PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Led by a 2-under 70 by freshman Andrew Presley and a 1-under 71 by senior All-America hopeful Ken Looper in Tuesday’s final round, the No. 7-ranked LSU men’s golf team fired a 1-under par 287 on a blustery afternoon to earn a third-place finish in the team standing at the John Hayt Invitational held this week at Sawgrass Country Club.
The Tigers picked up their second third-place team finish in as many tourney appearances during the 2011 spring season after also finishing in third place overall at the Gator Invitational on Feb. 13.
LSU posted a 54-hole score of 7-over 871 to finish just four strokes behind team champion Arkansas with a 3-over 867 and runner-up Auburn with a 5-over 869. The Tigers continued their recent success at the John Hayt Invitational after winning the team title in 2009 and finishing in second place in 2010.
“Our guys posted a good, solid round today, despite these windy conditions,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “You aren’t going to have your best every time you tee it up, and that certainly was the case this week. But the guys fought hard and competed throughout the tournament. We just need to continue to work at it and work on the little things that will lead to success this spring.”
Looper continued to show the form that is sure to lead to All-America consideration this spring as he won his team-leading fourth top-10 individual finish of the campaign. Looper wrapped up the tournament with a 1-under 71 on Tuesday after opening with a 2-under 70 on Sunday and a 3-over 75 on Monday.
But it was Presley who led the way Tuesday as he posted one of the lowest scores of his rookie season for the afternoon with a 2-under 70, which included an eagle on the par-five eighth hole and back-to-back birdies at the par-four 10th and par-five 11th holes. The freshman from Fort Worth, Texas, finished the day with a 54-hole score of 8-over 224 to tie for 32nd place overall.
Senior Andrew Loupe added his second-straight even-par 72 toward LSU’s team score as he finished with a tie for 11th place at 2-over 218 for the championship, nearly earning his third top-10 finish of the year.
In addition, senior All-American John Peterson added a 2-over par 74 on Tuesday to finish in a tie for 15th place at 3-over 219, while junior Austin Gutgsell tied for 57th place at 15-over 231.
After teeing off in Tuesday’s final round in a three-way tie for first place, Florida’s Phillip Choi outlasted Auburn’s Blayne Barber and Arkansas’ Sebastian Cappelen for the individual championship after firing a 2-under 70 for a three-round score of 7-under par 209. Barber and Cappelen were unable to keep up while posting matching rounds of 1-over 73 to finish in a tie for second place at 4-under 212.
The Tigers will return to action Monday as they are set to participate in the Louisiana Classics being held March 7-8 at Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette. LSU is the defending team champion at the two-day, 54-hole event after posting a team score of even-par 864 to win last year’s tournament.
JOHN HAYT INVITATIONAL – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. Arkansas 285-299-283 – 867 +3; 2. Auburn 282-295-292 – 869 +5; 3. LSU 284-300-287 – 871 +7; 4. Central Florida 289-297-293 – 879 +15; 5. Tennessee 289-295-298 – 882 +18; T6. Florida 286-304-295 – 885 +21; T6. Ole Miss 293-300-292 – 885 +21; 8. TCU 282-304-288 – 874 +23; 9. Tulsa 290-308-292 – 890 +26; 10. Coastal Carolina 287-310-298 – 895 +31; 11. Mercer 294-303-301 – 898 +34; 12. North Florida 292-309-303 – 904 +40; 13. Georgia Southern 292-311-307 – 910 +46; 14. Jacksonville 307-297-308 – 912 +48; 15. UAB 297-312-304 – 913 +49.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Phillip Choi, Florida, 68-71-70 – 209 -7; T2. Blayne Barber, Auburn, 68-71-73 – 212 -4; T2. Sebastian Cappelen, Arkansas, 69-70-73 – 212 -4; 4. Michael Hebert, Auburn, 69-73-71 – 213 -3; 5. Jonathan Randolph, Ole Miss, 73-69-72 – 214 -2; T6. Greg Eason, Central Florida, 72-73-70 – 215 -1; T6. Robin Wingardh, Tennessee, 68-74-73 – 215 -1; T8. Ken Looper, LSU, 70-75-71 – 216 E; T8. Connor Arendell, Central Florida, 68-75-73 – 216 E; 10. Joe David, Ole Miss, 70-72-75 – 217 +1.
LSU SCORES
T8. Ken Looper, 70-75-71 – 216 E
T11. Andrew Loupe, 74-72-72 – 218 +2
T15. John Peterson, 67-78-74 – 219 +3
T32. Andrew Presley, 73-81-70 – 224 +8
T57. Austin Gutgsell, 75-75-81 – 231 +15