STATESBORO, Ga. – With senior All-American and Ben Hogan Award candidate John Peterson leading the way with his fourth top-10 individual finish of the season, the No. 11-ranked LSU men’s golf program secured a fourth-place finish in the final team standings at the 32nd-annual Schenkel Invitational following Sunday’s final round at Forest Heights Country Club.
The Tigers wrapped up the event with a team score of 10-over 298 to finish the event in fourth place after posting a 54-hole score of 2-under 862 in three rounds on the weekend.
After matching one another with identical scores of 16-under 848 for the tourney, No. 14 Auburn defeated No. 4 Florida in a one-hole playoff to defend its team championship at the Schenkel Invitational. Virginia earned a third-place finish in the final team standings with a score of 6-under 858.
With their performance, including the team’s second-lowest round of the season with an 11-under par 277 in the second round, the Tigers earned their seventh top-five team finish in eight appearances this season.
“We did a lot of things better this week,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “Some of the guys today struggled at the end of today’s round. We made several uncharacteristic shots that led to big numbers with our round. We just need to build on the positives that we showed this week.”
After opening with a 3-under 69 in the first round and a 1-under 71 in the second round, Peterson finished with a 1-over 73 in Sunday’s final round to earn a 10th place finish on the leaderboard with a final 54-hole score of 3-under 213. This marks the second-straight tournament in which Peterson has carded cumulative scores of 3-under 213 as he also earned a top-10 finish with a sixth place at the Louisiana Classics.
Peterson, a senior from Fort Worth, Texas, who has been named to the Ben Hogan Award watch list again this season, is now tied with senior Ken Looper for the team lead with four top-10 finishes on the season.
Junior standout Sang Yi nearly earned his first top-10 finish of the campaign as he finished in a tie for 11th place on the leader board for the third time on the year with a 54-hole score of 1-under 215, including a 2-over 74 in the final round on Sunday afternoon. Yi actually matched his season-low round on Saturday as he fired a team-low 4-under 68 for the championship during the second round.
Junior Austin Gutgsell and senior All-American Andrew Loupe also earned top-20 finishes as Gutgsell tied for 15th place at 1-over 217 and Loupe tied for 20th place at 2-over 218. Loupe matched Peterson with the team’s lowest round of the day with a 1-over 73 during Sunday’s competition.
LSU freshman Andrew Presley finished in a tie for 58th place overall at 10-over 226, while senior Clayton Rotz finished in a tie for 74th place at 15-over 231 while competing this week as an individual.
Florida standout Bank Vongvanij led wire-to-wire to claim medalist honors at this year’s tournament after following scores of 6-under 66 in the first round and 4-under 68 in the second round with a 1-over 73 in the final round for a 54-hole score of 9-under par 207. Auburn’s Kyle Kopsick and North Florida’s Kevin Aylwin finished one shot back in a tie for second place at 8-under 208.
The Tigers return to action in one week as they travel to Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, S.C., with the goal of defending the team title they won a year ago at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate. This year’s three-day, 54-hole championship will be held March 27-29.
SCHENKEL INVITATIONAL – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
T1. Auburn 279-275-294 – 848 -16; T1. Florida 282-278-288 – 848 -16; 3. Virginia 288-277-298 – 858 -6; 4. LSU 287-277-298 – 862 -2; 5. North Florida 291-282-290 – 863 -1; 6. NC State 292-278-295 – 865 +1; T7. North Carolina 292-292-296 – 880 +16; T7. Minnesota 301-280-299 – 880 +16; T7. Georgia Southern 297-285-298 – 880 +16; 10. Tennessee 289-289-303 – 881 +17; 11. Ole Miss 304-292-287 – 883 +19; 12. Notre Dame 291-287-310 – 888 +24; T13. Vanderbilt 302-287-307 – 896 +32; T13. Kentucky 306-292-298 – 896 +32; 15. Mississippi State 303-302-311 – 916 +52.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Bank Vongvanij, Florida, 66-68-73 – 207 -9; T2. Kevin Aylwin, North Florida, 70-71-67 – 208 -8; T2. Kyle Kopsick, Auburn, 71-69-68 – 208 -8; 4. Phillip Choi, Florida, 69-70-71 – 210 -6; T5. Ben Kohles, Virginia, 70-69-72 – 211 -5; T5. Blayne Barber, Auburn, 68-70-73 – 211 -5; T7. Amory Davis, Virginia, 73-69-70 – 212 -4; T7. Albin Choi, NC State, 74-67-71 – 212 -4; T7. Niclas Carlsson, Auburn, 69-67-76 – 212 -4; 10. John Peterson, LSU, 69-71-73 – 213 -3.
LSU SCORES
10. John Peterson, 69-71-73 – 213 -3
T11. Sang Yi, 73-68-74 – 215 -1
T15. Austin Gutgsell, 69-70-78 – 217 +1
T20. Andrew Loupe, 76-69-73 – 218 +2
T58. Andrew Presley, 76-70-80 – 226 +10
T74. Clayton Rotz, 79-76-76 – 231 +15*
* – Denotes player competing as an individual.