ALPHARETTA, Ga. – After winning his first collegiate title last Sunday afternoon at the David Toms Intercollegiate in Baton Rouge, junior All-American Eric Ricard opened the United States Collegiate Championship on Friday with an even-par round of 72 to lead LSU in the first round of the event being held this weekend at the Country Club of Georgia.
Ricard carded two birdies and two bogeys for his opening round to hole out in 72 and finish the day in a tie for 25th place on the individual leaderboard as the top Tiger heading into Saturday’s second round.
While firing a career-low tournament score of 10-under par 206 to win the David Toms Intercollegiate title last weekend, Ricard found himself 2-over for the day after just five holes as he dropped two shots with bogey at the par-three third and par-four fifth holes. He rebounded down the stretch with birdies at the par-five ninth and par-five 18th holes to level his round at even-par for the day.
Ricard’s effort paced the Tigers into 13th place in the team standings with a total of 9-over par 297 in Friday’s opening round. Also adding counting scores in the lineup were senior All-American Zach Wright with a 1-over 73 to tie for 36th place, junior All-American Brandon Pierce with a 3-over 75 to tie for 55th place and freshman Sam Burns with a 5-over 77 to tie for 67th place.
Rounding out the LSU lineup was sophomore Blake Caldwell, who opened the championship with a score of 6-over par 78 to finish the day in a tie for 76th place on the individual leaderboard after just 18 holes.
There is a tight battle for the title at the top of the team standings as the Florida State Seminoles jumped out to an early one-stroke lead with their 6-under par 282 in Friday’s action. Virginia followed just one shot back in second place with a 5-under 283, followed by Wake Forest in third place at 4-under 284, Auburn in fourth place at 3-under 285 and Clemson and Georgia Tech in a tie for fifth place with scores of 2-under 286.
Virginia’s Derek Bard, the 2014 U.S. Collegiate Championship medalist, is poised to defend the individual crown after firing the low round for the day at 6-under par 66 to earn a two-shot lead at the top of the individual leaderboard. Auburn’s Will Long and Wake Forest’s Cameron Young trail two shots behind Bard after posting matching scores of 4-under par 68.
The Tigers are paired with Stanford and Texas once again in Saturday’s second round as they will tee off in the first wave off the back nine beginning at 7 a.m. CT. Golfstat will provide live scoring of the second and third rounds of the 10th-annual United States Collegiate Championship as fans can follow the Tigers in action by going online to http://www.golfstat.com.
UNITED STATES COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 288)
1. Florida State 282 -6; 2. Virginia 283 -5; 3. Wake Forest 284 -4; 4. Auburn 285 -3; T5 Clemson 286 -2; T5. Georgia Tech 286 -2; 7. Oklahoma 289 +1; 8. Stanford 290 +2; T9. Texas 292 +4; T9. Ole Miss 292 +4; 11. East Tennessee State 293 +5; 12. Kent State 295 +7; 13. LSU 297 +9; T14. Oklahoma State 298 +10; T14. Southern California 298 +10; 16. UCLA 300 +12; 17. Iowa 303 +15.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 72)
1. Derek Bard, Virginia, 66 -6; T2. Will Long, Auburn, 68 -4; T2. Cameron Young, Wake Forest, 68 -4; T4. Miller Capps, Clemson, 69 -3; T4. Jack Maguire, Florida State, 69 -3; T4. Maverick McNealy, Stanford, 69 -3; T7. Noah West, Ole Miss, 70 -2; T7. Cristobal Del Solar, Florida State, 70 -2; T7. Jacob Joiner, Georgia Tech, 70 -2; T7. Michael Johnson, Auburn, 70 -2; T7. Grant Hirschman, Oklahoma, 70 -2; T7. Brandon Wu, Stanford, 70 -2; T7. Paul McBride, Wake Forest, 70 -2; T7. Rico Hoey, Southern California, 70 -2; T7. Beau Hossler, Texas, 70 -2; T7. Will Zalatoris, Wake Forest, 70 -2.
LSU SCORES
T25. Eric Ricard, 72 E
T36. Zach Wright, 73 +1
T55. Brandon Pierce, 75 +3
T67. Sam Burns, 77 +5
T76. Blake Caldwell, 78 +6