ROCKY FACE, Ga. – Junior Stewart Jolly fired an even-par 72 in his opening round of the 2013 fall season to guide the No. 9-ranked LSU men’s golf team into a tie for sixth place overall with a team score of 9-over par 297 on the first day of competition at the 25th-annual Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic played Friday at The Farm Golf Club.
Jolly cracked the Top 10 of the leaderboard in a tie for 10th place with six other golfers while posting a team-best even-par 72 in the opening round of the championship.
Jolly, who earned a career-best four top-10 finishes during his sophomore season a year ago, leveled his round with three birdies at the par-four third, par-five 15th and par-four 17th holes with a bogey at the par-four sixth hole and a double bogey at the par-four 16th hole for a strong opening to his junior campaign on Friday.
The Tigers wrapped up the day in a tie for sixth place with Kennesaw State with matching scores of 9-over par 297 as they find themselves 17 shots off the pace set by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Georgia Tech was the only squad in the 14-team field to break par during Friday’s action with a team score of 8-under par 280 to sprint out to a 10-shot lead over North Carolina in second place with two rounds to go for the championship. The Tar Heels posted a team score of 2-over 290, followed by Georgia in third place at 3-over 291, Clemson in fourth place at 6-over 294 and North Florida in fifth place at 7-over 295.
Three Yellow Jackets find themselves among the top three of the leaderboard after the first day as All-American Ollie Schniederjans fired a 5-under 67 to grab a three-shot lead over North Carolina’s Bailey Patrick. Also breaking par for the Yellow Jackets were Anders Albertson and Richy Werenski, who fired matching scores of 2-under 70 to finish the day in a tie for third place.
Also joining Jolly in LSU’s five-man lineup in their season-opening round were seniors Smylie Kaufman and Andrew Presley, junior Curtis Thompson and sophomore Zach Wright.
Kaufman posted a 2-over 74 in his opening round of the 2013 fall season to finish the day in a tie for 23rd place, while Thompson followed in a tie for 33rd place at 3-over 75 and Presley added a 4-over 76 toward the total to tie for 43rd place on the leaderboard. Wright rounded out the scoring for the Tigers with a 5-over 77 to tie for 49th place on Friday afternoon.
The Tigers are paired with Clemson and North Florida in Saturday’s second round at the 25th-annual Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic as they will tee off from the front nine beginning at 8:50 a.m. CT. Live scoring for both the second and third rounds of the tournament will be provided by Golfstat and can be found online at www.golfstat.com.
CARPET CAPITAL COLLEGIATE CLASSIC – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 288)
1. Georgia Tech 280 -8; 2. North Carolina 290 +2; 3. Georgia 291 +3; 4. Clemson 294 +6; 5. North Florida 295 +7; T6. LSU 297 +9; T6. Kennesaw State 297 +9; T8. Middle Tennessee State 298 +10; T8. Texas 298 +10; 10. Auburn 299 +11; 11. Wake Forest 301 +13; 12. South Carolina 302 +14; T13. Chattanooga 306 +18; T13. Tennessee 306 +18.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 72)
1. Ollie Schniederjans, Georgia Tech, 67 -5; 2. Bailey Patrick, North Carolina, 68 -4; T3. Anders Albertson, Georgia Tech, 70 -2; T3. Richy Werenski, Georgia Tech, 70 -2; Davis Bunn, Chattanooga, 71 -1; T5. Payne Denham, Middle Tennessee State, 71 -1; T5. Joey Garber, Georgia, 71 -1; T5. Gavin Hall, Texas, 71 -1; T5. Austin Langdale, Clemson, 71 -1; T10. Stewart Jolly, LSU, 72 E; T10. Jimmy Beck, Kennesaw State, 72 E; T10. Michael Cromie, Georgia, 72 E; T10. Henry Do, North Carolina, 72 E; T10. Matt Gilchrest, Auburn, 72 E; T10. Lee McCoy, Georgia, 72 E; T10. Carlos Segura Oliva, Kennesaw State, 72 E.
LSU SCORES
T10. Stewart Jolly, 72 E
T23. Smylie Kaufman, 74 +2
T33. Curtis Thompson, 75 +3
T43. Andrew Presley, 76 +4
T49. Zach Wright, 77 +5