BATON ROUGE – LSU All-American Ben Taylor will compete among 20 of the top college golfers from across the country in El Paso, Texas, this weekend as he has been invited to compete in the 40th-annual Sun Bowl Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic being held this weekend and kicking off with Saturday’s first round at El Paso Country Club.
The Sun Bowl Association plays host to the annual 54-hole Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic as this year’s championship will return to the par-71, 6,800-plus-yard layout at El Paso Country Club.
The tournament field is limited to returning All-Americans from the previous season, Walker Cup team members and the NCAA Division II and Division III National Players of the Year from the previous season. This All-American field features 14 of the Top 100 amateur golfers in the world according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings, as well as five 2014 Palmer Cup representatives and four conference players of the year.
Taylor is one of four players in the field to make a repeat appearance as he joins the likes of New Mexico’s defending champion Gavin Green, UCLA’s Jonathan Garrick and Oklahoma State’s Jordan Niebrugge. He tied for eighth place in his debut in 2012 when he competed as the NCAA Division II National Player of the Year following his sophomore season at Nova Southeastern University.
That year, Taylor fired rounds of even-par 71, 4-under 67 and 4-under 67 for a 54-hole score of 8-under par 205 to tie for eighth place among the 23 competitors in the field in the 38th-annual event in 2012.
He will be the 12th LSU Tiger all-time to play in the Sun Bowl Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic, and the first since former All-Americans Andrew Loupe and John Peterson competed in 2010. Taylor picked up an invitation this season after being named a PING Honorable Mention All-American following his debut campaign with the Tigers in 2013-14.
Each university represented in the field at this year’s Sun Bowl Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Festivities will begin Friday with the Titleist Long Drive and PING Putting contests at El Paso Country Club. The first and second rounds will be played on Saturday followed by the final round on Sunday.
The Golf Classic has featured many of the nation’s premier players who have gone on to enjoy successful careers on the PGA TOUR, including past champions Jerry Pate (1974), Davis Love III (1984), David Duval (1991), Notah Begay (1994), Tiger Woods (1995), Matt Kuchar (1999), Ricky Barnes (2000) and Webb Simpson (2007). Alumni of the event have gone on to win more than $1.7 billion and 634 events on the PGA TOUR.