LA QUINTA, Calif. – The defending national champion LSU Tigers made history in Wednesday’s final round at the 16th-annual Prestige at PGA West as they smashed school records with their 19-under par 265 on the afternoon and 26-under par 826 for the championship to cruise to the team title in the three-day event held at the Greg Norman Course.
It took the Tigers just six holes to erase a five-shot deficit to second-round leader Arizona State at the start of the day before storming to a 18-shot victory in the end as they claimed their second team title on the 2015-16 season after defending their home turf at the David Toms Intercollegiate during the fall season.
Senior All-American Zach Wright made it a clean sweep for the Tigers as he also captured the individual title by two shots over San Diego State’s Ryann Ree with a career-low score of 12-under par 201.
Wright was among four Tigers to break par in the final round as he matched junior All-American Eric Ricard and freshman Sam Burns with scores of 4-under par 67, while freshman Nathan Jeansonne set the pace with a career-low, bogey-free round of 7-under 64 on the day to become the first LSU Tiger in 27 years to fire a round of 64 in a collegiate tournament.
Junior All-American Brandon Pierce added an even-par round of 71 on Wednesday to join Wright in the Top 10 of the final leaderboard and help the Tigers kick start their spring season with a resounding victory.
The Tigers captured the 24th team championship of the Chuck Winstead era while smashing their previous school-record score in relation to par of 21-under 843 that was actually set one year ago in a fourth-place finish at the 2015 Prestige at PGA West when the tournament was held at the par-72 Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course. They also eclipsed their previous school-record round of 17-under par 263 that was posted for the third and final round at the 2014 SEC Championships in a second-place team finish.
LSU, which traveled to PGA West with a No. 28 national ranking in the Golfstat power rankings following the fall season, are sure to see their fortunes rise after finishing 18 shots clear of a strong field that featured four top-10 teams in No. 5-ranked Stanford, No. 6-ranked Duke, No. 7-ranked Southern California and No. 9-ranked Arizona State.
The Sun Devils followed in second place at 8-under par 844, while No. 25-ranked San Diego State surged into third at 4-under 848, Pepperdine followed in fourth at even-par 852 and USC finished fifth at 5-over 857.
“This was a fantastic week for our team. It’s come maybe a little quicker than I would have thought, but the guys played great,” Winstead said of his team’s performance so early in the spring season. “Our main focus is just doing the right things in practice and playing the right way. We know if we do those things, we have the talent to play some great golf over the course of the spring.”
After teeing off five shots behind the Sun Devils, the Tigers chipped into their lead early in the round when Ricard holed out from off the fairway for an eagle at the par-four second hole to cut the deficit to three shots with just two groups on the course. Burns then pulled the Tigers to within one shot with his first birdie of the day at the par-four third hole.
Jeansonne then gave the Tigers their first lead of the day with his first birdie at the par-three fourth to drop the team to 4-under par in the early stages Wednesday and 12-under par for the championship.
It was a lead they would not relinquish as they quickly went five shots in front after Ricard made birdie at the par-four sixth to fall to 3-under on his round, and Burns added two more birdies at the par-three fourth and par-four fifth holes before a bogey at the sixth to sit at 2-under par early in his round. Ricard made it three-straight birdies at the par-three seventh and par-five eighth before making the turn at 5-under par on his card with Jeansonne also making the turn at 2-under par with a birdie of his own at No. 8.
The Tigers left no doubt as to which team would be leaving PGA West with the trophy as they extended their lead to 12 shots at the turn as Pierce went through at 1-under and Wright turned at even-par on the day.
Jeansonne then made it 14 shots with back-to-back birdies at the par-four 11th and par-five 12th holes. Ricard followed with consecutive birdies of his own at the par-four 10th and 11th to put LSU 16 shots in front of their closest rivals. Their advantage grew to 15 shots through 15 holes and as many as 20 shots down the stretch on the back nine.
Jeansonne closed even stronger in the final stages with three birdies in his final five holes at the par-four 14th, par-five 16th and par-three 17th holes en route to a bogey-free round of 7-under par 64. His was the first 64 by an LSU Tiger almost 27 years to the day when Greg Lesher shot a 64 on Feb. 10, 1989, while playing at the Gator Invitational in Gainesville. It was also the lowest round in relation to par since Ricard shot a 7-under par 65 in the second round at the David Toms Intercollegiate last fall.
Despite teeing off Wednesday in a tie for 51st place after consecutive scores of 4-over 75 in the first two rounds, Jeansonne climbed into the Top 20 of the final leaderboard in a tie for 19th place with his effort.
“Nathan is playing really well,” Winstead said of his freshman in just his third career tournament start. “The first couple of days didn’t quite go the way he wanted them to, I’m sure, but he wasn’t far off. Too often you see guys press when it’s not going well, and things just go from bad to worse. Nathan didn’t do that. He just stayed patient and kept going. He did that today and got on a roll.”
