial Golf Club to finish the day in sole possession of second place on the leaderboard.
After posting an impressive 36-hole score of 10-under par 134, Peterson is in position to take his second career individual title as he trails only Florida State’s Seth Lauer by a single stroke on the leaderboard.
The Forth Worth native kicked off his All-America campaign a year ago by taking home medalist honors at the 2009 John Hayt Invitational last February. He is also looking to shatter his career low 54-hole tournament score of 8-under 205 set at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate last March.
The Tigers will tee off in Sunday’s final round in seventh place overall in the team standings after firing a 36-hole score of 8-under par 568 during Saturday’s action, including an eye-popping 13-under par 275 on the tournament’s opening round. That performance helped the Tigers finish the first round in third place.
It is unclear when the last time LSU has posted a better 18-hole score in relation to par as the Tigers have fired four team rounds of 11-under par on four different occasions since 1985.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders have raced out to a four-shot lead in the team standings with a 36-hole score of 26-under 550, including a tournament record 17-under par 271 in Saturday’s opening round. Florida State is four shots back in second place at 22-under 554, while Florida is 10 shots back in third place with a 36-hole score of 16-under 560. Only two of 15 teams failed to break par in two rounds on Saturday.
After opening the championship with an impressive round of 5-under 67, LSU junior Andrew Loupe fired a 4-over 76 in the second round to finish the day in a tie for 34th place at 1-under 143. Junior Clayton Rotz is also in a tie for 34th place at 1-under 143 after posting rounds of 4-under 68 and 3-over 75.
Sophomore Sang Yi finished the day in a tie for 66th place in the individual standings with a 36-hole score of 5-over 149, while sophomore Austin Gutgsell finished in a tie for 73rd place at 8-over 152.
The Tigers will play with North Carolina and Ole Miss in the final round as tee times are set to begin at 7 a.m. CT. There is no live scoring at this year’s Gary Koch Invitational as fans are asked to check back with LSUsports.net for complete details following Sunday’s action.
GARY KOCH INVITATIONAL ? SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
1. Texas Tech 271-279 ? 550 -26; 2. Florida State 274-280 ? 554 -22; 3. Florida 277-283 ? 560 -16; 4. Virginia 282-279 ? 561 -15; T5. Augusta State 286-278 ? 564 -12; T5. Georgia Southern 281-283 ? 564 -12; 7. LSU 275-293 ? 568 -8; 8. North Carolina 281-288 ? 569 -7; T9. Ole Miss 285-285 ? 570 -6; T9. Auburn 290-280 ? 570 -6; 11. North Florida 290-281 ? 571 -5; 12. Kentucky 288-285 ? 573 -3; 13. UAB 287-287 ? 574 -2; 14. East Tennessee State 294-283 ? 577 +1; 15. South Florida 295-302 ? 597 +21.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. Seth Lauer, Florida State, 66-67 ? 133 -11; 2. John Peterson, LSU, 67-67 ? 134 -10; 3. Kyle Kopsick, Auburn, 72-63 ? 135 -9; T4. Nils Floren, Texas Tech, 66-70 ? 136 -8; T4. Chris Ward, Texas Tech, 69-67 ? 136 -8; 6. Brian Scherer, Texas Tech, 69-68 ? 137 -7; T7. Henrik Norlander, Augusta State, 71-67 ? 138 -6; T7. Brian Belden, Kentucky, 69-69 ? 138 -6; T7. Ben Kohles, Virginia, 68-70 ? 138 -6; T7. Brooks Koepka, Florida State, 68-70 ? 138 -6; T7. Tyson Alexander, Florida, 67-71 ? 138 -6; T7. Arnoud Vongvanij, Florida, 67-71 ? 138 -6.
LSU SCORES
2. John Peterson, 67-67 ? 134 -10
T34. Andrew Loupe, 67-76 ? 143 -1
T34. Clayton Rotz, 68-75 ? 143 -1
T66. Sang Yi, 73-76 ? 149 +5
T73. Austin Gutgsell, 77-75 ? 152 +8