LAFAYETTE, La. – Led by a third-straight round of 2-under par 70 by senior All-American Andrew Loupe in Tuesday’s final round, the No. 8-ranked LSU men’s golf team received a runner-up finish in the final team standings at the 26th-annual Louisiana Classics tournament held at Oakbourne Country Club.
The Tigers posted a team score of 2-over 290 in the final round en route to a 54-hole score of 4-under par 860 at the par-72 layout. No. 6-ranked Illinois fired a 4-under 284 on Tuesday afternoon to earn a six-shot victory over the Tigers to capture the team championship with a winning score of 10-under 854. Tourney host Louisianan-Lafayette followed well back in third place at 6-over 870.
LSU, which opened the spring season with back-to-back third-place finishes at the Gator Invitational back on Feb. 13 and John Hayt Invitational on March 1, is building consistency early in the spring season.
The Tigers have now finished in the top three of the team standings in six of seven events this season with two tournament championships at the Gopher Invitational and David Toms Intercollegiate and two second-place finishes at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational in the fall and now the Louisiana Classics.
By firing a 4-under par 860 in 54 holes at this year’s Louisiana Classics, the Tigers recorded their second-lowest team score of the season, trailing only their 16-under 848 at the David Toms Intercollegiate.
“This was a solid tournament for our team, especially Andrew Loupe and John Peterson with how both of them played this week. I was also pleased with the play of Andrew Presley here this week,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “Yet, we still need some guys at the bottom half of our lineup to step it up in a big way to help us as we continue moving forward this spring.”
Loupe came up four shots short of defending his Louisiana Classics individual championship as he fired a trio of 2-under par 70s at Oakbourne Country Club this week en route to a 54-hole score of 6-under par 210. The Baton Rouge native finished in a tie for second place on the leaderboard with All-America Luke Guthrie of Illinois and four shots behind individual champion John Hahn of Kent State (206).
Loupe was brilliant while firing 4-under on his front nine that included back-to-back birdies on No. 5 and No. 6 followed by an eagle at the par-five No. 7 while holing out on the ninth hole with a score of 32.
Loupe then finished with two birdies and four bogeys on his back nine for a score of 2-under par 70 in the final round and a three-round total of 6-under 210. By finishing in a tie for second place, Loupe picked up his second top-five and third top-10 finish of the campaign.
Also adding his third top-10 finish of the season for the Tigers was fellow senior All-American performer John Peterson, who carded an even-par 72 on Tuesday afternoon en route to a three-round total of 3-under par 213. After opening the tournament with rounds of 2-under 70 and 1-under 71 for Monday’s action, the Fort Worth native finished with an even-par 72 en route to a sixth-place finish on the leaderboard.
Senior Ken Looper improved with a 1-over 73 in the final round while finishing the championship in a tie for 30th place at 6-over 222, senior Clayton Rotz finished in a tie for 17th place overall at 3-over 219 and freshman Andrew Presley finished in a tie for 25th place at 5-over 221 for the tournament.
While playing as individuals during the event, junior Sang Yi tied for 21st place individually at 4-over par 220, while junior Austin Gutgsell tied for 45th place at 9-over 225.
The Tigers will return to action in just over a week as they make their annual trip to Statesboro, Ga., from March 17-19 to compete in the Schenkel Invitational held at Forest Heights Country Club. The three-day, 54-hole championship is hosted by Georgia Southern University.
LOUISIANA CLASSICS – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. Illinois 288-282-284 – 854 -10; 2. LSU 283-287-290 – 860 -4; 3. Louisiana-Lafayette 290-287-293 – 870 +6; 4. Kent State 295-278-298 – 871 +7; 5. Southeastern Louisiana 291-292-296 – 879 +15; 6. SMU 297-297-288 – 882 +18; T7. Memphis 297-298-289 – 884 +20; T7. Tulsa 294-294-296 – 884 +20; 9. Texas State 294-284-308 – 886 +22; 10. Southern Mississippi 298-294-295 – 887 +23; 11. South Alabama 297-300-293 – 890 +26; T12. Houston 300-291-302 – 893 +29; T12. Kansas 296-294-303 – 893 +29; 14. UAB 292-295-319 – 906 +42; 15. Arkansas-Little Rock 306-300-303 – 909 +45.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. John Hahn, Kent State, 70-66-70 – 206 -10; T2. Andrew Loupe, LSU, 70-70-70 – 210 -6; T2. Luke Guthrie, Illinois, 74-67-69 – 210 -6; T4. Chris DeForest, Illinois, 68-70-74 – 212 -4; T4. Philipp Fendt, Louisiana-Lafayette, 73-69-70 – 212 -4; 6. John Peterson, LSU, 70-71-72 – 213 -3; T7. Arie Fauzi, Tulsa, 74-71-69 – 214 -2; T7. Kelly Kraft, SMU, 74-72-68 – 214 -2; T9. Carlson Cox, Memphis, 72-68-75 – 215 -1; T9. Scott Langley, Illinois, 74-72-69 – 215 -1.
LSU SCORES
T2. Andrew Loupe, 70-70-70 – 210 -6
6. John Peterson, 70-71-72 – 213 -3
T17. Clayton Rotz, 71-72-76 – 219 +3
T21. Sang Yi, 74-73-73 – 220 +4*
T25. Andrew Presley, 72-74-75 – 221 +5
T30. Ken Looper, 74-75-73 – 222 +6
T45. Austin Gutgsell, 79-72-74 – 225 +9*
* – Indicates player competing as an individual