STILLWATER, Okla. – After racing out to a fast start in Tuesday’s opening round of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships, the No. 10-seeded LSU men’s golf team posted a first-round score of 18-over par 306 to finish the day tied for 23rd place in the event being held at Karsten Creek Golf Club.
Senior Andrew Loupe and junior Austin Gutgsell each opened with eagle 3s on the par-five first hole with junior Sang Yi adding a birdie to lead the Tigers to a 3-under par team score through the first three holes.
Yi then added back-to-back birdies on the par-four fifth and sixth holes, before making the turn at 2-under par 34 for his round following a bogey at the par-three seventh hole. Yi followed with a 6-over 42 on the back nine en route to an opening-round score of 4-over 76 to finish the day in a tie for 75th place overall.
It was senior John Peterson who rebounded from a difficult 6-over par 42 on the front nine with a brilliant 4-under 32 on the back nine to lead the way for the Tigers in the first round of this year’s tournament with a 2-over 74. Peterson carded a team-high five birdies coming in for the back nine, after picking up strokes at the 10th, 11th, 14th, 16th and 18th holes to finish his first round in a tie for 47th place on the leaderboard.
Loupe added a 5-over 77 to finish the day in a tie for 90th place, while fellow senior Ken Looper shot a 7-over 79 toward LSU’s team score to wrap up Tuesday’s competition in a tie for 121st place. Gutgsell went out in 2-over 38 and came back in with a 7-over 43 en route to a 9-over par score of 81.
LSU will look to rebound in Wednesday’s second round and Thursday’s third round of medal play as they compete for a top-eight finish in 54 holes to advance to the match play tournament for the national title.
Georgia Tech jumped out to an early three-stroke lead after the first round as the Yellow Jackets fired a 5-under 283 at the difficult par-72 layout at Karsten Creek Golf Club. UCLA was the only other squad in the 30-team field to break par in the opening round as it posted a 2-under 286 to finish the round just three strokes behind the Yellow Jackets in second place in the team standings.
Rounding out the current top eight of the team standings after the first round are Alabama in third place at even-par 288; Texas A&M in fourth place at 1-over 289; Georgia, Illinois and Ohio State in a tie for fifth place at 3-over 291 and tournament host and No. 1 seed Oklahoma State in eighth place at 4-over 292.
Georgia Tech star James White fired an opening-round 5-under par 67 to take a one stroke advantage over Texas A&M’s Cameron Peck in the race for the NCAA individual championship.
The Tigers will play as part of the morning wave in Wednesday’s second round as they will tee it up with Georgia and Texas on the back nine beginning at 8:10 a.m. CDT. The NCAA will provide live scoring for both the second and third rounds on its website at www.NCAA.com.
NCAA MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 288)
1. Georgia Tech 283 -5; 2. UCLA 286 -2; 3. Alabama 288 E; 4. Texas A&M 289 +1; T5. Georgia 291 +3; T5. Illinois 291 +3; T5. Ohio State 291 +3; 8. Oklahoma State 292 +4; 9. Augusta State 294 +6; T10. Kennesaw State 295 +7; T10. San Diego State 295 +7; 12. Arkansas 296 +8; 13. Texas 299 +11; T14. California 300 +12; T14. Florida 300 +12; T14. San Diego 300 +12; 17. Arizona 302 +14; T18. Arizona State 303 +15; T18. Duke 303 +15; T18. Southern California 303 +15; T21. Iowa 304 +16; T21. Kent State 304 +16; T23. LSU 306 +18; T23. Northwestern 306 +18; T25. Colorado State 307 +19; T25. Michigan 307 +19; 27. Tennessee 308 +20; 28. Pepperdine 309 +21; 29. NC State 310 +22; 30. Oklahoma 313 +25.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 72)
1. James White, Georgia Tech, 67 -5; 2. Cameron Peck, Texas A&M, 68 -4; T3. Patrick Reed, Augusta State, 69 -3; T3. J.J. Spaun, San Diego State, 69 -3; T5. Bud Cauley, Alabama, 70 -2; T5. Austin Cook, Arkansas, 70 -2; T5. Harris English, Georgia, 70 -2; T5. Jace Long, Missouri, 70 -2; T9. Pedro Figueiredo, UCLA, 71 -1; T9. Paul Haley, Georgia Tech, 71 -1; T9. Hunter Hamrick, Alabama, 71 -1; T9. Bo Hoag, Ohio State, 71 -1; T9. Alex Kim, UCLA, 71 -1; T9. Mitchell Krywulycz, Augusta State, 71 -1; T9. Manav Shah, San Diego, 71 -1; T9. Ryan Sirman, Oklahoma, 71 -1; T9. Hudson Swafford, Georgia, 71 -1; T9. Michael Weaver, California, 71 -1.
LSU SCORES
T47. John Peterson, 74 +2
T75. Sang Yi, 76 +4
T90. Andrew Loupe, 77 +5
T121. Ken Looper, 79 +7
T134. Austin Gutgsell, 81 +9