LAFAYETTE, La. – The No. 8-ranked LSU men’s golf team wrapped up Monday’s action at the 26th-annual Louisiana Classics in exactly the same position it did a year ago in a tight battle with No. 6-ranked Illinois for the team championship in the event being held at Oakbourne Country Club.
The teams concluded 36 holes of championship action Monday afternoon in a dead heat in the race for the team title with matching scores of 6-under par 570 after two rounds.
The Tigers were steady throughout the opening day of competition as they followed a 5-under par 283 for the first round with a solid score of 1-under 287 in the afternoon to finish the day in a tie atop the standing with the sixth-ranked Illini. After trailing the Tigers by five strokes following a first-round even-par score of 288, Illinois bounced back with a 6-under 282 in the second round to grab a share of the team lead.
The two squads will tee off in Tuesday’s final round with a three-stroke advantage over Kent State, a club that posted a team score of 3-under par 573 on the opening day of the tournament, including a tournament low 10-under 278 in the afternoon. Louisiana-Lafayette (577) follows seven shots back in fourth place.
The All-American duo of Andrew Loupe and John Peterson set the pace for the Tigers during the opening day of competition at the 26th-annual Louisiana Classics as each finished among the top five.
Each is in position to earn his second top-five finish and third top-10 finish on the 2010-11 campaign with Loupe finishing the day in a tie for third place overall at 4-under 140 followed by Peterson in a tie for fifth place on the leaderboard at 3-under 141. Loupe fired back-to-back rounds of 2-under par 70 Monday, while Peterson followed a 2-under 70 in the first round with a 1-under 71 in the second round.
In a last minute lineup switch that has paid dividends for the Tigers, senior Clayton Rotz added rounds of 1-under 71 and even-par 72 to LSU’s team total en route to a 36-hole score of 1-under 143 for the day. He will enter the final round on the cusp of a top-10 finish in a tie for 12th place on the leaderboard.
In his second-straight start for the Tigers this spring, freshman Andrew Presley finished the afternoon in a tie for 25th place overall at 2-over 146, including an even-par 72 in the tournament’s opening round, while senior Ken Looper added a 5-over 149 on the day to finish in a tie for 38th place.
While playing as individuals during the event, junior Sang Yi finished the day in a tie for 30th place on the leaderboard at 3-over 147, while junior Austin Gutgsell finished in a tie for 52nd place at 7-over 151.
John Hahn helped lead Kent State into third place in the team standings by grabbing a two-stroke lead for the race for medalist honors with a 36-hole score of 8-under 136, which includes a tournament-low round of 6-under 66 in the second round. Hahn holds a slim two-shot lead over Illinois’ Chris DeFrost, who shot 6-under 138 on the afternoon to finish in second place.
Loupe must overcome a four-shot deficit in the final round if he hopes to retain the individual title that he won a year ago with a career-low tournament score of 8-under 208 at Oakbourne Country Club.
The Tigers are paired with Illinois and Kent State in Tuesday’s final round as they will tee it up for Mardi Gras on the front nine beginning at 8 a.m. CT. Live scoring of the final round will be provided by Golfstat and can be found online by logging on to www.golfstat.com.
LOUISIANA CLASSICS – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
T1. LSU 283-287 – 570 -6; T1. Illinois 288-282 – 570 -6; 3. Kent State 295-278 – 573 -3; 4. Louisiana-Lafayette 290-287 – 577 +1; 5. Texas State 294-284 – 578 +2; 6. Southeastern Louisiana 291-292 – 583 +7; 7. UAB 292-295 – 587 +11; 8. Tulsa 294-294 – 588 +12; 9. Kansas 296-294 – 590 +14; 10. Houston 300-291 – 591 +15; 11. Southern Mississippi 298-294 – 592 +16; 12. SMU 297-297 – 594 +18; 13. Memphis 297-298 – 595 +19; 14. South Alabama 297-300 – 597 +21; 15. Arkansas-Little Rock 306-300 – 606 +30.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. John Hahn, Kent State, 70-66 – 136 -8; 2. Chris DeFrost, Illinois, 68-70 – 138 -6; T3. Andrew Loupe, LSU, 70-70 – 140 -4; T3. Carlson Cox, Memphis, 72-68 – 140 -4; T5. John Peterson, LSU, 70-71 – 141 -3; T5. Luke Guthrie, Illinois, 74-67 – 141 -3; T7. Philipp Fendt, Louisiana-Lafayette, 73-69 – 142 -2; T7. Alastair Jones, Texas State, 73-69 – 142 -2; T7. Horacio Leon, Southeastern Louisiana, 70-72 – 142 -2; T7. Jesse Droemer, Houston, 70-72 – 142 -2; T7. Chris Weninger, Louisiana-Lafayette, 69-73 – 142 -2.
LSU SCORES
T3. Andrew Loupe, 70-70 – 140 -4
T5. John Peterson, 70-71 – 141 -3
T12. Clayton Rotz, 71-72 – 143 -1
T25. Andrew Presley, 72-74 – 146 +2
T30. Sang Yi, 74-73 – 147 +3*
T38. Ken Looper, 74-75 – 149 +5
T52. Austin Gutgsell, 79-72 – 151 +7*
* – Denotes player competing as an individual.