ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Freshman standout Sam Burns fired a bogey-free round of 4-under par 68 during Sunday’s final round at the United States Collegiate Championship to match the lowest round of his young career and move the Tigers up one spot to 11th place in the final standings of the event held at the Country Club of Georgia this weekend.
Burns equaled his career-low round of 68 that he also fired in the second round at the Golfweek Conference Challenge back on Sept. 26 en route to his best career finish of a tie for 16th place individually.
The freshman from Shreveport, Louisiana, fired out of the blocks with birdies on three of his first seven holes at the par-four second, fourth and seventh holes to quickly drop to 3-under par for his final round. He then carded 10-straight pars before holing out with a birdie at the par-five 18th hole for a score of 4-under 68 on the day to move into a tie for 25th place on the final leaderboard.
That effort helped the Tigers move up one spot in the team standings from their 12th-place position at the start of the day as Burns teamed with senior All-American Zach Wright, junior All-American Brandon Pierce and sophomore Blake Caldwell in posting a team score of even-par 288 on the afternoon. LSU took home an 11th-place finish overall with a final score of 14-over par 878 for 54 holes this weekend.
Wright was the top Tiger on the weekend as he followed rounds of 1-over 73 on Friday and 1-under 71 on Saturday with an even-par 72 on Sunday to tie for 18th place individually with his final score of even-par 216. His performance earned him a third top-20 finish in four starts this fall as he also tied for fourth place at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic and tied for eighth place at the David Toms Intercollegiate.
Wright’s final round was highlighted by an eagle 3 on the 54th and final hole of the championship to wrap up an even-par 72 after already carding four birdies, two bogeys and one triple bogey on the afternoon.
Pierce equaled Wright’s 72 with his even-par round of his own in Sunday’s finale as he penciled in six birdies, three bogeys and one triple bogey to finish in a tie for 31st place overall at 3-over par 219 on the weekend. It was his second-straight round of 72 at this year’s U.S. Collegiate Championship as he also finished at level par in Saturday’s second round.
Caldwell wrapped up Sunday’s final round right where he began in a tie for 85th place as he posted a counting score of 4-over 76 toward LSU’s team total on the day and a 54-hole score of 17-over 233 in three rounds. It was a final round that also saw junior All-American Eric Ricard post his second-straight round of 5-over 77 after opening the tournament with an even-par 72 to tie for 60th place overall.
Auburn erased a one-shot deficit to Wake Forest at the start of the round with a team score of 3-under 285 as the Tigers and Demon Deacons shared the team title with matching scores of 9-under par 855.
Sunday’s final round also featured a tight battle for the individual title as Virginia’s defending champion Derek Bard, Auburn’s Will Long, Stanford’s Maverick McNealy and Wake Forest’s Cameron Young shared the first place trophy with final 54-hole scores of 6-under par 210 following Sunday’s final round. McNealy fired the low round of the day to climb into a share of the lead.
With four tournaments now in the books, the Tigers will prepare for their 2015 fall finale in two weeks when they return to the state of Georgia to compete in the inaugural East Lake Cup hosted by the Golf Channel on East Lake Golf Club’s famed course in Atlanta. The inaugural match-play tournament will feature the NCAA Final Four men’s and women’s team in a two-day rematch in two weeks from Nov. 2-3.
UNITED STATES COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (864)
T1. Auburn 285-285-285 – 855 -9; T1. Wake Forest 284-285-286 – 855 -9; 3. Clemson 286-293-280 – 859 -5; 4. Florida State 282-290-288 – 860 -4; 5. Georgia Tech 286-299-282 – 867 +3; T6. Texas 292-292-285 – 869 +5; T6. Stanford 290-289-290 – 869 +5; 8. Southern California 298-287-286 – 871 +7; 9. Oklahoma 289-282-293 – 874 +10; 10. Virginia 283-298-295 – 876 +12; 11. LSU 297-293-288 – 878 +14; 12. East Tennessee State 293-282-307 – 882 +18; 13. Oklahoma State 298-292-295 – 885 +21; 14. UCLA 300-293-295 – 888 +24; 15. Ole Miss 292-303-300 – 895 +31; 16. Kent State 295-297-306 – 898 +34; 17. Iowa 303-293-312 – 908 +44.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 216)
T1. Maverick McNealy, Stanford, 69-74-67 – 210 -6; T1. Derek Bard, Virginia, 66-72-72 – 210 -6; T1. Cameron Young, Wake Forest, 68-69-73 – 210 -6; T1. Will Long, Auburn, 68-68-74 – 210 -6; T5. Will Zalatoris, Wake Forest, 70-73-68 – 211 -5; T5. Michael Johnson, Auburn, 70-72-69 – 211 -5; T5. Rico Hoey, Southern California, 70-70-71 – 211 -5; T8. Adrian Meronk, East Tennessee State, 72-70-70 – 212 -4; T8. Miller Capps, Clemson, 69-73-70 – 212 -4; T8. Beau Hossler, Texas, 70-71-71 – 212 -4; T8. Jonah Texeira, Southern California, 73-69-70 – 212 -4.
LSU SCORES
T18. Zach Wright, 73-71-72 – 216 E
T25. Sam Burns, 77-73-68 – 218 +2
T31. Brandon Pierce, 75-72-72 – 219 +3
T60. Eric Ricard, 72-77-77 – 226 +10
T85. Blake Caldwell, 78-79-76 – 233 +17