BATON ROUGE – In the wake of a 2014-15 season in which the LSU Tigers were crowned SEC and NCAA Champions as the premier program in college golf, the team will tee it up in their opening tournament of a new season in two weeks as the No. 2-ranked team nationally following Friday’s release of the Bushnell Golfweek Division I Coaches’ Preseason Poll.
The Tigers closed the book on a historic 2014-15 season with their 4-1 victory over the USC Trojans in the NCAA Championship Match on June 3 in the event held at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida. It was the team’s fifth national championship in program history and first in 60 years since their last title in 1955.
The Tigers were also crowned the SEC Champions for the first time in 28 years with their three-shot victory over Vanderbilt and South Carolina in the final round at the SEC Men’s Golf Championships in April.
LSU returns a trio of All-Americans and three All-SEC standouts to its lineup this fall with junior Brandon Pierce the top-ranked Tiger returning from the SEC-title-winning and NCAA-title-winning squads from last spring. Pierce ended the season as Golfstat’s No. 23-ranked player nationally while being named a Golfweek Third-Team All-American, a PING Honorable Mention All-American and Second-Team All-SEC performer.
Zach Wright returns as the only senior in the squad in the wake of a junior season in which he was also named a PING Honorable Mention All-American and Second-Team All-SEC selection as one of the top players in all of college golf. Wright was the No. 44-ranked college golfer nationally in the final Golfstat rankings for the 2014-15 season.
Junior Eric Ricard was also named an All-American for the first time in his collegiate career after helping lead the Tigers to a sweep of SEC and NCAA championships as he joined his teammates as both a PING Honorable Mention All-American and Second-Team All-SEC standout during his sophomore season. He ended the spring as the No. 62-ranked player nationally by Golfstat.
Also returning to the team as the Tigers look to defend their SEC and NCAA titles in 2015-16 are junior Rhyne Jones and sophomore Blake Caldwell as they will compete for a spot in the lineup this fall.
The Tigers will only reload in their title defense as they are also excited to welcome arguably the nation’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class to campus for the start of the fall semester this week as three high school stars will now wear the purple and gold for the first time, including Louisiana natives Sam Burns of Shreveport and Nathan Jeansonne of Keithville and Luis Gagne of Orlando, Florida.
Burns arrives as the No. 1-ranked recruit in the country in the Class of 2015 as the 2014 Rolex Junior Player of the Year and a First-Team All-American as a member of the American Junior Golf Association. Jeansonne is a former 2014 AJGA Second-Team All-American and Golfweek’s No. 6-ranked recruit nationally in the Class of 2015, while Gagne is also a reigning AJGA Honorable Mention All-American from 2014 while earning a ranking as high as No. 16 nationally in the class by the National Junior Golf Scoreboard.
LSU will open up the 2015-16 season in two weeks by making the trip to The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Georgia, to compete at the 2015 Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic being held Sept. 11-13. They will then head up to Spirit Hollow Golf Club in Burlington, Iowa, on Sept. 25-27 to defend their team title at this year’s Golfweek Conference Challenge, which was one of their five tournament titles a season ago.
Fans then get their first chance to see the Tigers in action this fall when they pay host to the seventh-annual David Toms Intercollegiate at The University Club in Baton Rouge over two days from Oct. 10-11. The team is also the defending champion in its home event while winning the David Toms Intercollegiate title in four of the previous six years.
Bushnell Golfweek Division I Coaches’ Preseason Poll
Team (First Place Votes), Points, 2015 NCAA Finish
1. Illinois (3), 487, Semifinals
2. LSU (12), 482, Champion
3. Texas (5), 479, Quarterfinals
4. Florida State (1), 420, 11
5. Southern California, 406, Runner-Up
6. Arizona State, 354, Missed Cut
7. UCLA, 320, Quarterfinals
8. South Carolina, 315, 13
9. Auburn, 297, 12
t10. Stanford, 291, Missed Cut
t10. Vanderbilt, 291, Quarterfinals
12. Georgia, 255, Semifinals
13. Georgia Tech, 248, 9
14. South Florida, 197, Quarterfinals
15. Oregon, 196, Missed Cut
16. Oklahoma State, 192, Missed Cut
17. Alabama, 174, Did Not Qualify
18. Oklahoma, 169, Missed Cut
19. Washington, 148, Missed Cut
t20. SMU, 124, 14
t20. Wake Forest, 124, Did Not Qualify
22. North Carolina, 122, Did Not Qualify
23. Florida, 112, Missed Cut
24. Virginia, 102, Missed Cut
25. Baylor, 80, Did Not Qualify