CHOUDRANT, La. – While playing as an individual for the 18th-ranked LSU men’s golf team this week at Louisiana Tech’s third-annual Argent Financial Classic, sophomore Smylie Kaufman fired a career-low 7-under par 65 in Sunday’s opening round at Squire Creek Country Club to take an early three-stroke lead on the leaderboard in the chase for the individual championship.
Senior All-SEC and All-America candidate Sang Yi finished in red figures for the fourth-straight round in leading LSU’s five-man lineup with his score of 2-under par 70 on Sunday afternoon.
Yi paced the Tigers to a team score of 4-over 292 to wrap up the first round in a tie for second place in the team standings with Middle Tennessee State. Tournament host Louisiana Tech posted a leading team total of even-par 288 to finish the day four shots clear of the Tigers and Blue Raiders in the team race.
Kaufman was brilliant in carding nine birdies with just two bogeys in his opening round. After making his first birdie of the day at the par-three third hole, Kaufman reeled off a string of five-straight birdies on holes Nos. 7-11 to drop to 6-under par on the day. He then dropped to 7-under par with a birdie at the par-four 13th hole, before trading consecutive bogeys at the par-four 14th and 15th holes with birdies at the par-three 16th hole and par-five 17th hole en route to his career-low score of 7-under 65.
Kaufman finished the day with a three-shot lead over the opening-round score of 4-under 68 fired by Brad Simons of Middle Tennessee State. Yi followed in third place with his opening score of 2-under 70.
As the leading individual, Kaufman is scheduled to tee off at 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning as he is ready to extend his three-shot lead while pursuing his first collegiate championship.
Yi now owns a string of four-straight rounds under par after firing scores of 1-under 71, 5-under 67 and 1-under 71 in his second-place finish at the Louisiana Classics a week ago. That earned Yi his best finish as an LSU Tiger with a career-low 54-hole tournament score of 7-under 209.
Each of the other four members of LSU’s five-man lineup posted matching scores of 2-over 74 on Sunday to kick off this year’s Argent Financial Classic as senior Austin Gutgsell, sophomore Landon Lyons, sophomore Andrew Presley and freshman Stewart Jolly finished in the day in a tie for 21st place overall in the individual standings. With their effort, the Tigers opened with a score of 4-over par 292.
Sophomore Franco Castro and freshman Myles Lewis fired 2-over 74s of their own to tie their teammates for 21st place on the leaderboard, while freshman Curtis Thompson added an opening total of 3-over 75 to finish the day in a tie for 29th place overall while also playing as an individual.
The Tigers are paired with Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee State in Monday’s second round as they tee off from the front nine with tee times beginning at 10:20 a.m. CDT. Live scoring for the second round of the Argent Financial Classic is provided by Golfstat and can be found online at www.golfstat.com.
ARGENT FINANCIAL CLASSIC – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 288)
1. Louisiana Tech 288 E; T2. LSU 292 +4; T2. Middle Tennessee State 292 +4; 4. Arkansas-Little Rock 297 +9; T5. Southern Mississippi 299 +11; T5. Missouri State 299 +11; 7. Texas-San Antonio 301 +13; 8. Jacksonville State 303 +15; 9. Rice 310 +22.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 72)
1. Smylie Kaufman, LSU, 65 -7*; 2. Brad Simons, Middle Tennessee State, 68 -4; 3. Sang Yi, LSU, 70 -2; T4. Derek Plucienski, Southern Mississippi, 71 -1; T4. Alfonso Otoya, Jacksonville State, 71 -1; T4. Sam Forgan, Louisiana Tech, 71 -1; T4. Cody Blankenship, Louisiana Tech, 71 -1; T4. Dylan Shepard, Jacksonville State, 71 -1*; T9. Ryan Werre, Texas-San Antonio, 72 E; T9. Jeff Wibawa, Rice, 72 E; T9. Nicklaus Benton, Arkansas-Little Rock, 72 E; T9. Jordan McLaurin, Missouri State, 72 E; T9. Cody Santone, Louisiana Tech, 72 E; T9. Tomasz Anderson, Jacksonville State, 72 E; T9. Alfred Kerstis, Arkansas-Little Rock, 72 E.
LSU SCORES
1. Smylie Kaufman, 65 -7*
3. Sang Yi, 70 -2
T21. Franco Castro, 74 +2*
T21. Austin Gutgsell, 74 +2
T21. Stewart Jolly, 74 +2
T21. Myles Lewis, 74 +2*
T21. Landon Lyons, 74 +2
T21. Andrew Presley, 74 +2
T29. Curtis Thompson, 75 +3*
* – Denotes player competing as an individual.