BATON ROUGE – After breaking par in each of the three rounds played at El Paso Country Club over the weekend, LSU’s senior All-American Zach Wright finished two shots off the top spot of the leaderboard in a tie for second place at the 41st Sun Bowl Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic following Sunday’s final round.
Wright opened by firing a round of 2-under par 69 before posting back-to-back scores of 1-under par 70 in the second and third rounds to finish the championship in a three-way tie for second place at 4-under 209 with Vanderbilt’s Matthias Schwab and South Florida’s Claudio Correa. Vanderbilt’s Zack Jaworski topped the charts at 6-under 207 for 54 holes.
Jaworski overtook the second-round leaders with a 4-under 67 in the final round to move from fifth place to first place in Sunday’s final round and take this year’s Sun Bowl All-America championship.
Wright’s finish at this year’s Sun Bowl Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic is the first top-10 finish by an LSU golfer since PGA TOUR veteran Andrew Loupe tied for sixth place in his senior season in the fall of 2010. Former three-time All-American John Peterson also tied for 12th place in the event that season before being crowned the NCAA Champion that same season.
Wright was not the only Tiger in the field for this year’s tournament as junior All-American Brandon Pierce capped the weekend by finishing in 17th place overall among the 22 collegiate standouts in the competition. His appearance was highlighted by an even-par round of 71 in the first round before finishing with a three-round total of 11-over par 224.
The tournament field is limited to returning All-Americans from the previous season, Walker Cup team members and the NCAA Division II and Division III National Players of the Year for the previous season.
With their appearance this weekend, Wright and Pierce are the 13th and 14th LSU Tigers to compete in the prestigious event held each year at the beautiful par-71 layout at El Paso Country Club. Each university that has been represented in the field at this year’s Sun Bowl Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic will receive a $1,000 scholarship.
The Golf Classic has featured many of the nation’s premier players who have gone on to enjoy successful careers on the PGA TOUR, including past champions Jerry Pate (1974), Davis Love III (1984), David Duval (1991), Notah Begay (1994), Tiger Woods (1995), Matt Kuchar (1999), Ricky Barnes (2000) and Webb Simpson (2007). Alumni of the event have gone on to win more than $1.7 billion and 634 events on the PGA TOUR.