ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Sophomore Eric Ricard fired a 3-under 69 to wrap up his second top-10 finish of the season, while senior teammate Stewart Jolly fired a 3-under 69 of his own in Sunday’s final round to lead the seventh-ranked LSU Tigers to a third-place team finish in their fall finale at the United States Collegiate Championship at The Golf Club of Georgia.
The Tigers broke par for the second-straight day with a team round of 6-under par 282 to climb two more spots up the team standings into third place at 7-under par 857 for the championship.
They rebounded straightaway from a difficult opening round Friday when they dropped into a tie for 13th place in the 15-team field with a team score of 8-over par 296 in their opener at the Lakeside Course. They then followed with their second-lowest round of the 2014 fall season with a 9-under par 279 on Saturday before wrapping up a third-place finish with a 6-under par 282 on Sunday afternoon.
It turned into a two-horse race for the team title in Sunday’s final round as 17th-ranked Texas teed off with a narrow one-stroke lead over 28th-ranked Virginia at 10-under par to start the day. They matched on another shot-for-shot over the final 18 holes of the championship with matching scores of 11-under par 277 as the Longhorns fired a winning score of 21-under par 843 to take the title by a single stroke over the Cavaliers.
The Tigers followed 14 shots back in third place at 7-under 857, while No. 9-ranked Wake Forest trailed in fourth place at 6-under 858 and No. 5-ranked UCLA rounded out the Top 5 in fifth place at 4-under 860.
“I’m proud of our team,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead while reflecting on his team’s performance in their fall finale. “After a tough opening round, they fought their way back into the event. We received great contributions from every player on our team this weekend. I’m particularly proud of Eric (Ricard) and Zach (Wright). We saw some really strong play from that duo.
“Our guys played some very good golf this fall. We’ll take some time off (from competition), and we’ll continue to improve as a team over these next few months while looking forward to the spring.”
Ricard matched his career-low tournament score with a 5-under par 211 in 54 holes at the ninth-annual United States Collegiate Championship to earn his second top-10 finish in four starts of the fall season by tying for eighth place on the final leaderboard. He also posted a 5-under 211 in three rounds to finish runner-up at the Golfweek Conference Challenge for his best career finish in the event held from Sept. 14-16.
Ricard carded five birdies and two bogeys on his round while firing a 3-under 69 on Sunday, just one day after shooting a career-low round of 4-under 68 on Saturday at the Lakeside Course. He made three-straight birdies at the par-three sixth hole and par-four seventh and eighth holes to make the turn at 3-under par with his round. He canceled out two bogeys at the par-four 12th and par-three 17th holes with a pair of birdies at the par-four 16th and par-five 18th holes to remain even-par on the back nine and 3-under for the final round.
Jolly matched Ricard’s effort with a 3-under 69 of his own to climb into a tie for 50th place at 5-over par 221 for the championship after also posting back-to-back rounds of 4-over 76 in the first and second rounds.
After teeing off in sole possession of fifth place on the leaderboard at 5-under par through two rounds, junior teammate Zach Wright ended the championship with a 2-over par 74 in Sunday’s final round to drop into a tie for 13th place on the final leaderboard at 3-under par 213. Wright carded a team-low 5-under 67 on the weekend in Saturday’s second round after opening with an even-par 72 on Friday.
Seniors Ben Taylor and Myles Lewis tied one another for 39th place overall in the event with their matching scores of 3-over par 219. Lewis held the upper hand in the final round at The Golf Club of Georgia as he ended the tournament with a 2-under 70, while Taylor counted a 2-over 74 toward LSU’s final team score on Sunday afternoon.
Virginia’s Derek Bard turned the tables on his Cavalier teammate Denny McCarthy to take home medalist honors at this year’s U.S. Collegiate Championship as Bard fired an 8-under 64 for his winning score of 15-under 201 in the event. McCarthy, who teed off with a two-shot lead over Bard, followed in second place at 9-under 207 with a second-straight round of even-par 72 after opening with a 9-under 63 on Friday.
Clemson’s Cody Proveaux, Texas’ Gavin Hall and Washington’s Cheng-Tsung Pan rounded out the Top 5 of the final leaderboard in a tie for third place at 7-under 209 in three rounds of the championship.
After wrapping up the 2014 fall season at the ninth-annual U.S. Collegiate Championship this weekend, the Tigers will break for the winter before returning to action Feb. 16-18 with a trip to La Quinta, California, to kick off an exciting 2015 spring season at The Prestige at PGA West being held at the Greg Norman Course at PGA West. They took fourth place in their debut appearance in the tournament a year ago.
UNITED STATES COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 864)
1. Texas 278-288-277 – 843 -21; 2. Virginia 272-295-277 – 844 -20; 3. LSU 296-279-282 – 857 -7; 4. Wake Forest 288-284-286 – 858 -6; 5. UCLA 287-294-279 – 860 -4; 6. Auburn 286-289-286 – 861 -3; T7. Georgia Tech 296-285-281 – 862 -2; T7. Washington 290-290-282 – 862 -2; 9. Texas A&M 281-289-293 – 863 -1; 10. Clemson 294-290-284 – 868 +4; 11. Iowa 291-289-289 – 869 +5; 12. East Tennessee State 286-292-297 – 875 +11; 13. Stanford 283-293-300 – 876 +12; 14. Oklahoma State 290-286-304 – 880 +16; 15. Kent State 304-296-292 – 892 +28.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
1. Derek Bard, Virginia, 66-71-64 – 201 -15; 2. Denny McCarthy, Virginia, 63-72-72 – 207 -9; T3. Cody Proveaux, Clemson, 73-67-69 – 209 -7; T3. Cheng-Tsung Pan, Washington, 67-75-67 – 209 -7; T3. Gavin Hall, Texas, 67-75-67 – 209 -7; T6. Ollie Schniederjans, Georgia Tech, 73-68-69 – 210 -6; T6. Scottie Scheffler, Texas, 68-75-67 – 210 -6; T8. Eric Ricard, LSU, 74-68-69 – 211 -5; T8. Greg Yates, Texas A&M, 72-73-66 – 211 -5; T8. Jonathan Garrick, UCLA, 69-75-67 – 211 -5.
LSU SCORES
T8. Eric Ricard, 74-68-69 – 211 -5
T13. Zach Wright, 72-67-74 – 213 -3
T39. Myles Lewis, 76-73-70 – 219 +3
T39. Ben Taylor, 74-71-74 – 219 +3
T50. Stewart Jolly, 76-76-69 – 221 +5