BATON ROUGE – The No. 9-ranked LSU men’s golf team has made their return trip to Burlington, Iowa, to represent the Southeastern Conference at the 2014 Golfweek Conference Challenge being held this week at Spirit Hollow Golf Club as they will tee off in the final wave off the front nine in Sunday’s opening round beginning at 9:50 a.m. CT.
Spirit Hollow Golf Club will play to a par 72 and 7,222 yards for the three-day, 54-hole championship as tee times in Sunday’s first round are set to begin at 9 a.m. from holes No. 1 and No. 10. Teams will also tee off from both nines in Monday’s second round beginning at 9 a.m., while Tuesday’s final round is scheduled to begin with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.
The Tigers are the SEC representative at one of the truly unique collegiate tournaments of the fall season as they look to build momentum in the wake of their opener at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic.
With senior All-American Stewart Jolly leading the way, the Tigers fired a 54-hole tournament score of 9-under par 855 to tie for sixth place in the 14-team field at the 26th-annual Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic in their season opener held last weekend at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Georgia. Jolly fired the second-lowest score of his career at 9-under par 207 to take third place in the event for the second-straight season.
LSU will compete in a 12-team field that also features tournament host Iowa, Austin Peay, Eastern Michigan, Oregon State, Richmond, San Jose State, Southeastern Louisiana, SMU, Texas State, UTEP and Xavier.
The SEC has taken home the team title at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in two of the last three seasons after the Arkansas Razorbacks were crowned champions in 2011 and the Missouri Tigers captured the title in 2012. The Tigers made their first appearance in the event a year ago, posting a team score of 8-over par 872 for a fifth-place finish in the 15-team field during the 2013 event.
The Tigers are paired with Iowa and SMU in Sunday’s opening round and will tee off from the front nine beginning at 9:50 a.m. Golfstat will provide live scoring throughout the event at www.golfstat.com.
Jolly will lead the Tigers into the event as the defending champion at the Golfweek Conference Challenge after sharing medalist honors with Virginia Tech’s Scott Vincent to kick start an All-American junior season. Jolly fired back-to-back rounds of 3-under par 69 in the second and third rounds after opening with an even-par 72 for a winning score of 6-under par 210 at Spirit Hollow Golf Club in 2013.
Joining Jolly in the lineup this week are fellow senior All-American Ben Taylor, junior standout Zach Wright, sophomore Eric Ricard and freshman Blake Caldwell as the Tigers return their starting five from their opener a week ago at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic. Taylor and Wright opened the campaign with top-20 finishes as they tied one another for 16th place in their opener at The Farm Golf Club a week ago.
After competing at the Golfweek Conference Challenge this week, the Tigers will return home to play host to the sixth-annual David Toms Intercollegiate being held in two weeks from Oct. 4-5 at the University Club in Baton Rouge. They will then wrap up the 2014 fall season from Oct. 17-19 with an appearance at the United States Collegiate Championship being held at The Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta.