BATON ROUGE – After opening the defense of their David Toms Intercollegiate title with a team score of 7-over par 295 in Saturday’s morning round, the LSU Tigers were the only team to break par in the afternoon with a brilliant round of 5-under par 283 to seize control of the team race in the seventh-annual event being held at the University Club.
While teeing off as four-time champions of their home event, the Tigers positioned themselves for a fifth title in seven seasons with their 36-hole score of 2-over par 578 to finish 10 shots clear of the field.
Junior All-American Eric Ricard and freshman teammate Nathan Jeansonne provided the spark that moved the Tigers from fifth place and seven shots off the pace at the end of the morning round and into the lead for the afternoon as they wrapped up the day 10 shots in front of Kansas State in second place at 12-over par 588.
Liberty claimed the first-round lead while opening the championship with an even-par 288 in the morning, but trailed the Tigers by 11 shots at the end of the day after posting a 13-over 301 in the afternoon for its team score of 13-over par 589 in Saturday’s opener. Iowa followed in fourth place at 16-over 592, while Louisiana Tech rounded out the Top 5 in fifth place at 28-over 604 after 36 holes.
The Tigers are poised to sweep the team and individual titles at the David Toms Intercollegiate once again as Ricard and Jeansonne are among those who will battle it out for medalist honors in Sunday’s final round.
Ricard followed his 1-over 73 in the first round with a career-low 7-under 65 in the second round to overtake Jeansonne for the individual lead at 6-under par 138 for the championship. Jeansonne opened with a round of 3-under 69 to grab the first-round lead before finishing the day two shots off the pace set by his teammate with a 1-under 71 in the afternoon for a 36-hole score of 4-under par 140.
After teeing off from the par-four second hole with Saturday’s shotgun start, Ricard traded shots at the start of his second round with a birdie at the second and a bogey at the par-four fourth hole to remain level over three holes. He dipped into red figures again at 2-under par for the afternoon with an eagle 3 at the par-five sixth hole and never looked back as he carded six birdies and just one bogey in his final 13 holes en route for a career-low 7-under 65 to climb to the top spot on the individual leaderboard.
Ricard eclipsed his previous career-low of 6-under par 66 he fired in the final round of The Prestige at PGA West where he tied for seventh place in LSU’s 2015 spring season opener a season ago. He is now poised for a first career tournament title as his career-best finish stands in a second-place effort at the Golfweek Conference Challenge during the 2014 fall season.
Jeansonne will also challenge for his first collegiate title in just his second career start with the Tigers as he matched his season-low and career-low round of 3-under 69 in Saturday’s opening round before finishing with a 1-under 71 in the afternoon to finish two shots behind Ricard on the leaderboard. Jeansonne ended the Golfweek Conference Challenge two weeks ago with a low of 3-under 69 in the final round.
Senior All-American Zach Wright also cracked the Top 10 of the leaderboard in Saturday’s opener at the David Toms Intercollegiate as he posted a 36-hole score of 2-over 146 to tie for ninth place overall.
Wright posted matching scores of 1-over 73 on the day as he carded an eagle and a birdie along with two bogeys and a double bogey in the morning before following with three birdies and four bogeys in the afternoon to finish the day eight shots back in the race for the individual crown. Three Tigers have won medalist honors in the event, including Austin Gutgsell (2010), Andrew Presley (2012) and Ben Taylor (2014).
Rounding out LSU’s lineup in Saturday’s opener were freshman Sam Burns in a tie for 30th place at 10-over par 154 and junior All-American Brandon Pierce in a tie for 50th place at 13-over par 157 for 36 holes. Two Tigers playing as individuals also wrapped up the first day of competition with sophomore Blake Caldwell tying for 17th place at 6-over 150 and junior Rhyne Jones tying for 42nd place at 11-over 155.
The Tigers are in the featured pairing in Sunday’s final round at the David Toms Intercollegiate as they will play alongside Kansas State and Liberty while teeing off from holes Nos. 1-4 with a shotgun start scheduled for 8:30 a.m. CT. Golfstat will provide the live scoring of the final round of the championship as fans can follow the Tigers in action at http://www.golfstat.com.
SEVENTH-ANNUAL DAVID TOMS INTERCOLLEGIATE – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
1. LSU 295-283 – 578 +2; 2. Kansas State 291-297 – 588 +12; 3. Liberty 288-301 – 589 +13; 4. Iowa 292-300 – 592 +16; 5. Louisiana Tech 299-305 – 604 +28; 6. Pennsylvania 291-314 – 605 +29; 7. Louisiana-Lafayette 306-306 – 612 +36; 8. Iowa State 299-315 – 614 +38; T9. DePaul 307-309 – 616 +40; T9. Southeastern Louisiana 310-306 – 616 +40; 11. Southern Illinois 303-316 – 619 +43; 12. Navy 309-311 – 620 +44; 13. Central Arkansas 307-314 – 621 +45; 14. Louisiana-Monroe 307-321 – 628 +52.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. Eric Ricard, LSU, 73-65 – 138 -6; 2. Nathan Jeansonne, LSU, 69-71 – 240 -4; 3. Carson Schaake, Iowa, 69-73 – 142 -2; 4. Gabriel Lench, Liberty, 69-74 – 143 -1; T5. Jeremy Gandon, Kansas State, 71-73 – 144 E; T5. Payton Taylor, Liberty, 75-69 – 144 E; T5. Josh Goldenberg, Pennsylvania, 71-73 – 144 E; 8. Matt Green, Kansas State, 75-70 – 145 +1; T9. Zach Wright, LSU, 73-73 – 146 +2; T9. Oscar Spolander, Kansas State, 72-74 – 146 +2.
LSU SCORES
1. Eric Ricard, 73-65 – 138 -6
2. Nathan Jeansonne, 69-71 – 140 -4
T9. Zach Wright, 73-73 – 146 +2
T17. Blake Caldwell, 73-77 – 150 +6*
T30. Sam Burns, 80-74 – 154 +10
T42. Rhyne Jones, 82-73 – 155 +11*
T50. Brandon Pierce, 83-74 – 157 +13
* – Denotes player competing as an individual.