PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – On the strength of sophomore Austin Gutgsell‘s even-par round of 72 during Sunday’s opening round at the 2010 John Hayt Invitational, the LSU men’s golf team wrapped up the day in a tie for seventh place with a team score of 16-over 304 at Sawgrass Country Club.
The Tigers find themselves in a three-way tie for seventh place with Tennessee and Tulsa after Sunday’s action. Tournament host North Florida has jumped out to a six-stroke lead over Duke Blue Devils with an opening round score of even-par 288 at the par-72 layout.
Gutgsell was steady throughout the day as he carded four birdies and four bogeys en route to a squad best round of even-par 72 to finish the day in a tie for fifth place on the leaderboard.
After opening his round with a birdie on the par-four first and a bogey on the par-four second holes, Gutgsell made birdie on the par-five eighth hole before making the turn at 1-under par for his round. With the back nine following in the afternoon, Gutgsell made bogey on the par-four 10th hole before going back to 1-under for the day with a birdie at the par-five 11th hole.
The Mandeville, La., native then wrapped up his opening round with a birdie at the par-five 18th hole after making bogey on the par-four 14th and par-four 16th holes. Gutgsell was impressive while playing the par-fives at 3-under par during the first round at Sawgrass Country Club.
Gutgsell is only three shots out of the lead as North Florida’s Joe Byun posted a 3-under 69 to grab a one-shot lead over a trio of golfers heading into Monday’s second round.
LSU sophomore Sang Yi also finds himself in the Top 20 of the leaderboard as his 3-over 75 ranks him in a tie for 18th place overall. Junior Andrew Loupe finished the day in a tie for 39th place with a 5-over 77, while senior Brent Blaum holed out in a tie for 64th place with a 8-over 80 and junior John Peterson ended the day in a tie for 72nd place with an opening round 9-over 81.
The Tigers are paired with Central Florida and Tennessee in Monday’s second round and will tee off from the front nine beginning at 7:30 a.m. CT. Live scoring for the second and third rounds will be provided by Golfstat and can be found online by logging on to www.golfstat.com.
JOHN HAYT INVITATIONAL – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 288)
1. North Florida 288 E; 2. Duke 294 +6; 3. Furman 296 +8; 4. TCU 298 +10; 5. Georgia Southern 301 +13; 6. Tulsa 303 +15; T7. LSU 304 +16; T7. Tennessee 304 +16; T7. Central Florida 304 +16; T10. Coastal Carolina 307 +19; T10. Alabama 307 +19; 12. Florida 310 +22; T13. Mercer 312 +24; T13. NC State 312 +24; 15. UAB 313 +25.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 72)
1. Joe Byun, North Florida, 69 -3; T2. Kevin Phelan, North Florida, 71 -1; T2. Austin Reeves, Furman, 71 -1; T2. Florian Sander, Georgia Southern, 71 -1; T5. Austin Gutgsell, LSU, 72 E; T5. Phillip Choi, Florida, 72 E; T5. Sean Dale, North Florida, 72 E; T5. Adam Long, Duke, 72 E; T9. Johan de Beer, TCU, 73 +1; T9. Garland Ferrell, Furman, 73 +1.
LSU SCORES
T5. Austin Gutgsell, 72 E
T18. Sang Yi, 75 +3
T39. Andrew Loupe, 77 +5
T64. Brent Blaum, 80 +8
T72. John Peterson, 81 +9