BURLINGTON, Iowa – After firing into the lead in Sunday’s opening round, the No. 9-ranked LSU Tigers never looked back as they led wire-to-wire to take home an 11-shot victory at this year’s Golfweek Conference Challenge to wrap up their first victory of the 2014-15 season on Tuesday with a winning score of 15-under par 849 at Spirit Hollow Golf Club.
The Tigers were dominant as they swept team and individual titles with senior All-American Stewart Jolly defending the crown he took home a year ago with his winning effort of 9-under par 207. Jolly sealed his victory with a 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s final round after opening with rounds of 5-under 67 on Sunday and 6-under 66 on Monday.
LSU finished a commanding 11 shots ahead of SMU in second place with a final score of 4-under par 860 as the Mustangs were the only other team in the field to break par for 54 holes.
Tournament host Iowa followed 25 shots back in third place with a final 54-hole score of 10-over par 874, while Oregon State and Southeastern Louisiana tied one another at 21-over par 885 to tie for fourth place in the final standings and round out the Top 5 in the 12-team field. The SEC representative has won the team title at the event in three of the last four years as the Tigers join Arkansas (2011) and Missouri (2012).
After teeing off in the final round with a 17-shot lead over the rest of the field, the Tigers cruised to a comfortable victory with a 2-over par 290 for a final total of 15-under par 849 to equal their sixth-best championship score since the 1984-85 season. They took control of the team race with scores of 10-under 278 in the first round and 7-under 281 in the second round en route to their first win of the 2014-15 season.
Jolly defended his title at the Golfweek Conference Challenge by four shots over sophomore teammate Eric Ricard, who earned his best collegiate finish in second place with his career-low of 5-under par 211.
Jolly is now a three-time tournament champion in his decorated career after also winning his first title at the 2012 Shoal Creek Intercollegiate during the fall of his sophomore season. The Tigers captured both team and individual titles in the same event for the first time since last accomplishing the feat at the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate and David Toms Intercollegiate during the 2012 fall season.
The Birmingham, Alabama, native is just one season removed from claiming All-America honors for the first time in his collegiate career, and he is poised to repeat that feat thanks to a flying start to his senior campaign this fall. Jolly has finished at 9-under 207 in each of his two tournament starts this season as he also took third place from the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic on Sept. 7.
Ricard cracked the Top 10 of the leaderboard for the first time in his collegiate career as he followed Jolly across the finish line with a team-leading 1-under 71 in the final round. The Shreveport native fired a career-low 5-under 211 that included rounds of 3-under 69 in the first round and back-to-back rounds of 1-under 71 in the second and third rounds to eclipse his previous best of 6-over 222 set in LSU’s opener just last week.
Senior All-American Ben Taylor fired his second even-par 72 in succession to wrap up his first top-10 finish of the campaign by tying for fifth place at 1-under par 215. Taylor opened with a best of 1-under 71 for the first round to put himself in position for a strong finish, which proved to be his third top-10 finish in two seasons with the Tigers.
Junior Zach Wright finished just outside the Top 10 of the final leaderboard in a tie for 13th place with a 54-hole score of 5-over par 221, including a 6-over 78 in Tuesday’s final round at Spirit Hollow Golf Club.
Freshman Blake Caldwell rounded out LSU’s team scoring in the win as he matched his career-low round with a 1-over 73 on Tuesday to equal Sunday’s opener at the Golfweek Conference Challenge to move up into a tie for 29th place in the final standings at 9-over par 225 for the week. Caldwell sandwiched scores of 73 around a 7-over 79 in the second round of the event.
With their first victory of the 2014-15 season now in the bag, the Tigers will break for nearly three weeks before playing host to the sixth-annual David Toms Intercollegiate to be held Oct. 4-5 at the University Club here in Baton Rouge. They will then wrap up the 2014 fall season on Oct. 17-19 with a trip to Alpharetta, Georgia, to compete at the United States Collegiate Championship to be held at The Golf Club of Georgia.
GOLFWEEK CONFERENCE CHALLENGE – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. LSU 278-281-290 – 849 -15; 2. SMU 287-289-284 – 860 -4; 3. Iowa 286-301-287 – 874 +10; T4. Southeastern Louisiana 295-296-294 – 885 +21; T4. Oregon State 301-294-290 – 885 +21; 6. Texas State 295-301-294 – 890 +26; 7. San Jose State 294-300-299 – 893+29; 8. Eastern Michigan 293-300-303 – 896 +32; 9. Austin Peay 299-303-298 – 900 +36; 10. Richmond 307-299-299 – 905 +41; 11. Xavier 298-318-297 – 913 +49; 12. UTEP 304-315-300 – 919 +55.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Stewart Jolly, LSU, 67-66-74 – 207 -9; 2. Eric Ricard, LSU, 69-71-71 – 211 -5; 3. Cody Blick, San Jose State, 73-71-68 – 212 -4; 4. Ben Baxter, SMU, 72-73-68 – 213 -3; T5. Ben Taylor, LSU, 71-72-72 – 215 -1; T5. Carson Schaake, Iowa, 71-73-71 – 215 -1; T5. Austin Smotherman, SMU, 68-73-74 – 215 -1; 8. Baptiste Courtachon, Southeastern Louisiana, 72-72-73 – 217 +1; T9. Andrew Buchanan, SMU, 74-72-72 – 218 +2; T9. Alex Franklin, Oregon State, 73-72-73 – 218 +2.
LSU SCORES
1. Stewart Jolly, 67-66-74 – 207 -9
2. Eric Ricard, 69-71-71 – 211 -5
T5. Ben Taylor, 71-72-72 – 215 -1
T13. Zach Wright, 71-72-78 – 221 +5
T29. Blake Caldwell, 73-79-73 – 225 +9