PALM CITY, Fla. – After matching Texas A&M’s Chandler Phillips with the leading score in the field at 2-under par 211 after 54 holes, LSU’s senior All-American Zach Wright made par at the par-four 18th hole to win a one-hole, sudden-death playoff for the individual title Tuesday at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational at Floridian National Golf Club.
Wright matched his Aggie counterpart at 2-under par for the championship after firing a final round 1-under par 70 to set up a sudden-death playoff for the individual title and an exemption into next year’s PGA TOUR Valspar Championship for the winner. It took just one hole for Wright to claim the crown as he made par with Phillips settling for second place with a bogey.
Wright’s victory helped propel the 22nd-ranked Tigers to a wire-to-wire second-place finish in a loaded 15-team field as they teamed for the lowest round of the tournament at 5-under par 279 on Tuesday.
While Wright scored his second tournament title in three starts this spring, freshman Luis Gagne finished one shot behind his teammate in a tie for third place at 1-under par 212 to claim his best career finish in only his second tournament start for the Tigers. Fellow freshman Sam Burns nearly cracked the Top 10 himself as he tied for 12th place individually at 3-over 216 in 54 holes of action.
LSU finished five shots off the pace set by No. 8-ranked Texas as the Tigers posted a 54-hole team score of 8-over par 860 to place second in a field that featured four top-10 and 10 top-25 teams in the current Golfstat Top 25 power rankings. The Longhorns were crowned champions with a winning score of 3-over 855, while No. 29 Texas A&M and No. 13 Oklahoma State tied for third place at 19-over 871.
Wright has certainly joined the discussion of worthy Ben Hogan Award candidates with his performance this spring as Tuesday’s win marked his second in three spring starts following his victory for The Prestige at PGA West just over a month ago. The senior from Phoenix, Arizona, picked up his fourth top-five and fifth top-10 finish during the 2015-16 campaign.
By winning the Valspar Collegiate Invitational with rounds of 2-under 69, 1-over 72 and 1-under 70, Wright is sure to climb from his current No. 18 national ranking in the Golfstat individual player rankings.
Gagne was impressive while making only his second collegiate start this week at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational as he fired his third-straight career-low of the tournament with a final round 2-under 69 to break par in the event at 1-under 212 for 54 holes and finish just one shot behind Wright in the tie for third place on the final leaderboard.
Gagne, who opened the championship with rounds of 2-over 73 and 1-under 70 on Monday, earned his first career top-five and top-10 finish as an LSU Tiger after he tied for 45th place in his only previous appearance in the purple and gold at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic back in September. He slashed his scoring average by nearly three strokes to 73.50 strokes per round during the event.
Gagne carded six birdies, two bogeys and one double bogey to shoot 69 on the day, including a run of four-straight birdies on the back nine at the par-four 11th, par-three 12th, par-five 13th and par-four 14th holes.
LSU’s rookies proved to be catalysts in the Tigers taking home a second-place team finish from Floridian National Golf Club as Burns matched his career-low round in relation to par with a team-leading 4-under 67 in the final round to climb 23 spots up the final leaderboard and into a tie for 12th place overall. He missed earning his first career top-10 finish by a single stroke as he rebounded from Monday’s opener where he finished two rounds of 1-over 72 and 6-over 77 to tie for 35th place heading into Tuesday’s finale.
Burns’ only blemish on his scorecard in the final round came with a double bogey at the par-four 18th hole after he played 17 holes at 6-under par. His afternoon was highlighted by an eagle 3 at the par-five 13th hole, as well as four birdies at the par-five seventh, par-four 10th, par-five 15th and par-four 17th holes for a round of 4-under for the fourth time this season.
Rounding out LSU’s four counting scores was a 2-over par round of 73 by junior All-American Brandon Pierce, who finished the championship in a tie for 31st place overall with a two-day total of 8-over 221. Pierce kicked off the event with a 1-over 72 in the first round followed by a 5-over 76 in the second round in Monday’s opener.
Fellow junior Eric Ricard rounded out the lineup for the tournament by tying for 63rd place with a final score of 16-over par 229, including a 4-over 75 in Tuesday’s round in which he played the back nine at even par.
While Wright tied Phillips for the 54-hole lead at 2-under 211 and Gagne finished one shot back in a tie for third place at 1-under 212 with Texas’ Doug Ghim, three of the elite players in college golf rounded out the Top 5 of the leaderboard in a tie for fifth place as Illinois teammates Thomas Detry and Charlie Danielson and South Carolina’s Matthew NeSmith tied one another with scores of even-par 213.
The Tigers will next return home to Baton Rouge on Tuesday, March 29, to play host to the one-day, 36-hole event at the Tiger Classic at the University Club before wrapping up their regular season with an appearance at Texas A&M’s Aggie Invitational being held April 2-3 at Traditions Golf Club in Bryan, Texas.
VALSPAR COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 852)
1. Texas 283-287-285 – 855 +3; 2. LSU 286-295-279 – 860 +8; T3. Texas A&M 294-290-287 – 871 +19; T3. Oklahoma State 295-288-288 – 871 +19; T5. South Carolina 294-298-282 – 874 +22; T5. Illinois 295-295-284 – 874 +22; 7. Houston 301-289-288 – 878 +26; 8. South Florida 296-289-295 – 880 +28; T9. Arkansas 298-297-286 – 881 +29; T9. Clemson 293-295-293 – 881 +29; 11. Florida State 288-304-290 – 882 +30; 12. Kent State 294-302-294 – 890 +38; 13. Memphis 289-316-295 – 900 +48; 14. Georgia Tech 307-293-306 – 906 +54; 15. Florida 309-302-298 – 909 +57.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 213)
T1. Zach Wright, LSU, 69-72-70 – 211 -2*; T1. Chandler Phillips, Texas A&M, 73-68-70 – 211 -2; T3. Luis Gagne, LSU, 73-70-69 – 212 -1; T3. Doug Ghim, Texas, 71-73-68 – 212 -1; T5. Thomas Detry, Illinois, 74-74-65 – 213 E; T5. Matthew NeSmith, South Carolina, 71-71-71 – 213 E; T5. Charlie Danielson, Illinois, 70-71-72 – 213 E; T8. Beau Hossler, Texas, 72-74-68 – 214 +1; T8. Gavin Hall, Texas, 69-68-77 – 214 +1; T10. Scott Stevens, South Carolina, 71-73-71 – 215 +2; T10. Rowin Caron, Florida State, 70-73-72 – 215 +2.
LSU SCORES
T1. Zach Wright, 69-72-70 – 211 -2*
T3. Luis Gagne, 73-70-69 – 212 -1
T12. Sam Burns, 72-77-67 – 216 +3
T31. Brandon Pierce, 72-76-73 – 221 +8
T63. Eric Ricard, 74-80-75 – 229 +16
* – Wright was crowned the individual champion following a one-hole, sudden-death playoff.