BRYAN, Texas – Senior All-American Zach Wright and freshman Luis Gagne wrapped up Saturday’s opening day of action at the Aggie Invitational at even-par through 36 holes to lead the Tigers into third place in the team standings with darkness halting play before the conclusion of the second round at Texas A&M’s Traditions Golf Club.
The 17th-ranked Tigers were among nine teams finishing the opening 36 holes of the championship scheduled to be played on Saturday as they followed their 1-under par 287 in the first round with a 10-over par 298 in the second round for a team score of 9-over par 585 on the day. They were second following the opening round after breaking par in the morning.
LSU finished 11 shots off the pace set by leader Oklahoma State as the Cowboys were the only team in the field to break par at 2-under par for the tournament when play was suspended for darkness.
The Cowboys led the Tigers by four shots at the end of the opening round as they fired a tournament-low 5-under 283 in the morning before picking up in the afternoon at 3-over par in the second round with just two players still on the course. North Texas separated LSU and Oklahoma State in second place at 4-over 580, while Arkansas followed in fourth at 11-over 587 and Baylor rounded out the top five in fifth at 13-over 589.
Wright and Gagne both wrapped up Saturday’s play in a tie for fifth place on the leaderboard at even-par for the championship after firing matching scores of 144 for the opening 36 holes. Gagne followed a career-low round of 3-under par 69 in the morning with a 3-over par 75 in the afternoon, while Wright carded rounds of 2-under 70 and 2-over 74 to finish the day at even-par.
Gagne fired out of the gate in the first round by making birdies on three of his opening six holes at the par-four first, third and sixth holes along with a bogey at the par-three second hole to sit at 2-under par early in his round. After turning at 1-under par, he also carded three birdies on the back nine at the par-three 11th, par-five 15th and par-four 17th holes against just one bogey at the par-four 14th for a score of 69.
Wright also broke par in the morning while writing five birdies and three bogeys on his scorecard before canceling out his 2-under 70 in the first round with a 2-over 74 in the second to end the day tied with Gagne.
Juniors Brandon Pierce and Eric Ricard both counted scores of 2-over par 74 toward LSU’s team score in the first round, while Pierce added a second-straight round of 74 and freshman Sam Burns carded a second score of 3-over 75 to round out the team scoring in the second round. Pierce finished the day in a tie for 23rd at 4-over 148, followed by Burns in a tie for 34th at 6-over 150 and Ricard in a tie for 49th at 9-over 153.
Ian Snyman of North Texas wrapped up play on Saturday with a four-shot lead over Oklahoma State’s Kristoffer Ventura on the leaderboard after firing rounds of 2-under 70 and 5-under 67 to sit at 7-under par.
Groups still needing to finish the second round will resume play at 7 a.m. CT with tee times for the final round of the championship pushed back to 8 a.m. Pairings for the final round have been determined according to the team standings at the time play was suspended as the Tigers are paired with Oklahoma State and North Texas and will tee off in the final wave off the front nine beginning at 9:40 a.m. CT.