PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tiger senior Sang Yi wrapped up the 2012 John Hayt Invitational on Tuesday afternoon with a score of 2-over par 74 in the final round to claim his third top-five finish for the season with a total of 2-under par 214 at Sawgrass Country Club to tie for fourth place on the leaderboard.
Yi carded a 2-over 74 on Tuesday after opening the championship with a score of 5-under 67 in Sunday’s first round and 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round to finish as the top Tiger during the event.
The senior from Carrollton, Texas, led the 14th-ranked LSU men’s golf team to an eighth-place finish in the final team standings, as the Tigers wrapped up the event with a team score of 3-over 291 for a 54-hole score of 23-over 887 at the par-72 layout at Sawgrass Country Club.
The No. 7-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks captured the team title with a final score of 8-over par 872, which includes the score of 7-under par 281 in Tuesday’s final round. The No. 19-ranked Central Florida Golden Knights followed four shots back in second place at 12-over 876 for the championship.
Second-round leader Julien Brun of TCU claimed a one-stroke victory over teammate Johan de Beer after firing posting an even-par 72 in the final round for a winning score of 5-under 211 on the leaderboard.
“I was very pleased with Sang’s play this week. To go out and finish top five on a challenging course like this at Sawgrass speaks well of where his game is at right now,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “I think it shows the difference in his play so far this year from where it has been in the past. We’ll need that type of leadership at the top as our young team continues to make strides this spring.
“We’ll have an opportunity to play everybody these next few weeks. We’re looking for some guys to step out and take on more of a leadership role with this team. We need some of these young guys to take on that kind of a role if we’re going to have the type of finish we want to the season.”
With his performance at this year’s John Hayt Invitational, Yi captured his third top-five finish and fourth top-10 finish of the campaign in his sixth tournament start.
Yi nearly equaled his best finish of the season when he tied for third place at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic with his career-low score of 5-under par 211 in LSU’s season opener.
Sophomore Franco Castro was the only Tiger to break par during the final round as he matched his season best with a score of 1-under par 71 to climb into a tie for 36th place on the final leaderboard with a 54-hole score of 8-over 224. Castro opened his sophomore season with a score of 1-under par 71 in the first round at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic held at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Ga.
Sophomore Andrew Presley and freshman Curtis Thompson each carded rounds of 1-over 73 on Tuesday as Presley tied for 27th place at 7-over par 223 and Thompson tied for 63rd place at 14-over par 230. Sophomore Smylie Kaufman finished in a tie for 49th place at 11-over par 227 for the week.
“We’ve got to clean up our play around the greens and on the greens,” Winstead said. “We were unable to really capitalize on some of our opportunities this week and score like I know we’re capable. That is what we can really work on going forward. We saw some better play today, which is a good sign. But we really had too many unforced errors this week that led to some higher scores.
“We just didn’t finish it off the way we could have each round. Three or four shots makes a big difference in a field like this. We definitely saw that in how it played out in each of the three rounds.”
The Tigers are set to make their return to the state of the Louisiana for each of their next two tournaments, as they will appear in the Louisiana Classics at Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette from March 5-6 and the Argent Financial Classic at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant from March 11-13.
JOHN HAYT INVITATIONAL – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. Arkansas 299-292-281 – 872 +8; 2. Central Florida 294-294-288 – 876 +12; 3. North Florida 300-295-282 – 877 +13; 4. Coastal Carolina 296-302-285 – 883 +19; T5. North Texas 298-293-294 – 885 +21; T5. TCU 300-293-292 – 885 +21; 7. Tennessee 295-296-295 – 886 +22; 8. LSU 298-298-291 – 887 +23; 9. Jacksonville 300-297-291 – 888 +24; T10. UAB 307-293-292 – 892 +28; T10. Tulsa 304-293-295 – 892 +28; 12. Ole Miss 300-306-294 – 900 +36; 13. Georgia Southern 316-292-299 – 907 +43; 14. Furman 306-306-296 – 908 +44; 15. Mercer 309-308-293 – 910 +46.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Julien Brun, TCU, 68-71-72 – 211 -5; 2. Johan de Beer, TCU, 68-72-72 – 212 -4; 3. Ethan Tracy, Arkansas, 74-71-68 – 213 -3; T4. Sang Yi, LSU, 67-73-74 – 214 -2; T4. Sebastian Soderberg, Coastal Carolina, 68-73-73 – 214 -2; T6. Jay Vandeventer, Tennessee, 72-70-73 – 215 -1; T6. Kevin Phelan, North Florida, 73-72-70 – 215 -1; T8. Kevin Aylwin, North Florida, 74-73-69 – 216 E; T8. Brad Schneider, Central Florida, 71-73-72 – 216 E; T10. Bobby Fredeking, Jacksonville, 74-75-68 – 217 +1; T10. Jamey Salmon, Jacksonville, 71-72-74 – 217 +1.
LSU SCORES
T4. Sang Yi, 67-73-74 – 214 -2
T27. Andrew Presley, 75-75-73 – 223 +7
T36. Franco Castro, 77-76-71 – 224 +8
T49. Smylie Kaufman, 79-74-74 – 227 +11
T63. Curtis Thompson, 80-77-73 – 230 +14