ATLANTA, Ga. – After Monday’s tee times were postponed to the afternoon due to heavy thunderstorms rolling through the Atlanta area, the LSU Tigers wrapped up play facing a 3-1-1 deficit to the Georgia Bulldogs in their semifinal match at the inaugural East Lake Cup as the match was suspended due to darkness at historic East Lake Golf Club.
The teams finally hit the course with their first tee time at 1:10 p.m. CT after play was delayed for more than two hours in the first ever regular-season collegiate event televised by Golf Channel.
Freshman standout Sam Burns turned in the performance of the day for the Tigers as he walked off the course dormie in his match with Georgia veteran Sepp Straka with a 5-up lead with just five holes to play. Senior All-American Zach Wright also battled back to square his match with Zach Healy through 12 holes.
Burns took control of his match with Straka by making a par on the first hole to go 1-up in his match and never looked back while storming to a 5-up advantage through his first eight holes of the day. He moved to 3-up with pars at the par-four second and par-four fourth holes before making his first birdie of the day at the par-five fifth hole to extend his lead to 4-up on the afternoon.
After trading holes at No. 6 and No. 7, Burns took his largest lead of the day at 5-up with a birdie at the par-four eighth hole to put the Tigers on the brink of their first point of their match with the Bulldogs.
Wright, who entered the event with a perfect 5-0 record in match play during his collegiate career, is also poised to put the Tigers in the scoreboard while playing Healy all square through 12 holes in their match. Wright battled back from a two-hole deficit through five holes with a par at the par-four seventh hole before making an eagle 3 at the par-five ninth hole to draw level in the match.
Burns is not the only LSU freshman in position to put the Tigers on the scoreboard as fellow Shreveport native Nathan Jeansonne finds himself in a tight battle with Greyson Sigg in Match No. 4 of their semifinal. Facing a deficit as much as three holes on the front nine, Jeansonne scored his first win with a birdie at the ninth to pull Sigg’s lead back to 2-up going to the back nine. Jeansonne looks to regroup overnight as he will take that momentum in Tuesday’s play as he has eight holes to position himself for the win.
Georgia’s All-American standout Lee McCoy is poised to close out his match over Tiger junior and fellow All-American Eric Ricard as he owns a 5-up advantage through nine holes at the time play was stopped. After the two made par on the first hole, McCoy took control with wins at holes Nos. 2-5 and No. 7 to position himself with the lead ahead of Tuesday’s restart.
Junior transfer Jaime Lopez Rivarola put the first point on the scoreboard in the match with his 7-and-5 victory over LSU’s junior All-American Brandon Pierce in the first match to tee off following the weather delay.
The semifinal match between the Tigers and Bulldogs resumes Tuesday morning at 6:30 a.m. CT where play was suspended. The winner advances to play the winner of the opposite semifinal match between Southern California and Illinois, while there will also be a consolation match on Tuesday’s afternoon to end the inaugural East Lake Cup. Illinois currently holds a 4-0-1 lead in the match.
Today’s semifinal action has been suspended due to darkness. Play resumes Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. CT. #EastLakeCup pic.twitter.com/WVO27Ow5Us
— LSU Men’s Golf (@LSUMensGolf) November 2, 2015