AWENDAW, S.C. – Tuesday’s final round at the seventh-annual Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate turned into a two-horse race for the team championship as No. 12-ranked LSU defended its crown against No. 6-ranked and defending national champion Augusta State to cap an exciting three days of competition at Bulls Bay Golf Club in coastal Awendaw, S.C.
The Tigers successfully defended the team championship they earned in 2010 with a one-stroke victory in the 2011 edition after firing a 3-under par 849 in 54 holes of competition.
The Jaguars of Augusta State followed in second place at 2-under 850 for the championship, while No. 11 Auburn and No. 20 Duke tied for third place with matching scores of 3-over par 855.
Tuesday’s victory marked LSU’s third team championship of the 2010-11 season as they have also earned top honors at the Gopher Invitational (Sept. 12-13) and the David Toms Intercollegiate (Oct. 18-19) in the fall season. LSU has actually proven to be one of the more consistent programs in the country for the year as they have finished in the top three of the final team standings in seven of nine tournament starts, which includes a pair of second-place finishes and a pair of third-place finishes on the season.
After opening this year’s Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate with a 3-under 281 in the first round Sunday, the Tigers posted back-to-back even-par 284s to wrap up their latest championship.
“It really was a tug-of-war between two good teams for most of the day today. It was dead even for about the last 12 holes,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “The tournament really wasn’t decided until the final putt went down on the last hole. We’re obviously very pleased with the result.
“The golf course played tough this week. It never got above 38 degrees all day yesterday. We also needed to overcome two rain delays, which made for a long day for everyone. Our guys did a great job of staying focused throughout the event and have proven to be very tough-minded this year. They earned it.”
Tuesday’s final round came down to a dramatic final three holes for the victory as LSU and Augusta State were in a dead heat heading into the par-four 16th hole with Augusta State holding a one-stroke lead.
That’s when LSU senior Andrew Loupe matched Augusta State’s Mitchell Krywulycz with a birdie at the green at No. 16, before fellow Tiger senior John Peterson and Jaguar junior Patrick Reed carded matching pars before heading to the par-three 17th hole with Augusta State still clinging to a one-shot lead. Peterson then drained a four-foot birdie putt on the green at No. 17 with Reed three-putting for bogey to turn a one-stroke deficit into a one-stroke advantage for the Tigers.
Loupe fired a 3-under par 68 for the afternoon to finish in a tie for first place overall at 6-under par 207 to force a sudden-death playoff with NC State sophomore Mitchell Sutton for the individual crown. The duo returned to the 18th tee for the first playoff hole, where Sutton made par and Loupe made bogey on the par four hole to determine the individual champion at The Hootie.
With his performance, Loupe earned his team-leading third top-five finish of the campaign, along with his fourth top-10 finish in eight tournament starts for the Tigers during the 2010-11 season.
Peterson earned a top-10 finish of his own as his 1-over 72 on Tuesday propelled him into a seventh-place tie on the leaderboard at 2-under 211 for the championship. The Ben Hogan Award candidate now leads the LSU squad with five top-10 finishes in eight tournament starts on the campaign.
The Tigers also received a 1-under 70 from junior Sang Yi and a 3-over 74 from junior Austin Gutgsell in the final round en route to a team score of even-par 284 for the victory.
Yi catapulted himself from a tie for 29th place entering the final round into a tie for 17th place with the last standings as the carded a 54-hole score of 2-over 215 for the championship en route to his fifth top-20 performance on the season. Gutgsell followed in a tie for 47th place in the final individual standings with a cumulative score 9-over par 222 at this year’s Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate.
Freshman Andrew Presley, who opened with an impressive 1-under 70 in the first round, finished the day in 54th place at 11-over par 224 for the tournament.
“The consistency we’ve seen from Andrew Loupe and John Peterson is something that has been a key for our team all year long,” Winstead said. “They don’t always have their ‘A’ game, but they always find out a way to put a score on the card. We also saw some really good play out of Sang Yi this week. Austin and Andrew Presley also gave us some good rounds this week.
“Hopefully, this will help us build a little momentum as we come home and play this weekend in what we know will be a great event at the University Club. These guys need to get back home and get some rest on these next few days as we look forward to playing in front of our home fans this weekend.”
The Tigers will wrap up the regular season on Saturday and Sunday as they play host to the LSU National Invitational at the newly-renovated University Club. They will then kick off the postseason April 15-17 at the SEC Men’s Golf Championships to be held at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga.
HOOTIE AT BULLS BAY INTERCOLLEGIATE – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 852)
1. LSU 281-284-284 – 849 -3; 2. Augusta State 281-282-287 – 850 -2; T3. Auburn 281-288-286 – 855 +3; T3. Duke 288-291-276 – 855 +3; T5. Wake Forest 280-288-288 – 856 +4; T5. Texas A&M 282-288-286 – 856 +4; T5. NC State 288-285-283 – 856 +4; 8. Florida 288-292-289 – 869 +17; 9. Ole Miss 289-289-294 – 872 +20; T10. North Florida 287-298-292 – 877 +25; T10. Virginia 294-292-291 – 877 +25; 12. North Carolina 306-288-285 – 879 +27; 13. South Carolina 297-298-288 – 883 +31; 14. Kentucky 301-289-294 – 884 +32; 15. College of Charleston 306-302-304 – 912 +60.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 213)
T1. Mitchell Sutton, NC State, 67-72-68 – 207 -6 (won in sudden-death playoff); T1. Andrew Loupe, LSU, 70-69-68 – 207 -6; T3. Phillip Choi, Florida, 71-70-68 – 209 -4; T3. Mitchell Krywulycz, Augusta State, 72-67-70 – 209 -4; T3. Jonathan Randolph, Ole Miss, 68-69-72 – 209 -4; 6. Wes Roach, Duke, 69-71-70 – 210 -3; T7. John Peterson, LSU, 68-71-72 – 211 -2; T7. Ignacio Elvira, Texas A&M, 71-68-72 – 211 -2; T7. Patrick Reed, Augusta State, 70-68-73 – 211 -2; 10. Lee Bedford, Wake Forest, 67-71-74 – 212 -1.
LSU SCORES
T1. Andrew Loupe, 70-69-68 – 207 -6
T7. John Peterson, 68-71-72 – 211 -2
T17. Sang Yi, 73-72-70 – 215 +2
T47. Austin Gutgsell, 76-72-74 – 222 +9
54. Andrew Presley, 70-79-75 – 224 +11