COLUMBUS, Ohio – Junior Sang Yi and freshman Smylie Kaufman each earned top-20 finishes on the individual leaderboard to lead the LSU men’s golf team to a sixth-place finish in the team standings at the 2010 Jack Nicklaus Invitational held this year at Ohio State’s Scioto Country Club.
Both Yi and Kaufman fired matching scores of 1-over par 71 in Tuesday’s final round at the par-70 layout to pace the Tigers to a team score of 9-over 289 for the afternoon and a sixth-place finish in the final team standings with a 54-hole score of 46-over par 886 in this year’s championship.
Yi, who opened with rounds of 6-over 76 in the first round and 4-over 74 in the second round on Monday afternoon, was the team’s top individual performer as he tied for 16th place at 11-over 221.
While making his collegiate debut with the Tigers, Kaufman followed a 10-over 80 in the first round with back-to-back scores of 1-over 71 in the second and third rounds to finish in sole possession of 20th place on the leaderboard with a three-round score of 12-over 222.
Senior Clayton Rotz followed in a tie for 26th place overall at 14-over 224, including a 2-over 72 Tuesday. Fellow senior Andrew Loupe carded a 5-over 75 in the final round to finish the tournament in a tie for 31st place at 15-over 225 in his first action of the season after missing LSU’s opener at the Gopher Invitational with a shoulder injury, while junior Austin Gutgsell finished in a tie for 36th place at 18-over 228.
After opening the final round with a two-shot deficit in the team standings, the No. 2-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys posted a 4-over 284 on Tuesday to win the team championship by six strokes with a three-round team score of 24-over 864. Illinois finished six shots back in second place at 30-over 870.
The Arkansas Razorbacks were not able to hold their first-round and second-round leads as they recorded a 14-over par round of 294 on the day to fall to fourth place in the final team standings at 32-over 872.
Illinois standout Luke Guthrie fired a tournament-low 5-under 65 in the final round to take home medalist honors by three strokes with a score of 5-under 205. Oklahoma State All-American Peter Uihlein, the nation’s No. 2-ranked golfer according to Golfstat, finished with a 3-under 67 to finish three shots back at 2-under 208 for the championship. Ethan Tracy of Arkansas followed in third place at 2-over 212.
The Tigers return to the links in six days as they play host to a 14-team field next week during the second-annual David Toms Intercollegiate at the Country Club of Louisiana schedule for Oct. 18-19. LSU will be the defending champion after taking the team title in the inaugural event during the 2009 fall season.
JACK NICKLAUS INVITATIONAL – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 840)
1. Oklahoma State 295-285-284 – 864 +24; 2. Illinois 290-291-289 – 870 +30; 3. Texas 303-283-285 – 871 +31; 4. Arkansas 286-292-294 – 872 +32; 5. Southern California 287-299-292 – 878 +38; 6. LSU 303-294-289 – 886 +46; 7. Purdue 303-293-295 – 891 +51; 8. Ohio State 294-295-305 – 894 +54; 9. Baylor 300-300-300 – 900 +60; 10. Kent State 313-296-298 – 907 +67.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 210)
1. Luke Guthrie, Illinois, 70-70-65 – 205 -5; 2. Peter Uihlein, Oklahoma State, 73-68-67 – 208 -2; 3. Jamie Marshall, Arkansas, 68-72-72 – 212 +2; T4. Jeffrey Kang, Southern California, 73-71-71 – 215 +5; T4. T.J. Vogel, Southern California, 68-74-73 – 215 +5; T4. Ethan Tracy, Arkansas, 71-73-71 – 215 +5; 7. Kevin Tway, Oklahoma State, 72-73-71 – 216 +6; T8. Sebastian Cappelen, Arkansas, 72-72-73 – 217 +7; T8. Bobby Hudson, Texas, 74-73-70 – 217 +7; T10. Morgan Hoffman, Oklahoma State, 75-70-73 – 218 +8; T10. Dylan Frittelli, Texas, 74-74-70 – 218 +8; T10. Michael Cress, Ohio State, 73-70-75 – 218 +8.
LSU SCORES
T16. Sang Yi, 76-74-71 – 221 +11
20. Smylie Kaufman, 80-71-71 – 222 +12
T26. Clayton Rotz, 75-77-72 – 224 +14
T31. Andrew Loupe, 76-74-75 – 225 +15
T36. Austin Gutgsell, 76-75-77 – 228 +18