PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – After opening the 2012 John Hayt Invitational with a career-low 5-under par 67 in Sunday’s first round, Tiger senior Sang Yi fired a 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round to finish the day just one shot out of the lead in LSU’s spring opener being held at Sawgrass Country Club.
Yi led the Tigers to their second-straight team score of 10-over par 298 for a 36-hole score of 20-over 596 en route to a seventh-place finish in the 15-team field following the second round.
The 14th-ranked Tigers find themselves eight shots off the pace as 19th-ranked Central Florida holds a lead with back-to-back rounds of 6-over 294 for a two-round total of 12-over 588. The Tigers are also just five shots out of second place as No. 7 Arkansas, North Texas and Tennessee are in a tie for second place with matching team scores of 15-over par 591 at Sawgrass Country Club.
After carding seven birdies in the first round, Yi posted red figures just twice Monday with back-to-back birdies on the par-four seventh and par-five eighth holes to climb back to even-par for his round following two bogeys in his first three holes at the par-four first and par-three third holes.
Yi then made one bogey on his back nine at the par-four 13th hole along with eight pars en route to a score of 1-over 73 on the day and a 36-hole score of 4-under par 140 for the championship.
With his performance, Yi has put himself in a position to claim his first collegiate victory as a Tiger while owning a career best finish of a tie for third place on the final leaderboard at the 2010 Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate as a sophomore and the 2011 Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic back in the fall.
Yi trails TCU’s Julien Brun by one stroke heading into the final round as the Horned Frog standout as two rounds of 4-under 68 and 1-undre 71 for a 36-hole score of 5-under 139. Yi is currently in a tie for second place overall with TCU’s Johan de Beer at 4-under 140. Sebastian Soderberg of Coastal Carolina trails by two shots in fourth place, followed by Jay Vandeventer of Tennessee in fifth place at 2-undre 142.
Tiger sophomore Andrew Presley has fired back-to-back rounds of 3-over 75 to finish Monday’s action in a tie for 30th place on the leaderboard at 6-over 150 for the championship.
Sophomores Franco Castro and Smylie Kaufman are currently tied for 48th place with matching scores for the event at 9-over 153. Kaufman trailed Yi with the squad’s second-lowest round of the day at 2-over 74. Freshman Curtis Thompson is currently in a tie for 68th place overall at 13-over 157.
The Tigers are paired with Jacksonville and Tulsa in Tuesday’s final round as they are set to tee off on the front nine beginning at 7 a.m. CT. Live scoring of the final round can be seen online at www.golfstat.com and live updates of the Tigers can be found by following @LSUMensGolf on Twitter.
JOHN HAYT INVITATIONAL – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
1. Central Florida 294-294 – 588 +12; T2. North Texas 298-293 – 591 +15; T2. Arkansas 299-292 – 591 +15; T2. Tennessee 295-296 – 591 +15; 5. TCU 300-293 – 593 +17; 6. North Florida 300-295 – 595 +19; 7. LSU 298-298 – 596 +20; T8. Jacksonville 300-297 – 597 +21; T8. Tulsa 304-293 – 597 +21; 10. Coastal Carolina 296-302 – 598 +22; 11. UAB 307-298 – 600 +24; 12. Ole Miss 300-306 – 606 +30; 13. Georgia Southern 316-292 – 608 +32; 14. Furman 306-306 – 612 +36; 15. Mercer 309-308 – 617 +41.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. Julien Brun, TCU, 68-71 – 139 -5; T2. Sang Yi, LSU, 67-73 – 140 -4; T2. Johan de Beer, TCU, 68-72 – 140 -4; 4. Sebastian Soderberg, Coastal Carolina, 68-73 – 141 -3; 5. Jay Vandeventer, Tennessee, 72-70 – 142 -2; 6. Jamey Salmon, Jacksonville, 71-72 – 143 -1; T7. Rodolfo Cazaubon, North Texas, 71-73 – 144 E; T7. Brad Schneider, Central Florida, 71-73 – 144 E; T7. Scott Wolfes, Georgia Southern, 75-69 – 144 E; T10. Paul Dunne, UAB, 74-71 – 145 +1; T10. Kevin Phelan, North Florida, 73-72 – 145 +1; T10. Ethan Tracy, Arkansas, 74-71 – 145 +1.
LSU SCORES
T2. Sang Yi, 67-73 – 140 -4
T30. Andrew Presley, 75-75 – 150 +6
T48. Franco Castro, 77-76 – 153 +9
T48. Smylie Kaufman, 79-74 – 153 +9
T68. Curtis Thompson, 80-77 – 157 +13