BATON ROUGE – The No. 18-ranked LSU men’s golf team looks to build momentum following its victory at the Louisiana Classics earlier this week when it makes the trip to Choudrant, La., on Sunday for an appearance at Louisiana Tech’s third-annual Argent Financial Classic at Squire Creek Country Club.
The Tigers enjoyed a record-setting performance at Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette on Monday and Tuesday as they fired a 17-under par 847 in three rounds to take the Louisiana Classics team crown with a 14-shot victory with their lowest team tournament score in nearly three decades.
LSU sophomore Andrew Presley also captured his first collegiate tournament title in leading the Tigers to the team victory with his career-low 54-hole score of 10-under par 206.
The Tigers look to continue their momentum at the Argent Financial Classic as the tournament is slated to begin Sunday with the first round, followed by the second round Monday and the last round Tuesday. The course will play to a par 72 and 7,105 yards for the three-day, 54-hole championship.
LSU joins a nine-team field at Squire Creek Country Club this week as they will compete alongside teams such as tournament host Louisiana Tech, Arkansas-Little Rock, Jacksonville State, Middle Tennessee State, Missouri State, Rice, Southern Mississippi and Texas-San Antonio.
The Tigers will tee off for Sunday’s first round ranked No. 18 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index Top 25 and No. 20 in the current Golfstat Top 25 power ranking released this week.
The Tigers are paired with Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee State in Sunday’s opening round for the event as they will tee off in the final wave off the front nine beginning at 10:20 a.m. CT.
Live scoring of the tournament will be provided by Golfstat and can be found online at www.golfstat.com for each of the three rounds. Fans can also get live updates of the Tigers playing at the Argent Financial Classic by liking LSU Men’s Golf on Facebook and following @LSUMensGolf on Twitter. Full recaps of each round of the tournament will also be posted online at LSUsports.net.
Middle Tennessee State is the defending team champion at the Argent Financial Classic after claiming the team title in 2011 with a winning 54-hole score of 4-over par 868.
LSU head coach Chuck Winstead has elected to compete with the same five-man lineup that captured first place in the final team standings at the Louisiana Classics on Monday and Tuesday as Presley is joined by senior Austin Gutgsell, senior Sang Yi, sophomore Landon Lyons and freshman Curtis Thompson for this year’s Argent Financial Classic. Four Tigers are also scheduled to play as individuals this week, including sophomores Franco Castro and Smylie Kaufman and freshmen Stewart Jolly and Myles Lewis.
Presley is the reigning Southeastern Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week following his medalist victory at the Louisiana Classics after firing rounds of 4-under 68, 4-under 68 and 2-under 70 for his final total of 10-under par 206 in the event held at Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette.
While Presley claimed medalist honors at the Louisiana Classics, Yi also secured his best collegiate finish Tuesday, as he finished three shots off the pace in sole possession of second place on the leaderboard with a career-low 54-hole score of 7-under par 209 during the event.
After competing at the Argent Financial Classic this week, the Tigers will return to action in two weeks as they open defense of their team championship at this year’s Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate being held March 25-27 at Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, S.C. They will then return to Baton Rouge to play host to the LSU National Invitational at the University Club on March 31-April 1.