TAMPA, Fla. — After firing a 2-under par round of 70 in Sunday’s final round, LSU junior All-American John Peterson earned a third-place finish in the final individual standings with a three-round score of 12-under 204 at the Gary Koch Invitational held at Old Memorial Golf Club.
Peterson earned his eighth career top-10 finish with a career-low 54-hole tournament score to lead the Tigers to an eighth-place finish in the final team standings. LSU posted a team score of 5-over 293 on Sunday to finish the two-day championship at 3-under 861.
Not only did Peterson record a new career low tournament score, but his 12-under 204 is the best by a Tiger in at least 25 years as no LSU golfer has finished better than 11-under since 1985.
Junior Andrew Loupe also fired a solid round of even-par 72 in Sunday’s final round to finish in a tie for 24th place at 1-under par 215. Fellow junior Clayton Rotz finished in a tie for 43rd place at 3-over 219 for the championship, while sophomore Sang Yi finished in a tie for 67th at 8-over 224 and sophomore Austin Gutgsell finished in 72nd place at 15-over 231.
This year’s Gary Koch Invitational was a record-setting event as Florida State fired a new tourney record of 30-under 834 to win the team championship by 16 strokes over runner-up Texas Tech. The Seminoles shattered the previous 54-hole record of 24-under 840 set by Florida back in 2005.
Not only that, but Auburn’s Kyle Kopsick also set a new tournament record while firing a 54-hole score of 15-under 201, breaking the previous mark of 11-under 205 set by Florida’s Matt Every in 2003. Florida State’s Seath Lauer finished two shots back in second place at 13-under 203.
The Tigers will return to action next weekend as they travel to Macon, Ga., on Saturday to tee off in the first round of the Brickyard Collegiate Championship hosted by Mercer.
GARY KOCH INVITATIONAL ? FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. Florida State 274-280-280 ? 834 -30; 2. Texas Tech 271-279-300 ? 850 -14; T3. Virginia 282-279-291 ? 852 -12; T3. Florida 277-283-292 ? 852 -12; 5. North Florida 290-281-283 ? 854 -10; 6. Augusta State 286-278-291 ? 855 -9; 7. Auburn 290-280-288 ? 858 -6; 8. LSU 275-293-293 ? 861 -3; 9. Georgia Southern 281-283-298 ? 862 -2; 10. Ole Miss 285-285-296 ? 866 +2; 11. Kentucky 288-285-297 ? 870 +6; 12. East Tennessee State 294-283-294 ? 871 +7; 13. North Carolina 281-288-305 ? 874 +10; 14. UAB 287-287-303 ? 877 +13; 15. South Florida 295-302-305 ? 902 +38.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Kyle Kopsick, Auburn, 72-63-66 ? 201 -15; 2. Seath Lauer, Florida State, 66-67-70 ? 203 -13; 3. John Peterson, LSU, 67-67-70 ? 204 -12; 4. Brooks Koepka, Florida State, 68-70-67 ? 205 -11; 5. Chris Ward, Texas Tech, 69-67-72 ? 208 -8; T6. Henrik Norlander, Augusta State, 71-67-71 ? 209 -7; T6. Ben Kohles, Virginia, 68-70-71 ? 209 -7; T6. Arnoud Vongvanij, Florida, 67-71-71 ? 209 -7; 9. Chris Kennedy, North Florida, 70-69-71 ? 210 -6; T10. Andres Echavarria, Florida, 70-69-72 ? 211 -5; T10. Florian Sander, Georgia Southern, 70-71-70 ? 211 -5; T10. Rhys Enoch, East Tennessee State, 71-72-68 ? 211 -5; T10. Michael Hebert, Florida State, 70-70-71 ? 211 -5.
LSU SCORES
3. John Peterson, 67-67-70 ? 204 -12
T24. Andrew Loupe, 67-76-72 ? 215 -1
T43. Clayton Rotz, 68-75-76 ? 219 +3
T62. Sang Yi, 73-76-75 ? 224 +8
76. Austin Gutgsell, 77-75-79 ? 231 +15