BATON ROUGE – After winning back-to-back team titles at both the Louisiana Classics and Argent Financial Classic in its last two tournament appearances, the 18th-ranked LSU men’s golf squad makes the trip to Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, S.C., this week as the two-time defending team champion at the eighth-annual Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate beginning Sunday.
The opening round of the three-day, 54-hole championship is scheduled for a 9 a.m. CDT start on Sunday followed by the second round on Monday and the third and final round on Tuesday.
The Tigers have dominated a strong 15-team field in taking back-to-back team titles at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate with a one-shot victory in both 2010 and 2011. They won their first tournament title in 2010 with a 54-hole score of 7-under par 845 before defending their crown a year ago with their clinching score of 3-under 849 in three rounds at the par-71 layout at Bulls Bay Golf Club.
LSU is also coming off back-to-back tournament titles in its last two appearances after posting a 17-under par 847 for a 14-shot victory at the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette on March 5-6 and a 4-under par 860 for a seven-shot victory at the Argent Financial Classic in Choudrant, La., on March 11-13.
The Tigers are ranked as high as No. 18 in the national rankings this week, as they must defend their team title against a 15-team field that includes three other teams in this week’s Golfweek/Sagarin Top 25.
The 18th-ranked Tigers are joined in this year’s field by No. 3-ranked Auburn, No. 15-ranked Texas A&M and No. 24-ranked Virginia. Rounding out the field at the eighth Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate is two-time defending NCAA champion Augusta State, College of Charleston, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, NC State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Wake Forest, Wisconsin and Wofford.
Sunday’s first round will likely provide a preview of future SEC Championships as LSU will be joined by South Carolina and Texas A&M in the second front nine wave beginning at 9:50 a.m. CDT.
Live scoring of the event will be provided by Golfstat and can be found online at www.golfstat.com. Fans also receive updates by liking LSU Men’s Golf on Facebook and following @LSUMensGolf on Twitter.
Three Tigers return from the five-man lineup that defended its team crown at the Hootie a year ago with a pair of seniors in Sang Yi and Austin Gutgsell joining sophomore Andrew Presley in leading the Tigers at this year’s championship. Sophomore Smylie Kaufman and freshman Curtis Thompson are also slated for their first collegiate action at Bulls Bay Golf Club this week.
Yi actually fired a 54-hole score of 6-under par 207 to tie for third place on the leaderboard in guiding the Tigers to the team championship as a sophomore in 2010. He followed with a Top 20 finish last season as he carded a 2-over 215 to tie for 17th place in the final individual standings.
A native of Carrollton, Texas, Yi has shown an All-America form during his senior season as he is LSU’s leading scorer with a 71.9 scoring average while earning four top-five and six top-10 finishes on the year.
Yi is off to a fast start to the 2012 spring season as he has earned three-straight Top 10 finishes in guiding the Tigers into the Top 20 of the national rankings. After tying for fourth place overall in LSU’s opener of the spring season at the John Hayt Invitational, Yi claimed a runner-up finish at the Louisiana Classic and a tie for ninth place overall at the Argent Financial Classic in his last two starts.
Presley, who finished in 54th place in his first career appearance at the Hootie as a freshman last season, is in the midst of a breakout sophomore season while posting a 72.7 scoring average in seven starts this year for the Tigers. He also owns two top-five and three top-10 finishes on the campaign.
Gutgsell owns a career-best finish of a tie for 27th place at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate that was set back in 2010 as a member of LSU’s winning lineup.
After defending their team crown at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate this week, the Tigers make the return to the University Club in Baton Rouge next weekend for this year’s LSU National Invitational held March 31-April 1. The Tigers posted a 54-hole team score of 22-over 886 to win the team championship a year ago in the first collegiate event held at the newly-remodeled University Club.