BATON ROUGE – The No. 7-ranked LSU men’s golf team has dominated the competition in recent years at the prestigious John Hayt Invitational, and the Tigers make their return to Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., this week to compete as part of a 15-team field to continue the spring season.
The three-day, 54-hole event kicks off Sunday with the first round, followed by the second round Monday and the final round Tuesday. The course will play to a par 72 and 6,925 yards for the championship.
Live scoring of the event will be provided by Golfstat and can be found online at www.golfstat.com. LSU fans can also receive live updates on the Tigers throughout the three days of the event by becoming a fan of LSU Men’s Golf on Facebook and following @LSUMensGolf on Twitter.
The Tigers are ranked as high as No. 7 nationally in the latest Golfstat Top 25 released on Wednesday and will compete as part of a 15-team field that features three other Southeastern Conference programs ranked in the latest Golfstat poll. Joining LSU this week are tourney host North Florida, No. 2 Florida, No. 13 Auburn, No. 20 Arkansas, Central Florida, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville, Mercer, Ole Miss, TCU, Tennessee, Tulsa and UAB to round out the 15-team field.
LSU is paired with Florida and North Florida in Sunday’s first round of action as the trio will tee off from the front nine beginning at 8:30 a.m. CT. Tee times for the second round have yet to be determined.
LSU has enjoyed its trip to Sawgrass Country Club to compete in the John Hayt Invitational during recent seasons. The Tigers fired a score of 21-over par 885 to win the team championship in 2009 before posting a score of 24-over 888 to finish in second place overall in the team standings in 2010.
Not only that, but senior All-American and Ben Hogan Award candidate John Peterson helped guide LSU to the team championship during his sophomore season in 2009 by winning medalist honors after firing 2-under 214 for three rounds to claim his first career individual crown as an LSU Tiger. Last week, Peterson was named to the Ben Hogan Award Watch List for the second-straight season.
North Florida will open play Sunday as the defending team champion at the John Hayt Invitational. North Florida posted a winning score of 12-over 876 to defeat the second-place Tigers by 12 shots a year ago.
Three Tigers will make their return to Sawgrass Country Club after competing as part of the lineup taking second place in last year’s event with Peterson, senior Andrew Loupe and junior Austin Gutgsell joining a five-man starting lineup that also features senior Ken Looper and freshman Andrew Presley. Both Presley and Looper will be making their first appearance at the John Hayt Invitational this week.
Gutgsell paved the way for LSU’s runner-up team finish in 2010 by earning what was then his career-best finish with a tie for fifth place after firing a 1-over 217 in 54 holes. Loupe also earned a top-20 finish after tying for 18th place on the individual leaderboard with a three-round score of 8-over 224.
The Tigers are coming off a third-place finish in their 2011 spring season opener at the Gator Invitational, which was held Feb. 11-12 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla.
Looper, Loupe and Peterson matched one another by tying for 11th place in the individual standings in the Gator Invitational. Looper has proven to be the team’s most consistent performer for the 2010-11 season as he leads the way with a 72.4 scoring average with two top-five, three top-10 and four top-20 finishes in his senior season. Loupe follows with a 72.5 scoring average and two top-10 and three top-20 finishes this season, while Peterson trails with a 72.8 scoring average and a pair of top-10 and three top-20 finishes.
The Tigers will follow their appearance this week at the John Hayt Invitational with an appearance during the Louisiana Classics to be held next week on March 7-8 at Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette.