WINDERMERE, Fla. – The 12th-ranked LSU men’s golf team played well on the back nine once again for the second-straight day as it climbed two spots into a tie for second place overall while remaining four shots out of the lead following Monday’s second round at the 2010 Isleworth Collegiate Invitational being held this week at Isleworth Golf & Country Club.
The Tigers, who opened the event ranked as high as No. 12 in the country in the Golfstat Top 25, finished with a 2-over par on the back nine among its counting scores en route to a team score of 6-over par 294 in the second round and a 36-hole score of 11-over 587 in two days of competition.
LSU will head into Tuesday’s final round in a tie for second place with 18th-ranked Stanford in the overall team standings and trailing No. 5-ranked Alabama by four shots in the race for the team championship.
While combining for a team score of 11-over par on Isleworth’s front nine through two rounds of play this week, the Tigers have been outstanding after making the turn as they have teamed to card even-par on the back nine during the championship to position themselves for a run at the team title.
Rounding out the top five of the overall team standings is TCU in fourth place at 13-over par 589 and No. 1-ranked Florida and No. 2-ranked Oklahoma State in a tie for fifth place at 19-over par 595.
“The wind was much more of a factor today than it was with the first round,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “The greens got very, very fast out there today. But our guys battled through it and had another solid round for the team today. We’ll need five guys in the fight all the way to the end tomorrow.”
Not only is LSU in a position to battle for the team championship during Tuesday’s final round but senior Andrew Loupe and junior Sang Yi are in a fight for the individual crown after wrapping up the round tied for fourth place on the leaderboard at 1-under par for the tournament. The duo currently trails Tennessee’s Robin Wingardh by four shots in the individual standings with just 18 holes to play.
Yi followed his even-par 72 in the opening round on Sunday with a team-low 1-under par round of 71 for the second round to finish the day at 1-under 143 for the championship.
Yi’s afternoon was highlighted by a 2-under par back nine that featured three birdies in a four-hole stretch with red figures on the par-five 13th, par-four 14th and par-four 16th holes. Yi added two bogeys on his day to finish the round tied with Loupe with a score of 1-under par for the tournament.
Loupe, who opened with a 2-under 70 in the first round on Sunday, followed with a 1-over 73 on Monday to position himself for a second-straight top-10 finish. The Baton Rouge native tied for eighth place in his last tournament appearance at the David Toms Intercollegiate a week ago while helping to lead the Tigers to their second team championship in three events this fall.
The Tigers also received a score of 2-over 74 from junior Austin Gutgsell, who finished the afternoon in a tie for 21st place on the leaderboard at 5-over 149 for the tournament. Gutgsell won medalist honors at the David Toms Intercollegiate last week with a career-low 10-under 206 to take the title by four shots.
Senior All-American John Peterson added a 4-over 76 in LSU’s team score in the second round to end the day in a tie for 51st place at 11-over 155. Fellow senior Ken Looper is tied for 42nd place at 9-over 153.
The Tigers will play in the final wave on the front nine during Tuesday’s final round as they will compete with Alabama and Stanford in tee times beginning at 8:25 a.m. CT. Golfstat will provide live scoring with the final round of this year’s Isleworth Collegiate Invitational online at www.golfstat.com.
ISLEWORTH COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM RESULTS (Par 576)
1. Alabama 291-292 – 583 +7; T2. LSU 293-294 – 587 +11; T2. Stanford 290-297 – 587 +11; 4. TCU 290-299 – 589 +13; T5. Florida 305-290 – 595 +19; T5. Oklahoma State 298-297 – 595 +19; 7. Texas Tech 297-300 – 597 +21; 8. Vanderbilt 298-302 – 600 +24; 9. Central Florida 307-294 – 601 +25; 10. Tennessee 309-294 – 603 +27; 11. Georgia 304-301 – 605 +29; T12. Texas 309-297 – 606 +30; T12. Ohio State 299-307 – 606 +30; 14. SMU 301-307 – 608 +32; 15. Arizona 302-315 – 617 +41.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. Robin Wingardh, Tennessee, 71-68 – 139 -5; 2. Andrew Yun, Stanford, 71-70 – 141 -3
3. Morgan Hoffmann, Oklahoma State, 71-71 – 142 -2; T4. Andrew Loupe, LSU, 70-73 – 143 -1; T4. Sang Yi, LSU, 72-71 – 143 -1; T6. Kevin Tway, Oklahoma State, 73-71 – 144 E; T6. Bank Vongvanij, Florida, 74-70 – 144 E; T8. Greg Eason, Central Florida, 72-73 – 145 +1; T8. Hunter Hamrick, Alabama, 71-74 – 145 +1; T8. Tarquin Macmanus, Arizona, 69-76 – 145 +1; T8. Cory Whitsett, Alabama, 71-74 – 145 +1.
LSU SCORES
T4. Andrew Loupe, 70-73 – 143 -1
T4. Sang Yi, 72-71 – 143 -1
T21. Austin Gutgsell, 75-74 – 149 +5
T42. Ken Looper, 76-77 – 153 +9
T51. John Peterson, 79-76 – 155 +11