ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Fifth-ranked LSU bounced back from an opening score of 14-over par 294 in Friday’s first round and played the final 36 holes at 10-over par as a team to earn a fifth-place finish at the 2016 Southeastern Conference Men’s Golf Championships on Sunday afternoon at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course.
The Tigers followed their 6-over 286 in Saturday’s second round with a 4-over 284 in Sunday’s final round to crack the Top 5 of the final team standings in fifth place at 24-over par 864 for the championship.
Freshman Sam Burns matched the team’s lowest individual round for the weekend with his 1-under par 69 on Sunday to help move the defending SEC Champions three spots up the team standings after teeing it up in eighth place to start the day. Senior All-American Zach Wright finished off his final SEC Championship with an even-par 70, while junior All-American Brandon Pierce carded a 1-over 71 and freshman Luis Gagne counted his 4-over 74 in the final round of this year’s conference tournament.
Burns climbed 22 spots up the leaderboard in the final round as he carded four birdies and three bogeys on the day for a team-low 69. Burns was slow out of the blocks with three bogeys in his first five holes to sit at 3-over par on his round, but stormed back with birdies at the par-three sixth, par-four eighth, par-five 15th and par-four 18th holes to break par in the final round.
The freshman from Shreveport, Louisiana, cracked the Top 25 in his first SEC Championship while tying for 25th place on the final leaderboard 9-over par 219 in three rounds at the Seaside Course.
Pierce finished as the top Tiger on the weekend with a final score of 7-over par 217 as he sandwiched rounds of 1-over 71 around a 5-over 75 to tie for 13th place on the leaderboard. Wright also cracked the Top 20 in his final SEC Championship as an LSU Tiger in a tie for 18th place after canceling three birdies with three bogeys for an even-par 70 and final 54-hole score of 8-over par 218.
Junior Eric Ricard teed off Sunday just two shots off the pace in a tie for third place on the leaderboard at even-par for the championship, but managed a final-round 82 to finish in a tie for 36th place at 12-over par in the final standings. Ricard preceded Burns with a 1-under 69 of his own on Saturday to finish level par after 36 holes and head to the final round in a tie for third place overall.
Like Burns, Gagne made his championship debut for the Tigers this weekend, tying for 38th place with a final score of 13-over par 223 for the tournament. Gagne rebounded from his 7-over 77 in the first round with a 2-over 72 in the second round and 4-over 74 in the final round on Sunday to round out the lineup.
The No. 4-ranked Georgia Bulldogs pulled off an SEC-title sweep on Sunday as they finished three shots clear of Texas A&M for the team title with a winning score of 13-over par 853 and All-American Lee McCoy won a two-shot victory over Kentucky’s Tyler McDaniel for the individual title with a final 54-hole score of 3-under par 207 for the championship.
Rounding out the Top 5 of the final team standings were No. 18-ranked Florida and No. 23-ranked Arkansas in a tie for third place at 21-over 861, followed by LSU in fifth place at 24-over 864 for the weekend.
Following their strong finish at the SEC Championships, the Tigers will await their ninth-straight NCAA Regional selection as the field for the 2016 NCAA Men’s Golf Regionals will be announced in just over two weeks on Thursday, May 5. The defending NCAA Champions look to defend their crown as part of the field at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships by earning a top-five team finish in NCAA Region competition.
2016 SEC MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS – FINAL ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 840)
1. Georgia 277-291-285 – 853 +13; 2. Texas A&M 287-283-286 – 856 +16; T3. Arkansas 288-283-290 – 861 +21; T3. Florida 285-290-286 – 861 +21; 5. LSU 294-286-284 – 864 +24; 6. Auburn 291-283-291 – 865 +25; 7. Kentucky 277-289-302 – 868 +28; 8. Vanderbilt 286-294-294 – 874 +34; 9. Tennessee 286-292-297 – 875 +35; 10. South Carolina 292-294-293 – 879 +39; 11. Alabama 294-292-294 – 880 +40; 12. Missouri 289-292-300 – 881 +41; 13. Ole Miss 301-298-289 – 888 +48; 14. Mississippi State 304-298-293 – 895 +55.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 210)
1. Lee McCoy, Georgia, 68-70-69 – 207 -3; 2. Tyler McDaniel, Kentucky, 68-72-69 – 209 -1; 3. Matt Gilchrest, Auburn, 68-71-71 – 210 E; 4. Gordon Neale, Florida, 68-76-67 – 211 +1; T5. Sam Horsfield, Florida, 71-72-69 – 212 +2; T5. Taylor Moore, Arkansas, 72-68-72 – 212 +2; T5. Chandler Phillips, Texas A&M, 68-73-71 – 212 +2; T5. Andrew Lister, Texas A&M, 74-66-72 – 212 +2; 9. Charles Kim, Arkansas, 71-73-70 – 214 +4; T10. Greyson Sigg, Georgia, 69-75-71 – 215 +5; T10. Sean Kelly, South Carolina, 73-68-74 – 215 +5.
LSU SCORES
T13. Brandon Pierce, 71-75-71 – 217 +7
T18. Zach Wright, 75-73-70 – 218 +8
T25. Sam Burns, 78-72-69 – 219 +9
T36. Eric Ricard, 71-69-82 – 222 +12
T38. Luis Gagne, 77-72-74 – 223 +13