WINDERMERE, Fla. – On the strength of a 2-under par 70 by senior All-American Andrew Loupe, the 12th-ranked LSU men’s golf team wrapped up Sunday’s opening round at the seventh Isleworth Collegiate Invitational just three shots behind the leaders in sole possession of fourth place overall in the tournament being held at the prestigious Isleworth Golf & Country Club.
The Tigers posted a team score of 5-over 293 in the first round to finish the day just three shots behind the 2-over 290 carded by both No. 18-ranked Stanford and TCU. LSU also trails third-place and No. 5-ranked Alabama by only two shots with the Crimson Tide finishing the day with a round of 3-over 291.
This year’s Isleworth Collegiate Invitational is sure to rival the quality and depth of any collegiate tourney outside of the NCAA Championships with 10 of the nation’s Top 30 teams in the latest Golfstat ranking.
“We are off to a decent start. We were about nine or 10 shots back as we made the turn today and finished up only three shots out of the lead,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “Isleworth is that type of course. When you get your ball out of position, you need to minimize the damage and move on to the next hole. There’s still a long way for us to go with two more days of competition.”
Loupe fired out of the gate with a birdie on the par-four first hole to quickly drop to 1-under for his round. After giving a stroke back with a bogey on the par-four fourth, he dipped back into red figures following a birdie on the par-five seventh hole before making the turn at 1-under par for the day.
He then dropped to 2-under par with a birdie on the par-four 10th hole before canceling a bogey at the par-four 12th hole with a birdie at the par-four 14th hole en route to a final score of 2-under 70 for his round.
The Baton Rouge native holed out on No. 18 just one shot out of the lead on the individual leaderboard as he trails only the 3-under 69 fired by Arizona’s Tarquin Macmanus. Loupe is in a three-way tie for runner up position with the TCU duo of Tom Hoge and Daniel Jennevret with matching rounds of 2-under 70.
LSU junior Sang Yi finds himself on the cusp of the Top 10 of the leaderboard after firing an even-par 72 in Sunday’s opening round to finish the day in a tie for 13th place overall. After carding two bogeys on the par-three second and par-four fourth holes, Yi carded birdies at the par-three fifth and par-four ninth holes to make the turn at even-par for his round. He then made nine pars on the back nine to finish at level par.
After combining for a score of 8-over par on the front, senior Ken Looper and Austin Gutgsell teamed for a combined score of 1-under par on the back nine to help lead the Tigers to a team score of 5-over 293 on Sunday. Gutgsell carded a 3-over 75 and Looper posted a 4-over 76 in the opening round.
Senior All-American John Peterson finished the first day of competition in a tie for 59th place overall after posting a first-round score of 7-over par 79 at the par-72 layout at Isleworth Golf & Country Club.
“Austin (Gutgsell) and Ken (Looper) both played well on the back nine after tough starts,” Winstead said. “The way they hung in there allowed great scores by Andrew (Loupe) and Sang (Yi) to keep us up around the top of the leaderboard at the end of the day. That was a key for us today.”
The Tigers are paired with Texas Tech and Vanderbilt in Monday’s second round and will open play from the front nine with tee times beginning at 7:50 a.m. CT. Golfstat will continue its coverage of this year’s Isleworth Collegiate Invitational on Monday as live scoring can be found online at www.golfstat.com.
ISLEWORTH COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 288)
T1. Stanford 290 +2; T1. TCU 290 +2; 3. Alabama 291 +3; 4. LSU 293 +5; 5. Texas Tech 297 +9; T6. Oklahoma State 298 +10; T6. Vanderbilt 298 +10; 8. Ohio State 299 +11; 9. SMU 301 +13; 10. Arizona 302 +14; 11. Georgia 304 +16; 12. Florida 305 +17; 13. Central Florida 307 +19; T14. Texas 309 +21; T14. Tennessee 309 +21.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 72)
1. Tarquin Macmanus, Arizona, 69 -3; T2. Andrew Loupe, LSU, 70 -2; T2. Tom Hoge, TCU, 70 -2; T2. Daniel Jennevret, TCU, 70 -2; T5. Hunter Hamrick, Alabama, 71 -1; T5. Bo Hoag, Ohio State, 71 -1; T5. Morgan Hoffmann, Oklahoma State, 71 -1; T5. Sihwan Kim, Stanford, 71 -1; T5. Matt Smith, Texas Tech, 71 -1; T5. Cory Whitsett, Alabama, 71 -1; T5. Robin Wingardh, Tennessee, 71 -1; T5. Andrew Yun, Stanford, 71 -1.
LSU SCORES
T2. Andrew Loupe, 70 -2
T13. Sang Yi, 72 E
T27. Austin Gutgsell, 75 +3
T32. Ken Looper, 76 +4
T59. John Peterson, 79 +7