After getting to 7-under par himself through 11 holes, Ricard made bogey on three of the final four holes of the day to be the first Tiger to finish with a 4-under 67 on the round. Burns followed with a 67 of his own with back-to-back birdies at the par-three 17th and par-four 18th holes to finish in a tie for 14th place with Ricard with matching scores of 1-under par 212 for the week.
Wright matched his teammates with a 4-under 67 of his own in the final round to finish two shots clear of San Diego State’s Ryann Ree with his career-low tournament total of 12-under par 201. He grabbed the lead for the first time with birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 before extending it to two shots with a third-straight birdie at No. 16. Wright eclipsed his previous best of 10-under 206 in winning his first collegiate title at the 2013 Louisiana Classic during the spring of his freshman season.
Wright also equaled the lowest tournament score to par by an LSU Tiger in more than 30 years since LSU’s former NCAA Champion John Peterson fired a 12-under 204 at the 2009 Gary Koch Invitational.
“The growth that Zach has made in his golf game over the last two years would make any coach proud,” Winstead said of his lone senior. “The growth he has made on and off the course, it’s leading a young man into a profession based on the choices he makes in his life every day. It’s what makes being a coach so rewarding, seeing what he is doing now, and guys like John Peterson, Andrew Loupe, Curtis Thompson, Smylie Kaufman and so many others here recently. They are having the kind of careers they are because of how they have matured as young men.”
Pierce wrapped up his first top-10 finish of the season with an even-par 71 in Wednesday’s final round as followed a 2-under 69 on Monday and a 3-under 68 on Tuesday to place sixth overall at 5-under par 208.
In one of the more impressive rounds in recent memory, the five Tigers in the lineup collectively carded 26 birdies, 1 eagle and just nine bogeys in a combined 90 holes played on Wednesday. Winstead made sure they would keep this week’s performance in perspective and prepare themselves for the many twists and turns sure to come during the spring season.
“We just need to keep plugging away and staying patient,” Winstead added. “We’re going to have ups and downs this season. Today was a great day, but there will be rounds this season where we don’t play that well. We just have to be ready for it and keep going. We have talent in this team, but talent alone doesn’t get it done. We’ve got to keep doing the right things every day in practice, and keep improving with each event.”
With their second championship trophy of the season now in the cabinet, the Tigers will look to maintain their momentum to start the spring season when they return to Querencia Golf Club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in just under two weeks to compete at this year’s Querencia Cabo Collegiate that is scheduled to run Feb. 28-March 1.
16TH-ANNUAL PRESTIGE AT PGA WEST – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 852)
1. LSU 277-284-265 – 826 -26; 2. Arizona State 287-269-288 – 844 -8; 3. San Diego State 294-275-279 – 848 -4; 4. Pepperdine 290-282-280 – 852 E; 5. Southern California 285-293-279 – 857 +5; 6. Stanford 282-285-292 – 859 +7; T7. St. Mary’s (CA) 291-288-284 – 863 +11; T7. Stirling University 296-287-280 – 863 +11; 9. UC-Davis 293-284-287 – 864 +12; 10. Duke 288-282-295 – 865 +13; 11. East Tennessee State 297-289-287 – 873 +21; 12. Iowa State 303-283-292 – 878 +26; 13. Gonzaga 294-299-290 – 883 +31; 14. Stanford (B) 299-298-290 – 887 +35; 15. San Diego 300-292-310 – 902 +50.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 213)
1. Zach Wright, LSU, 68-66-67 – 201 -12; 2. Ryann Ree, San Diego State, 68-66-69 – 203 -10; T3. Frederick Wedel, Pepperdine, 66-68-71 – 205 -8; T3. Jon Rahm, Arizona State, 70-66-69 – 205 -8; 5. Rico Hoey, Southern California, 68-71-68 – 207 -6; 6. Brandon Pierce, LSU, 69-68-71 – 208 -5; 7. Jared duToit, Arizona State, 68-68-73 – 209 -4; T8. Adrian Meronk, East Tennessee State, 70-68-73 – 211 -2; T8. Craig Howie, Stirling University, 72-69-70 – 211 -2; T8. Riccardo Michelini, San Diego State, 74-70-67 – 211 -2; T8. Alex Smalley, Duke, 70-69-72 – 211 -2; T8. Nahum Mendoza III, San Diego State, 73-68-70 – 211 -2; T8. Max Greyserman, Duke, 69-70-72 – 211 -2.
LSU SCORES
1. Zach Wright, 68-66-67 – 201 -12
6. Brandon Pierce, 69-68-71 – 208 -5
T14. Eric Ricard, 70-75-67 – 212 -1
T14. Sam Burns, 70-75-67 – 212 -1
T19. Nathan Jeansonne, 75-75-64 – 214 +1