STILLWATER, Okla. – In what was nearly a flawless round of golf in Wednesday’s second round of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships, LSU senior John Peterson fired a competitive course record 7-under par 65 at Karsten Creek Golf Club to catapult himself 47 spots up the leaderboard into sole possession of first place in the chase for the national championship.
After wrapping up Tuesday’s first round in a tie for 47th place on the leaderboard with a modest 2-over 74 to lead the Tigers, Peterson followed with a career-low 7-under par 65 in the second round to overtake the first-round leader James White of Georgia Tech with his 36-hole score of 5-under 139.
Peterson will take a one-stroke lead over White into Thursday’s final round as the Yellow Jacket standout followed his leading 5-under 67 in the first round with a 1-over 73 in the second round to trail by one.
Also in contention for this year’s NCAA crown is a trio of golfers at 3-under par 141, including Georgia’s Harris English, Illinois’ Luke Guthrie and UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay. Five other golfers trail Peterson by three strokes at 2-under par 142 for the national championship, including the nation’s No. 1-ranked player in Peter Uihlein of Oklahoma State. Cantlay, Guthrie and Uihlein each fired a 3-under 69 on Wednesday.
“I played well out there today. I don’t really know what else to say except that I had control of my ball all day,” Peterson said. “I got it to where I knew where the ball was going to fly and how far it was going to release. When you feel like that, you can take it right at the hole or in the spot where it needs to be to give yourself the best chance to make a putt. It all came together today. It feels good to do that at this course.”
Peterson was perfect for the day in hitting 14-of-14 fairways, and nearly perfect in hitting 16-of-18 greens en route to the lowest round in one of the most prolific careers by a member of the LSU golf program.
After teeing off from the 10th tee to start the round, Peterson quickly dropped to 3-under par for the day as he made birdie at the par-four 12th hole and an eagle 3 at the par-five 14th hole. He went out in 5-under for his front nine following a pair of birdies at the par-four 16th and par-five 18th holes. After stumbling with a bogey 6 on the par-five first hole with his only bogey of the day, Peterson then made back-to-back birdies at the par-four fourth and fifth holes and the par-five ninth hole en route to a sparkling 7-under 65.
Peterson’s run through the first two rounds at Karsten Creek Golf Club is remarkable, considering his first nine holes of the opening round were played at 6-over par. He has since played at 11-under through the 27 holes since making the turn in Tuesday’s first-round action at the difficult par-72 layout.
A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Peterson has put himself in position for back-to-back top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships after tying for sixth place at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 2010.
This year’s NCAA individual champion will be crowned following Thursday’s third round of stroke play. The top eight teams in the final 54-hole team standings will then move on to this year’s single elimination match play tournament to determine the 2011 NCAA team champion. The NCAA championship match is set to be played Sunday at noon CDT between the two teams earning two victories through match play.
The last time an LSU golfer was crowned the individual NCAA champion was Earl Stewart back in 1941, while Fred Haas, Jr., was the first to accomplish the feat during the 1937 season finale.
“Today, I knew I had to go low,” Peterson said. “I had to dig myself out of it after that opening 42. What I did was just tell myself, ‘Tomorrow is going to be tough. If you’re going to shoot a low number, you have to do it today or else you’ll just be hanging on.’ I wanted to come back and play well today.”
On the strength of Peterson’s performance, the No. 9-ranked and No. 10-seeded Tigers moved into the top 20 of the team standings after opening the second round of the competition in a tie for 23rd place. The club posted a score of 6-over 294 to end the day in a tie for 19th place with a 36-hole score of 24-over 600.
LSU junior Austin Gutgsell bounced back from a 9-over 81 in the first round with a 3-over par 75 through the second round to move into a tie for 117th place in the individual standings at 12-over 156.
Seniors Ken Looper and Andrew Loupe adding matching 5-over 77s toward LSU’s final team score in the second round of 6-over 294. Loupe will enter the final round of stroke play on Thursday in a tie for 93rd place at 10-over 154, while Looper will tee off in a tie with Gutgsell for 117th place at 12-over 156. Junior Sang Yi recorded an 11-over 83 on Wednesday for a score of 15-over 159 to tie for 130th place.
The Tigers will need to come out firing in the final round of stroke play if they hope to pick up a top-eight finish after 54 holes and earn a spot in the match play tournament for the national championship.
While finishing the second round in a tie for 19th place at 24-over 600, LSU is 11 shots out of eighth place in the current team standings. Ohio State and Texas A&M are currently in a tie for the No. 8 position after matching one another with 36-hole scores of 14-over 590.
Georgia Tech holds a narrow one-stroke lead over UCLA after two rounds of stroke play as the two teams are locked in a tight battle for the No. 1 overall seed in match play. The Yellow Jackets are at 3-under 573 with the Bruins following closely behind at 2-under 574. Rounding out the top eight in the team standings are Illinois (578), Georgia (579), Alabama (580), Oklahoma State (585) and Augusta State (588).
The Tigers will play in the first wave off the front nine during Thursday’s final round of stroke play as the team will tee off alongside Texas and Northwestern beginning at 7:30 a.m. Live scoring of the third round will be provided by the NCAA on its official website at www.NCAA.com.
NCAA MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
1. Georgia Tech 283-290 – 573 -3; 2. UCLA 286-288 – 574 -2; 3. Illinois 291-287 – 578 +2; 4. Georgia 291-288 – 579 +3; 5. Alabama 288-292 – 580 +4; 6. Oklahoma State 292-293 – 585 +9; 7. Augusta State 294-294 – 588 +12; T8. Ohio State 291-299 – 590 +14; T8. Texas A&M 289-301 – 590 +14; 10. Southern California 303-289 – 592 +16; 11. Arkansas 296-298 – 594 +18; T12. Arizona State 303-293 – 596 +20; T12. Duke 303-293 – 596 +20; T12. Iowa 304-292 – 596 +20; T12. San Diego State 295-301 – 596 +20; T16. Florida 300-299 – 599 +23; T16. California 300-299 – 599 +23; T16. Michigan 307-292 – 599 +23; T19. LSU 306-294 – 600 +24; T19. Texas 299-301 – 600 +24; 21. Northwestern 306-296 – 602 +26; 22. San Diego 300-304 – 604 +28; 23. Kent State 304-302 – 606 +30; T24. Tennessee 308-299 – 607 +31; T24. Kennesaw State 295-312 – 607 +31; 26. Arizona 302-310 – 612 +36; 27. Oklahoma 313-304 – 617 +41; 28. NC State 310-308 – 618 +42; 29. Pepperdine 309-310 – 619 +43; 30. Colorado State 307-322 – 629 +53.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. John Peterson, LSU, 74-65 – 139 -5; 2. James White, Georgia Tech, 67-73 – 140 -4; T3. Patrick Cantlay, UCLA, 72-69 –141 -3; T3. Harris English, Georgia, 70-71 – 141 -3; T3. Luke Guthrie, Illinois, 72-69 – 141 -3; T6. Lion Kim, Michigan, 72-70 – 142 -2; T6. Gregor Main, UCLA, 72-70 – 142 -2; T6. Cameron Peck, Texas A&M, 68-74 – 142 -2; T6. Peter Uihlein, Oklahoma State, 73-69 – 142 -2; T6. Michael Weaver, California, 71-71 – 142 -2.
LSU SCORES
1. John Peterson, 74-65 – 139 -5
T93. Andrew Loupe, 77-77 – 154 +10
T117. Austin Gutgsell, 81-75 – 156 +12
T117. Ken Looper, 79-77 – 156 +12
T130. Sang Yi, 76-83 – 159 +15