BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s golf program continues to stockpile some of the nation’s top talent on the recruiting trail under seventh-year head coach Chuck Winstead as the Tigers have signed three elite recruits from across the country to National Letters of Intent for the Class of 2012.
John Jonas of Jacksonville, Fla., Chuck Spears of Pineville, La., and Zach Wright of Phoenix, Ariz., have each signed with the Tigers and will be eligible to compete during the 2012 fall season.
Winstead has inked one of the premier signing classes in the country again this season as each new recruit is ranked among the nation’s Top 100 prep prospects for the signing Class of 2012.
“We’re excited to welcome another strong class of recruits that is sure to make an impact on this program in the coming years,” Winstead said. “Each one of these three young men embodies everything we expect from a student-athlete who represents our program and this University. We’re fortunate they have decided to continue their athletic and academic pursuits with us here at LSU.”
Wright signs with LSU as the No. 8-ranked recruit in the country for the signing Class of 2012 in the Polo Junior Golf Rankings, while he is also ranked as the No. 12 recruit nationally for the National Junior Golf Scoreboard and No. 17 prospect in the country in the Golfweek Junior Rankings.
Wright is coming off a strong summer season in which he captured a fourth-place finish at the 36th Junior PGA Championship held at Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Ind.
After jumping out to a five-shot lead after 36 holes at the 2011 Junior PGA Championship with rounds of 6-under 66 in the first round and 3-under 69 in the second round, Wright then fired rounds of 5-over 77 in the third round and 1-over 73 in the final round to take fourth place with a total score of 3-under 285.
A product of Pinnacle High School and the No. 1-ranked recruit in Arizona, Wright most recently claimed the 2011 Arizona Class 1A individual state championship on Oct. 29 while shattering the all-time tourney record with a winning score of 15-under par 125 for 36 holes, including rounds of 8-under 62 and 7-under 63 in the event held at Dell Urich Golf Course in Tucson.
In 2010, Wright enjoyed his run to the Sweet 16 in the match play competition at the United States Junior Amateur Championship held at Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, Mich., after tying for 20th place on the leaderboard in stroke play qualifying with a score of 2-under 142. He has actually competed in each of the last two U.S. Junior Amateur Championships with appearances in 2010 and 2011.
An experienced member of the American Junior Golf Association, Wright followed the 2010 campaign in which he was named an AJGA Rolex Junior Honorable Mention All-American with an impressive season in 2011 in which he was honored as an AJGA Rolex Junior First-Team All-American for his performance as one of the nation’s premier players. He won his first career AJGA title at the 2011 Winn Grips Heather Farr Classic in Mesa, Ariz., while earning 10 career Top 10 finishes as an AJGA participant.
Spears has inked with LSU as the consensus No. 1-ranked recruit in the state of Louisiana and the No. 58-ranked prep prospect in the country for the Class of 2012 by the National Junior Golf Scoreboard.
A product of Alexandria Senior High School, Spears is just the third junior golfer in state history to claim back-to-back Louisiana Golf Association Junior Amateur Championships with wins in 2010 and 2011. He fired a tournament record 12-under par 204 to capture his second-straight title this summer.
Spears is also a standout performer as a member of the Arrowhead Junior Golf Tour, capturing six wins in the last two seasons while posting a scoring average of 69.3 strokes per round.
Like Wright and Spears, Jonas is also ranked among the premier prep players in the country this season as the No. 59-ranked recruit nationally by the National Junior Golf Scoreboard and the No. 80-ranked recruit in the country in the Polo Junior Golf Rankings for the Class of 2012.
Jonas was impressive with his performance at the 2010 Jones Cup Junior Invitational last December as he earned a ninth-place finish on the leaderboard in the event held at the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga., which is also the host site of the SEC Men’s Golf Championships.
A two-year co-captain of the squad at The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Jonas tied for third place overall on the leaderboard at the 2011 Florida Class 1A State Championships while leading his team to the state title at Deer lake Golf Club in Tavares, Fla. That victory snapped a 72-year drought with the school’s first state championship on the golf course since 1939 as Jonas fired a 2-under par 142 for 36 holes.
Jonas is also an active member of the AJGA while earning a trio of Top 10 finishes in AJGA events in the last two seasons and competing in many of the tour’s premier events across the country.
LSU’s Class of 2012 will help form a talented 10-man roster next fall as all 10 Tigers were ranked among the nation’s Top 100 recruits in their respective classes, including sophomores Franco Castro, Smylie Kaufman, Landon Lyons and Andrew Presley and freshmen Stewart Jolly, Myles Lewis and Curtis Thompson.