AWENDAW, S.C. – The No. 12-ranked LSU men’s golf team is off to a fast start in the defense of its team championship at the seventh-annual Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate being held this week at Bulls Bay Golf Club as the Tigers fired an opening-round 3-under par 281 to finish Sunday’s competition one shot out of the lead in a tie for second place in the team standings.
With senior All-American and Ben Hogan Award candidate John Peterson leading the way with a 3-under par 68, the Tigers finished the day just one stroke behind the 4-under 280 fired by first-round leader Wake Forest. LSU finished the day in a second-place tie with No. 6 Augusta State and No. 11 Auburn.
No. 7-ranked Texas A&M was the only other team in the 15-team field to break par on the afternoon after posting an opening-round 2-under 282 to round out the top five of the leaderboard in fifth place.
Peterson, who is coming off his team-leading fourth top-10 finish of the season with a 10th-place finish for the Tigers at the Schenkel Invitational a week ago, was nearly flawless on his round as finished the day in a tie for fourth place after carding four birdies and just one bogey for a 3-under 68 in the first round.
After opening with his only bogey of the day at the par-four first hole, Peterson turned at even-par overall thanks to a birdie at the par-five sixth hole before reeling off a trio of birdies on the back nine at the par-five 10th, par-five 13th and par-three 17th holes for a score of 3-under 68 in 18 holes. Peterson was brilliant in playing the par fives at 3-under on the afternoon with three birdies in four attempts.
Fellow senior All-American Andrew Loupe and freshman Andrew Presley added matching 1-under 70s to LSU’s final first-round score to finish the day in a tie for 10th place on the leaderboard.
Loupe carded a team-high five birdies on the day to go along with four bogeys for a final score of 1-under 70, which includes three-straight birdies at the par-five 10th, par-four 11th and par-three 12th holes. Presley put his drive on the green and buried an eagle putt from 12 feet at the par-four eighth hole, to highlight his round while matching Loupe with a 1-under 70 on the afternoon.
Junior Sang Yi added a 2-over 73 to LSU’s team score to finish the afternoon in a tie for 39th place overall in the individual standings. Fellow junior Austin Gutgsell opened this year’s championship with a score at 5-over par 76 to finish the day in a tie for 52nd place as he looks ahead to Monday’s second round.
Peterson finds himself just one shot back as Auburn’s Blayne Barber, Wake Forest’s Lee Bedford and NC State’s Mitchell Sutton finished the day tied atop the leaderboard with scores of 4-under 67.
The Tigers are paired with No. 7-ranked Texas A&M and North Florida in Monday’s second round as the group will tee off of the front nine beginning at 8:50 a.m. CDT. Fans can find live scoring of the event by logging on to Golfstat’s official website at www.golfstat.com.
HOOTIE AT BULLS BAY INTERCOLLEGIATE – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 284)
1. Wake Forest 280 -4; T2. LSU 281 -3; T2. Augusta State 281 -3; T2. Auburn 281 -3; 5. Texas A&M 282 -2; 6. North Florida 287 +3; T7. Florida 288 +4; T7. NC State 288 +4; T7. Duke 288 +4; 10. Ole Miss 289 +5; 11. Virginia 294 +10; 12. South Carolina 297 +13; 13. Kentucky 301 +17; T14. College of Charleston 306 +22; T14. North Carolina 306 +22.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 71)
T1. Blayne Barber, Auburn, 67 -4; T1. T1. Lee Bedford, Wake Forest, 67 -4; T1. Mitchell Sutton, NC State, 67 -4; T4. John Peterson, LSU, 68 -3; T4. Joe Byun, North Florida, 68 -3; T4. Jonathan Randolph, Ole Miss, 68 -3; T7. Wes Roach, Duke, 69 -2; T7. Clint Tolleson, South Carolina, 69 -2; T7. Alex Wennstam, Augusta State, 69 -2; T10. Andrew Loupe, LSU, 70 -1; T10. Andrew Presley, LSU, 70 -1; T10. Joe David, Ole Miss, 70 -1; T10. Cory Gilmer, Auburn, 70 -1; T10. Tyler McCumber, Florida, 70 -1; T10. Henrik Norlander, Augusta State, 70 -1; T10. Cameron Peck, Texas A&M, 70 -1; T10. Patrick Reed, Augusta State, 70 -1; T10. Conrad Shindler, Texas A&M, 70 -1.
LSU SCORES
T4. John Peterson, 68 -3
T10. Andrew Loupe, 70 -1
T10. Andrew Presley, 70 -1
T39. Sang Yi, 73 +2
T52. Austin Gutgsell, 76 +5