ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – LSU’s junior All-American Eric Ricard followed his 1-over par 71 in Friday’s opening round with a team-low 1-under par 69 in Saturday’s second round to finish the day within two shots of the lead at the 2016 SEC Men’s Golf Championships with an even-par 140 in two rounds at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course.
Ricard carded four birdies and three bogeys for a round of 71 to climb 14 spots up the leaderboard and finish in a tie for third place with five other golfers in the race for the SEC’s individual title.
Georgia’s Lee McCoy teed off Saturday two shots back in a tie for second place following his opening-round 2-under 68, but finished the day with a one shot lead over Auburn’s Matt Gilchrest after posting an even-par 70 for a two-day total of 2-under par 138. Ricard is two shots back in a tie for third with the likes of Vanderbilt’s Matthias Schwab, who held the first-round lead with his 4-under 66 on Friday.
Ricard’s performance helped the 14th-ranked Tigers move three spots up the team standings into a tie for eighth place at the end of the day as they finished off a team score of 6-over par 286. LSU will tee off Sunday in a tie for eighth place with No. 7-ranked Vanderbilt with matching scores of 20-over par 580 through 36 holes.
Kentucky outlasted No. 4-ranked Georgia for the second-round lead after teeing off in a tie for the top spot at the start of the day after matching one another with scores of 3-under 277 on Friday. Kentucky finished its second round with a 9-over 289 on the day and 6-over 566 for the championship with Georgia falling two shots back with an 11-over 291 on the day and 8-over 568 overall.
Also in the hunt for this year’s SEC team title are Texas A&M in third place at 10-over 570, No. 23-ranked Arkansas in fourth place at 11-over 571 and No. 6-ranked Auburn in fifth place at 14-over 574.
Ricard is in contention to become the 17th LSU Tiger in history to be crowned the SEC Individual Champion, and the first in 29 years since the great David Toms was crowned champion as a sophomore in 1987. Ricard also has his sights set on a third individual title this season after winning medalist honors at the David Toms Intercollegiate back in October and as the co-champion at the Tiger Classic nearly three weeks ago.
Ricard rebounded from a difficult start to his round after teeing off on the back nine as he sat 3-over par through six holes with bogeys at the par-three 12th, par-four 14th and par-five 15th holes. But he reeled off a total of four birdies the rest of the way, including the par-three 17th hole to turn at 2-over par for the day and the par-four first, par-four fifth and par-five seventh holes to finish with a 3-under 32 on the front nine for a final score of 1-under par 69 to lead the Tigers up the standings in the second round.
Freshmen Sam Burns and Luis Gagne added matching scores of 2-over 72 on the day, while senior Zach Wright rounded out the counting scores with a 3-over 73 for LSU’s team score of 6-over par 286. Wright ended his round in a tie for 41st place at 8-over 148, followed by Gagne alone in 46th place at 9-over 149 and Burns in a tie for 47th place at 10-overa 150.
Junior All-American Brandon Pierce is the second-highest Tiger on the individual leaderboard through two rounds as he sits in a tie for 28th place at 6-over par 146, including a 5-over 75 in Saturday’s action.
The Tigers will be in the first wave off the first tee in Sunday’s final round as they tee off alongside Tennessee and Vanderbilt beginning at 6:30 a.m. CT. Golfstat will provide live scoring for the final round as fans should follow the Tigers in action by going online to http://www.golfstat.com. Sunday’s final round at the SEC Championships will be televised by the SEC Network beginning at Noon CT.
2016 SEC MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 560)
1. Kentucky 277-289 – 566 +6; 2. Georgia 277-291 – 568 +8; 3. Texas A&M 287-283 – 570 +10; 4. Arkansas 288-283 – 571 +11; 5. Auburn 291-283 – 574 +14; 6. Florida 285-290 – 575 +15; 7. Tennessee 286-292 – 278 +18; T8. LSU 294-286 – 580 +20; T8. Vanderbilt 286-294 – 580 +20; 10. Missouri 289-292 – 581 +21; T11. South Carolina 292-294 – 586 +26; T11. Alabama 294-292 – 586 +26; 13. Ole Miss 301-298 – 599 +39; 14. Mississippi State 304-298 – 602 +42.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 140)
1. Lee McCoy, Georgia, 68-70 – 138 -2; 2. Matt Gilchrest, Auburn, 68-71 – 139 -1; T3. Eric Ricard, LSU, 71-69 – 140 E; T3. Chad Merzbacher, Tennessee, 70-70 – 140 E; T3. Matthias Schwab, Vanderbilt, 66-74 – 140 E; T3. Taylor Moore, Arkansas, 72-68 – 140 E; T3. Tyler McDaniel, Kentucky, 68-72 – 140 E; T3. Andrew Lister, Texas A&M, 74-66 – 140 E; T9. Stephen Stallings, Jr., Kentucky, 69-72 – 141 +1; T9. Cooper Musselman, Kentucky, 70-71 – 141 +1; T9. Chandler Phillips, Texas A&M, 68-73 – 141 +1; T9. Sean Kelly, South Carolina, 73-68 – 141 +1.
LSU SCORES
T3. Eric Ricard, 71-69 – 140 E
T28. Brandon Pierce, 71-75 – 146 +6
T41. Zach Wright, 75-73 – 148 +8
46. Luis Gagne, 77-72 – 149 +9
T47. Sam Burns, 78-72 – 150 +10