NAPLES, Fla. – With senior Ben Taylor firing a 4-under 67 and sophomore Eric Ricard adding a 2-under 69 in Monday’s final round, the No. 7-ranked LSU Tigers outlasted the No. 6-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores to claim a four-shot victory for their third team title of the 2014-15 season at the Talis Park Challenge held this week at Talis Park Golf Club.
The Tigers matched their effort from Sunday’s second round with a tournament-low 8-under 276 in the final round to finish with a winning 14-under par 838 to take the title over the defending champions.
The Commodores were the only other team in the field of 15 to break par with their performance in the final round as they finished four shots off the pace with a 2-under 282 on the day and 10-under 842 for the week as the silver medalists at the second-annual Talis Park Challenge. Wichita State was the only other team to break par for the tournament at 2-under par 850 for third place overall.
Rounding out the top five of the final team standings for 54 holes were SEC rival Texas A&M in fourth place at 6-over par 858 and Northern Illinois in fifth place at 17-over par 869 for the championship.
With their victory at the second-annual Talis Park Challenge on Monday, the Tigers have now brought the team title back home to Baton Rouge in three of their seven tournament appearances in 2014-15 after claiming the crown at the Golfweek Conference Challenge held Sept. 14-16 and the David Toms Intercollegiate held Oct. 4-5 during the 2014 fall season.
It also marks the first time since 2011-12 that the Tigers have won three tournaments in a single season, and the fifth time in 10 seasons they have trebled under the direction of head coach Chuck Winstead.
“It’s been a good week for our team,” LSU head coach Chuck Winstead shared following his team’s victory. “We still haven’t played our best golf yet, but we had a lot of solid play here this week throughout this event. This is definitely a good ‘team’ win as every player on the team made a solid contribution to the win. That’s important for us as we move forward this spring.”
Ricard and Taylor returned to the Top 10 of the leaderboard thanks to their outstanding final rounds as Ricard earned his team-leading fourth top-10 finish in seven starts on the year and Taylor added to his All-America resume with a third top-10 finish in six starts as two of the team’s leading figures in the lineup week in and week out.
Taylor matched the best round of his senior season with a team-low 4-under 67 in Monday’s final round to break par for 54 holes for the first time since he was crowned champion at the David Toms Intercollegiate.
Taylor fired out of the gate as he birdied his very first hole of the day at the par-three third hole before giving back the shot with a bogey at the par-four fifth hole. He then quickly dropped to 4-under for the day with a birdie at the par-five eighth and par-five 11th holes and an eagle 2 at the par-four 12th hole. That’s where he would finish after trading a bogey at the par-four 14th and a birdie at the par-four first. Taylor broke par in two of his three rounds that also featured scores of 1-under 70 and 1-over 73 in 36 holes played on Sunday.
Ricard carded four birdies and two bogeys in a final-round 2-under 69, picking up shots on the front nine at the par-four fourth, par-four fifth and par-five eighth holes before adding a fourth birdie at the par-five 15th in the back nine. He gave away just two shots on the afternoon with bogeys at the par-four seventh and par-four 12th holes en route to a 2-under 69 on the day.
After opening with scores of 1-over 73 and 3-under 68 on Sunday, Ricard picked up his fourth top-10 finish of the season and his second in three spring starts as he continues his outstanding form in 2014-15.
Senior Stewart Jolly and sophomore Brandon Pierce each posted matching scores of 1-under 70 toward LSU’s 8-under 276 in the final round, as Pierce finished the championship in a tie for 13th place on the leaderboard with a final score of 1-under par 212 and Jolly climbed into a tie for 16th place overall with a level-par score of 213 for the week. Junior Zach Wright carded a 3-over 74 on Monday to tie Jolly for 16th place in the event.
Toledo’s Chris Selfridge matched his output from Sunday’s second round with a score of 4-under 67 in Monday’s final round to earn a one-shot victory with a winning score of 6-under par 207 for the individual crown. A trio of golfers followed Selfridge in a tie for second place at 5-under 208, including Texas A&M’s Adria Arnaus, Vanderbilt’s Hunter Stewart and Xavier’s Korey Ward.
With the team title at the Talis Park Challenge now under their belts, the Tigers will return to the state of Florida in seven days’ time when they tee it up at the Valspar Invitational at Floridian that will be contested over two days from March 23-24 at Floridian Golf Club in Palm City. They will then wrap up the regular season as the defending champions at Texas A&M’s Aggie Invitational being held April 4-5 at The Traditions Club.
TALIS PARK CHALLENGE – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 852)
1. LSU 286-276-276 – 838 -14; 2. Vanderbilt 276-284-282 – 842 -10; 3. Wichita State 276-290-284 – 850 -2; 4. Texas A&M 284-283-291 – 858 +6; 5. Northern Illinois 282-290-297 – 869 +17; 6. Miami (OH) 290-292-288 – 870 +18; T7. Xavier 292-289-290 – 871 +19; T7. Michigan State 285-293-293 – 871 +19; 9. Eastern Michigan 289-290-293 – 872 +20; 10. Notre Dame 290-292-291 – 873 +21; 11. Toledo 295-285-294 – 874 +22; 12. Florida Gulf Coast 291-288-297 – 876 +24; 13. Ball State 289-298-297 – 884 +32; 14. Akron 294-301-297 – 892 +40; 15. Indiana 301-304-302 – 907 +55.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 213)
1. Chris Selfridge, Toledo, 73-67-67 – 207 -6; T2. Hunter Stewart, Vanderbilt, 69-71-68 – 208 -5; T2. Adria Arnaus, Texas A&M, 66-69-73 – 208 -5; T2. Korey Ward, Xavier, 67-75-66 – 208 -5; T5. Grant Bennett, Wichita State, 67-74-68 – 209 -4; T5. Otto Black, Toledo, 67-68-74 – 209 -4; T5. Matthias Schwab, Vanderbilt, 66-71-72 – 209 -4; T8. Ben Taylor, LSU, 70-73-67 – 210 -3; T8. Eric Ricard, LSU, 73-68-69 – 210 -3; T10. Jose Montano, Xavier, 72-68-71 – 211 -2; T10. Theo Humphrey, Vanderbilt, 69-70-72 – 211 -2; T10. Jake Sherwin, Florida Gulf Coast, 67-68-76 – 211 -2.
LSU SCORES
T8. Ben Taylor, 70-73-67 – 210 -3
T8. Eric Ricard, 73-68-69 – 210 -3
T13. Brandon Pierce, 71-71-70 – 212 -1
T16. Stewart Jolly, 73-70-70 – 213 E
T16. Zach Wright, 72-67-74 – 213 E