BATON ROUGE – In-state rivals LSU and Southeastern Louisiana matched one another shot-for-shot on a difficult Saturday for scoring at the sixth-annual David Toms Intercollegiate while posting matching 36-hole scores of 20-over par 596 for the afternoon as they will tee off together in Sunday’s final round in a tie for the team lead at the University Club.
With senior All-American Ben Taylor and junior standout Zach Wright leading the way, the No. 4-ranked Tigers followed a round of 14-over par 302 in the morning with a score of 6-over par 294 in the afternoon to wrap up Saturday’s action tied with the defending champions in the race for this year’s team crown.
The Lions will go toe-to-toe with the hosts in defense of the team title they won a year ago when they were the only team in the field to break par with a winning score of 4-under par 860 in 54 holes.
LSU and Southeastern Louisiana are locked in a two-horse race for the title as they will tee off in the final round 15 shots clear of Winthrop in third place at 35-over 611 for the championship. Mercer trails in fourth place at 40-over par 616 after two rounds, while Louisiana-Lafayette rounds out the top-five teams in fifth place at 41-over par 617 after the opening 36 holes.
“University Club won the day,” quipped LSU’s head coach Chuck Winstead following the afternoon round. “The course is in great shape and was set up fantastic for the tournament. Guys that could control their ball, as Ben (Taylor) and Zach (Wright) did today, could score well. We’re looking forward to another round out here tomorrow.”
After opening the championship with a 2-over 74 in the morning, Taylor fired the field’s only round under par for the day with a brilliant 3-under 69 in the afternoon to take a three-shot lead in the individual race with a two-round total of 1-under par 143. He is poised to improve upon his career-best finish when he tied for fifth place in LSU’s last tournament at the Golfweek Conference Challenge held two weeks ago.
Taylor’s afternoon scorecard showed six birdies and three bogeys for an impressive 3-under 69 on an otherwise difficult day for scoring at the University Club with winds gusting from the North throughout the day.
Taylor canceled out birdies at the par-five third and par-four ninth holes with bogeys at the par-four second and par-five sixth holes to card an even-par 36 on his front nine. He then reeled off four birdies in a five-hole stretch at the par-three 13th, par-four 15th, par-three 16th and par-five 17th holes before holing out for bogey at the difficult par-four 18th hole for a 3-under 33 on the back nine.
“It was just one big grind today, one big round of golf,” Taylor said of his approach to the first day of the championship. “It did play tough. The pin placements were very tough today, even a little bit different than what we’re used to. It was very cold this morning, especially early on the front nine. You could see that the wind was pretty strong all day. It wasn’t easy.
“I hit a lot of good shots this morning, I just didn’t quite capitalize when I had the birdie opportunities. In the afternoon when I got used to the wind and when it started to warm up a bit, I feel like I took advantage of it and played really well. I hit some good shots into the greens and holed a few good putts on the back nine. I’m glad I could do well for myself individually and for the team.”
The Tigers own the top two spots on the individual leaderboard following Saturday’s opener as Wright trails Taylor by three shots after posting back-to-back rounds of 1-over par 73 on the day for his second-place total of 2-over par 146 in 36 holes. Wright carded six birdies, six bogeys and one double bogey through two rounds on Saturday.
Wright will challenge Taylor for his second career collegiate title as he was crowned champion for the first time as an LSU Tiger at the Louisiana Classics during the 2013 spring season of his sophomore campaign.
Rounding out LSU’s five-man starting lineup were senior Myles Lewis in a tie for 28th place at 11-over par 155 for the day, including a 3-over 75 in the first round, sophomore Eric Ricard in a tie for 31st place at 12-over par 156 and senior All-American Stewart Jolly in a tie for 36th place at 13-over par 157.
Sophomore Rhyne Jones ended the day in a tie for 25th place at 10-over 154 and freshman Blake Caldwell followed in a tie with Ricard for 31st place at 12-over 156 while playing as individuals.
The Tigers are paired with Southeastern Louisiana and Winthrop in Sunday’s final round as they will tee off from holes Nos. 1-4 with a shotgun start set for 8:30 a.m. CT. Golfstat will provide live scoring of the last round at the sixth-annual David Toms Intercollegiate as fans can follow all the action online at http://www.golfstat.com.
DAVID TOMS INTERCOLLEGIATE – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
T1. LSU 302-294 – 596 +20; T1. Southeastern Louisiana 299-297 – 596 +20; 3. Winthrop 305-306 – 611 +35; 4. Mercer 309-307 – 616 +40; 5. Louisiana-Lafayette 308-309 – 617 +41; 6. Central Arkansas 319-299 – 618 +42; 7. North Texas 312-307 – 619 +43; T8. Iowa State 318-305 – 623 +47; T8. Louisiana Tech 323-300 – 623 +47; 10. South Alabama 314-310 – 624 +48; 11. Southern Mississippi 317-313 – 630 +54; 12. Rice 317-314 – 631 +55.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL (Par 144)
1. Ben Taylor, LSU, 74-69 – 143 -1; 2. Zach Wright, LSU, 73-73 – 146 +2; T3. Juan Munoz, North Texas, 76-72 – 148 +4; T3. Grady Brame, Southeastern Louisiana, 74-74 – 148 +4; T5. Baptiste Courtachon, Southeastern Louisiana, 74-75 – 148 +4; T5. Christopher Carstensen, Southeastern Louisiana, 77-72 – 149 +5; T7. Lawrence Allan, Southeastern Louisiana, 74-76 – 150 +6; T7. Casey Fernandez, Southern Mississippi, 77-73 – 150 +6; T7. Pep Angles, Central Arkansas, 73-77 – 150 +6; T7. Ryan Shuttleworth, Central Arkansas, 76-74 – 150 +6; T7. Daniel Jansen, South Alabama, 77-73 – 150 +6*.
LSU SCORES
1. Ben Taylor, 74-69 – 143 -1
2. Zach Wright, 73-73 – 146 +2
T25. Rhyne Jones, 79-75 – 154 +10*
T28. Myles Lewis, 75-80 – 155 +11
T31. Eric Ricard, 80-76 – 156 +12
T31. Blake Caldwell, 82-74 – 156 +12*
T36. Stewart Jolly, 81-76 – 157 +13
* – Indicates player competing as an individual.