BATON ROUGE – Highlighted by back-to-back tournament wins at the Golfweek Conference Challenge and David Toms Intercollegiate, the LSU Tigers have wrapped up the 2014 fall season ranked among the Top 5 programs in the country as the No. 5-ranked team in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index released on Thursday.
While they are ranked as high as No. 5 nationally by Golfweek, the Tigers are also the No. 9-ranked team nationally in the latest Golf Coaches Association of America Top 25 released Friday and the No. 11-ranked team in the country in the most recent Golfstat Top 25 released Wednesday as they now break for the winter before returning to action in February 2015.
LSU fired a season-low score of 15-under par 849 in 54 holes to take the Golfweek Conference Challenge title by 11 shots over SMU in the event held Sept. 14-16 at Spirit Hollow Golf Club in Burlington, Iowa.
The Tigers then returned home to play host to the sixth-annual David Toms Intercollegiate on Oct. 4-5 at The University Club in Baton Rouge, where they earned a two-shot victory over Southeastern Louisiana with the winning score of 27-over par 891. They have now won their home tournament in four of the last six years since 2009.
LSU’s victories at the Golfweek Conference Challenge and David Toms Intercollegiate have been bookended by a tie for sixth place in their 2014-15 season opener at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic held from Sept. 5-7 at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Georgia, and a third-place finish in a very strong field at the United States Collegiate Championship held at The Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta last weekend.
Three Tigers have also wrapped up the fall season ranked among the nation’s premier players as senior All-Americans Ben Taylor and Stewart Jolly and junior Zach Wright are among the Top 100 players in college golf.
Taylor is the team’s leading scorer with a career-low 71.75 scoring average while appearing in all four events of the fall season as he is the No. 37-ranked player by Golfweek and the No. 47-ranked player by Golfstat for the fall. Taylor’s senior season has been highlighted by his first tournament victory with the Tigers at the David Toms Intercollegiate where he was the only player to break par at 2-under par 214.
Jolly has also been crowned an individual champion with his performance this fall while defending his title at the Golfweek Conference Challenge where he fired his second-straight tournament score of 9-under 207 on the year. He also opened the season by firing a 9-under par 207 to take home third place at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic, and follows Taylor with a 72.17 scoring average.
Jolly is certainly one of the nation’s top players again in 2014-15 after earning Third-Team All-America honors a season ago as he is the No. 51-ranked player by Golfweek and the No. 72-ranked player by Golfstat.
Wright is an All-America hopeful in his own right with his performance this fall as he heads into the break as the nation’s No. 63-ranked player by Golfstat and the No. 90-ranked player by Golfweek. Like Taylor and Jolly this season, Wright has also featured in all four events while posting a 72.75 stroke average as the team’s third-leading scorer.
Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index Top 25 (as of Oct. 23)
Team, Rating
1. Illinois, 69.06
2. Florida State, 69.55
3. Oregon, 69.95
4. Texas, 70.07
5. LSU, 70.08
6. Vanderbilt, 70.09
7. UCLA, 70.11
8. Texas Tech, 70.14
9. Wake Forest, 70.17
10. Baylor, 70.20
11. Auburn, 70.21
12. Stanford, 70.37
13. SMU, 70.40
14. Alabama, 70.40
15. Georgia Tech, 70.43
16. South Florida, 70.56
17. North Carolina, 70.58
18. Virginia, 70.60
19. New Mexico, 70.62
20. South Carolina, 70.63
21. Southern California, 70.68
22. California, 70.69
23. Oklahoma, 70.70
24. Washington, 70.75
25. Kennesaw State, 70.95
Golf Coaches Association of America Top 25 (as of Oct. 24)
Team (Points) Previous Rank
1. Illinois (503) 1
2. Florida State (501) 4
3. Oregon (458) T14
4. Texas (446) 16
5. Baylor (386) 8
6. UCLA (384) 9
7. Vanderbilt (377) T5
8. Texas Tech (362) 17
9. LSU (346) T5
10. Wake Forest (314) 23
11. Georgia Tech (291) 2
12. Auburn (279) 19
13. Virginia (275) 13
14. Stanford (259) 3
15. South Carolina (250) 10
16. Alabama (238) T14
17. New Mexico (155) 18
18. South Florida (148) 11
19. Washington (142) 22
T20. California (135) 12
T20. SMU (135) 20
22. Southern California (131) NR
23. North Carolina (81) NR
24. Oklahoma (54) 25
25. Georgia (33) 7
Golfstat Top 25 (as of Oct. 22)
1. Florida State
2. Illinois
3. Oregon
4. Texas Tech
5. Texas
6. Vanderbilt
7. Baylor
8. Virginia
9. UCLA
10. South Carolina
11. LSU
12. Wake Forest
13. Auburn
14. Georgia Tech
15. Alabama
16. Stanford
17. Southern California
18. Washington
19. SMU
20. South Florida
21. North Carolina
22. Oklahoma
23. California
24. New Mexico
25. Kennesaw State