BLACKSBURG, Va. – The No. 2-seeded and No. 8-ranked LSU men’s golf team certainly turned around its fortunes during Friday’s second round of this weekend’s Virginia Tech Regional after firing the lowest team score of the day with a 3-over par 291 at the Pete Dye River Course to move into fifth place.
After wrapping up Thursday’s first round in ninth place in the team standings with a score of 17-over 305, the Tigers slashed 14 shots from their opening effort to catapult themselves into fifth place with a 36-hole score of 20-over 596. LSU is just three shots clear of sixth place Coastal Carolina (599) as it seeks one of the five automatic qualifying spots into the field for the NCAA Championships.
The top five teams in the 13-team field at the Virginia Tech Regional will advance to compete at the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships to be held May 31-June 5 in Stillwater, Okla.
The Tigers are looking to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the second year in a row after earning a fifth-place finish a season ago at the NCAA Central Regional at the Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Ind. LSU went on to finish in 24th place in the team standings at the 2010 NCAA Championships.
No. 1 seed Georgia Tech currently holds a three-shot lead over No. 3 seed Duke with a two-round total of 6-over 582, while No. 5 seed Oklahoma (588) and No. 6 seed Kent State (592) rounds out the top five.
Paving the way for the Tigers to the lowest team score on Friday were senior All-American John Peterson and junior Sang Yi as each will compete for a top-10 finish at the Virginia Tech Regional.
Yi was nearly flawless during his round as he carded five birdies and just two bogeys en route to his third lowest round of the season with a 3-under 69. Certainly the highlight of Yi’s afternoon was a stretch of five holes on the back nine in which he made four birdies at the par-four 11th, par-four 13th, par-three 14th and par-four 15th holes en route to the field’s lowest individual round of the day at 3-under 69.
After opening the tournament with a 4-over 76 in Thursday’s first round, Yi moved up more than 30 spots on the leaderboard from a tie for 36th place into a tie for fifth place at 1-over 145 for the tournament.
Yi is poised for his best career finish in NCAA Regional play in his third career appearance as his best of a tie for 32nd place came at the 2010 NCAA Central Regional Championships.
Peterson moved from a tie for 27th place at the beginning of the round into a tie for 12th place on the board after firing an even-par 72 on Friday afternoon. Peterson is on the verge of his second career top-10 finish in NCAA Regional play after posting a 36-hole score of 3-over 147 at the Pete Dye River Course.
Senior All-American Andrew Loupe, senior Ken Looper and junior Austin Gutgsell each carded matching rounds of 3-over 75 to round out the scoring for the Tigers in the second round. Gutgsell and Loupe are locked in a tie for 38th place overall with matching scores of 8-over 152 for the championship, and Looper follows one shot back in a tie for 45th place with a cumulative score of 9-over 153.
VIRGINIA TECH REGIONAL – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
1. Georgia Tech 289-293 – 582 +6; 2. Duke 295-290 – 585 +9; 3. Oklahoma 296-292 – 588 +12; 4. Kent State 296-296 – 592 +16; 5. LSU 305-291 – 596 +20; 6. Coastal Carolina 299-300 – 599 +23; 7. Virginia Tech 300-300 – 600 +24; 8. Virginia 305-297 – 602 +26; 9. East Carolina 302-304 – 606 +30; 10. Lamar 311-301 – 612 +36; 11. Ole Miss 311-306 – 617 +41; T12. UNC-Wilmington 304-314 – 618 +42; T12. Yale 313-305 – 618 +42.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
T1. Abraham Ancer, Oklahoma, 70-71 – 141 -3; T1. Kyle Scott, Georgia Tech, 68-73 – 141 -3; T3. Josh Brock, UNC-Wilmington, 71-73 – 144 E; T3. James White, Georgia Tech, 73-71 – 144 E; T5. Sang Yi, LSU, 76-69 – 145 +1; T5. Richard Fountain, Davidson, 72-73 – 145 +1; T5. Payne McLeod, UNC-Wilmington, 71-74 – 145 +1; T5. Kevin Miller, Kent State, 74-71 – 145 +1; T5. Sebastian Soderberg, Coastal Carolina, 73-72 – 145 +1; T10. Julian Suri, Duke, 76-70 – 146 +2; T10. Harold Varner, East Carolina, 74-72 – 146 +2.
LSU SCORES
T5. Sang Yi, 76-69 – 145 +1
T12. John Peterson, 75-72 – 147 +3
T38. Austin Gutgsell, 77-75 – 152 +8
T38. Andrew Loupe, 77-75 – 152 +8
T45. Ken Looper, 78-75 – 153 +9