LA QUINTA, Calif. – Senior Zach Wright fired a team-low 3-under par 68 and junior Brandon Pierce added a 2-under par 69 as they were among four Tigers breaking par in Monday’s opening round at The Prestige at PGA West to hand LSU an early five-shot lead in the 16th-annual event being held this week at the Greg Norman Course.
The Tigers overtook tournament co-host Stanford for the lead for the first time midway through the back nine and extended their advantage to five shots with their brilliant 7-under par 277 on the afternoon. The fifth-ranked Cardinal were the only other team in the 14-team field to break par in Monday’s opener with their 2-under 282 for second place in the standings.
Wright’s 68 finished two shots off the pace set by Pepperdine’s Frederick Wedel and in a tie for third place on the leaderboard, while Pierce followed in a tie for eighth place with his 69 in the opening round.
Sophomore All-American Eric Ricard and freshman standout Sam Burns added matching rounds of 1-under par 69 to finish the day on the cusp of the Top 10 of the leaderboard and in a tie for 12th place overall. The four counting scores for the Tigers totaled a tournament-low 7-under 277 on the day in their first team round of the 2016 spring season.
While LSU ended the day five shots clear of Stanford for the overall team lead, No. 7-ranked Southern California followed in sole possession of third place with an opening-round 1-over 285, while No. 9-ranked Arizona State trailed in fourth place at 3-over 287 and No. 6-ranked Duke rounded out the Top 5 of the team standings in fifth place with a score of 4-over 288 on Monday afternoon.
Wright closed strong with birdies on three of his final five holes of the day as he turned an even-par round through 13 holes into a 3-under 68 after 18. After trading birdies at the par-three fourth and par-four 11th with bogeys at the par-four sixth and par-three 13th holes, Wright dipped into red figures with back-to-back birdies at the par-four 14th and 15th holes and par-three 17th hole to finish the day in a tie for third.
Pierce carded a team-high six birdies on the day while adding four bogeys on his round for an opening score of 2-under 69. He matched Wright with birdies at Nos. 4, 11 and 14 while also writing down birdies at the par-four second, par-five eighth and par-four 10th holes to finish the day just three shots out of the individual lead.
Ricard posted four birdies and three bogeys on his round, while Burns added a matching 1-under 70 with four birdies, one bogey and one double bogey to finish the afternoon four shots back of leader Wedel.
Freshman standout Nathan Jeansonne rounded out LSU’s lineup on the day with a final score of 4-over par 75 in Monday’s opening round to finish the day in a tie for 42nd in the field of 81 golfers at this week’s Prestige at PGA West. Jeansonne entered the tournament as LSU’s leading scorer on the season with a 71.50 stroke average to-date in his rookie season.
Wedel raced out to an early one-shot lead on the individual leaderboard with a round of 5-under 66, while Stanford’s Brandon Wu finished the day one shot off the pace in second place with a score of 4-under 67.
The final wave off the front nine in Tuesday’s second round features a trio of NCAA heavyweights as the defending national champion Tigers will tee off alongside 2015 NCAA Runner-Up Southern California and power Stanford with tee times beginning at 11:10 a.m. CT. Golfstat will provide live scoring for the second round of the event as fans can follow the Tigers in action at http://www.golfstat.com.
THE PRESTIGE AT PGA WEST – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 284)
1. LSU 277 -7; 2. Stanford 282 -2; 3. Southern California 285 +1; 4. Arizona State 287 +3; 5. Duke 288 +4; 6. Pepperdine 290 +6; 7. St. Mary’s (CA) 291 +7; 8. UC-Davis 293 +9; T9. San Diego State 294 +10; T9. Gonzaga 294 +10; 11. Stirling University 296 +12; 12. East Tennessee State 297 +13; 13. Stanford B 299 +15; 14. San Diego 300 +16; 15. Iowa State 303 +19.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 71)
1. Frederick Wedel, Pepperdine, 66 -6; 2. Brandon Wu, Stanford, 67 -4; T3. Zach Wright, LSU, 68 -3; T3. Jared duToit, Arizona State, 68 -3; T3. Ryann Ree, San Diego State, 68 -3; T3. Maverick McNealy, Stanford, 68 -3; T3. Rico Hoey, Southern California, 68 -3; T8. Brandon Pierce, LSU, 69 -2; T8. Sean Walsh, Gonzaga, 69 -2; T8. Pavan Sagoo, St. Mary’s (CA), 69 -2; T8. Max Greyserman, Duke, 69 -2.
LSU SCORES
T3. Zach Wright, 68 -3
T8. Brandon Pierce, 69 -2
T12. Eric Ricard, 70 -1
T12. Sam Burns, 70 -1
T42. Nathan Jeansonne, 75 +4