PALM CITY, Fla. – After teeing off in Tuesday’s final round with a narrow one-stroke lead over No. 2-ranked Florida State, the 10th-ranked LSU Tigers continued their momentum this spring by bringing home a runner-up finish in an outstanding field of 13 of the nation’s top teams at this year’s Valspar Invitational at Floridian held this week at Floridian Golf Club.
Led by matching scores of even-par 71 by senior All-American Ben Taylor and sophomores Brandon Pierce and Eric Ricard, the Tigers were five shots off the pace in the end as they wrapped up the championship with a team score of 3-over par 287 in the final round and a three-round score of 12-under par 840 for the tournament.
The Seminoles erased their deficit to the Tigers entering the day with a solid score of 3-under 281 to take the title by five shots with a winning score of 17-under 835 in 54 holes at Floridian Golf Club.
While competing against one of its toughest fields of the 2014-15 season, LSU scored the silver medal as runner-up ahead of No. 13-ranked South Carolina in third place with a final score of 11-under 841, No. 16-ranked South Florida in fourth place with a score of 3-over 855 and Texas A&M in fifth place with a score of 4-over 856 to round out the top five teams in the final tournament standings.
“This has been a good week for our team and our program to finish well in a very competitive field on a great golf course here at Floridian,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “There are areas we can improve on as we move forward, and we will continue to work toward that. We’re looking forward to seeing how good these guys can become the rest of this season and beyond.”
For the second time in his four starts this spring, Pierce cracked the Top 10 of the final leaderboard while finishing as the top Tiger in the field at this year’s Valspar Invitational at Floridian. After opening the tournament with scores of 2-under 69 in the first round and 1-under 70 in the second round on Monday, Pierce closed out his best career finish with an even-par 71 to tie for sixth place at 3-under 210 for the week.
Pierce’s final-round 71 included five birdies, three bogeys and one double bogey in 18 holes as he eclipsed his previous career-best finish when he tied for ninth place at the Louisiana Classics last spring. He dipped into red figures with birdies at the par-four third, par-five seventh, par-four 10th, par-five 13th and par-four 17th holes in Tuesday’s final round.
Taylor nearly joined Pierce in the Top 10 of the leaderboard as he followed rounds of even-par 71 and 2-under 69 on Monday with an even-par 71 on Tuesday to tie for 11th place at 2-under 211 for the tournament.
Ricard finished one shot behind Taylor in a tie for 16th place overall at 1-under 212 for the championship as he also added an even-par 71 toward LSU’s team score in the final round after opening with the team’s lowest score of the week at 4-under 67 in the first round followed by a 3-over 74 in the second round in Monday’s opener. Taylor carded three birdies and three bogeys in his round, while Ricard canceled out four birdies with four bogeys en route to matching scores of 71 in Tuesday’s final round at Floridian Golf Club.
Senior All-American Stewart Jolly rounded out the counting scores for the Tigers in the final round with his 3-over 74 to finish in a tie for tie for 23rd place overall at 1-over 214, including a 3-under 68 in the first round. He was followed by junior Zach Wright in a tie for 27th place in the final standings at 3-over 216, including a 7-over 78 to close out the week on Tuesday afternoon.
Texas A&M’s Greg Yates led wire-to-wire as he added a third-straight 4-under 67 in the final round to claim a three-shot victory over Florida State’s Hank Lebioda with a winning 12-under 201 for the individual title.
After ending a two-week swing through the state of Florida by winning the team title at the Talis Park Challenge and earning a second-place finish at the Valspar Invitational at Floridian, the Tigers will next conclude the 2015 regular season as the defending team champions at Texas A&M’s Aggie invitational that will be held April 4-5 at Traditions Golf Club in Bryan, Texas.
The Tigers and Aggies were co-champions of the Aggie Invitational a year ago when they posted matching scores of 35-over par 899 ahead of the SEC Championships. This year’s Aggie Invitational will be the team’s last opportunity to prepare for the start of the championship season at the 2015 SEC Men’s Golf Championships that return to Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course in St. Simons Island, Georgia, from April 17-19.
VALSPAR INVITATIONAL AT FLORIDIAN – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 852)
1. Florida State 278-276-281 – 835 -17; 2. LSU 273-280-287 – 840 -12; 3. South Carolina 285-279-277 – 841 -11; 4. South Florida 281-287-287 – 855 +3; 5. Texas A&M 290-289-277 – 856 +4; 6. Oklahoma State 290-287-281 – 858 +6; 7. Illinois 287-293-285 – 865 +13; 8. UCLA 294-280-293 – 867 +15; 9. Houston 298-286-284 – 868 +16; 10. Georgia Tech 296-288-289 – 873 +21; T11. Tennessee 298-296-285 – 879 +27; T11. Kent State 300-290-289 – 879 +27; 13. Memphis 305-291-289 – 885 +33.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 213)
1. Greg Yates, Texas A&M, 67-67-67 – 201 -12; 2. Hank Lebioda, Florida State, 69-68-67 – 204 -4; 3. Thomas Detry, Illinois, 67-69-69 – 205 -8; 4. Jack Maguire, Florida State, 74-66-68 – 208 -5; 5. Claudio Correa, South Florida, 69-71-69 – 209 -4; T6. Brandon Pierce, LSU, 69-70-71 – 210 -3; T6. Ryan Fricker, South Florida, 72-70-68 – 210 -3; T6. Rigel Fernandes, South Florida, 66-70-74 – 210 -3; T6. Matthew NeSmith, South Carolina, 70-71-69 – 210 -3; T6. Roman Robledo, Houston, 70-69-71 – 210 -3.
LSU SCORES
T6. Brandon Pierce, 69-70-71 – 210 -3
T11. Ben Taylor, 71-69-71 – 211 -2
T16. Eric Ricard, 67-74-71 – 212 -1
T23. Stewart Jolly, 68-72-74 – 214 +1
T27. Zach Wright, 69-69-78 – 216 +3