BATON ROUGE – The preseason No. 7-ranked LSU Men’s Golf team is set to open up its fall season at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic for the sixth-straight season as it has made the trip to Rocky Face, Georgia, to kick off the 2016-17 campaign at the 28th-annual event at The Farm Golf Club beginning with Friday’s first round.
Tee times are set to begin at 7:30 a.m. CT in the first round on Friday and second round on Saturday, while tee times in Sunday’s final round are scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. The Farm Golf Club is a Tom Fazio design and will play to a par 72 and 7,012 yards for the three-day, 54-hole championship.
A trio of Tigers will play alongside one another in Friday’s opening round as LSU is paired with Auburn and Clemson in the final wave off the front nine with tee times beginning from the first tee at 9 a.m.
The Field
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will play host to a 14-team field that includes two top-10 and seven top-25 programs featured in the Bushnell Golfweek Division I Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Headlining the field this week will be No. 6-ranked Florida and No. 7-ranked LSU, while No. 11 Auburn, No. 13 Clemson, No. 16 Alabama, No. 17 South Carolina and No. 21 Virginia are among the title favorites.
Rounding out the field of 14 teams set to play at The Farm Golf Club in their 2016-17 season opener this weekend will be Chattanooga, Dalton State, Kennesaw State, Memphis, North Florida and Tennessee.
LSU and South Carolina both featured in the eight-team match play at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships last June as both officially tied for fifth place nationally as NCAA quarterfinalists. Florida also made a 54-hole cut at the NCAA Championships before finishing in 15th place nationally after 72 holes, while Alabama, Auburn, Clemson and Virginia also competed in stroke play at the NCAA Championships.
Last Season
Auburn will tee off at The Farm Golf Club on Friday morning as the defending team champion at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic after running away with the team title by 11 shots in the 27th-annual event last fall. In their 2015 fall opener, the Tigers posted a winning 54-hole score of 4-over par 868 to finish 11 strokes clear of Clemson in second place at 13-over 877.
Southeastern Conference teams claimed six of the top-eight spots in the final team standings a year ago as South Carolina followed in third place at 16-over 880 and LSU trailed in fourth place overall with a final score at 19-over 883. Tournament host Georgia Tech capped the Top 5 of the final standings in fifth place at 21-over par in three rounds, while Alabama (895), Florida (899) and Tennessee (900) rounded out the Top 8.
Georgia Tech’s Jacob Joiner scored a one-shot victory over Clemson’s duo of Stephen Behr and Austin Langdale in 2015 with a winning total of 4-under par 212. Second-Team All-American Zach Wright was LSU’s leading performer in last year’s event as he tied Florida’s Sam Horsfield for fourth place at 1-under par for the championship. Horsfield is the top returning individual to this year’s tournament.
LSU at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic
The Tigers are set to open their fall season at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic for the sixth-straight year, and will look to challenge for the team title after placing fourth in the final standings a year ago.
LSU’s best finish since returning to the championship in 2011 has been third place when the Tigers posted a final score of even-par 864 in the fall of 2013. The team followed by firing a 54-hole team score of 9-under par 855 while tying for sixth place in 2014 before earning a fourth-place finish a year ago. LSU also placed eighth in 2011 and tied for fourth in 2012.
The Lineup
The Tigers return an experienced lineup from last year’s squad that advanced to the NCAA match play quarterfinals as seniors Brandon Pierce and Eric Ricard and sophomores Sam Burns and Luis Gagne tee off with All-America credentials in their collegiate careers. They will be joined in the lineup this week by senior Rhyne Jones four appearances in his two seasons with the Tigers.
Pierce and Ricard enter their final season as Tigers with an All-American pedigree after earning third-team and honorable mention honors, respectively, as sophomores following LSU’s national championship run at the 2015 NCAA Championships. Gagne was named an Honorable Mention All-American by both PING and Golfweek in 2016, while Burns added a PING Honorable Mention All-American honor of his own as two of the very best freshmen in the country during their rookie seasons a year ago.
Gagne was one of the nation’s top performing amateurs in the summer as he advanced to the match play quarterfinals at the 116th United States Amateur Championship held Aug. 15-21 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He was the team’s third-leading scorer a year ago with a 72.48 scoring average in his debut season with the Tigers in 2015-16.
Burns, who also featured at the U.S. Amateur this summer where he advanced to the Round of 32 of match play, edged Gagne as the team’s second-leading scorer a season ago with a 72.42 stroke average and started all 12 collegiate events for the Tigers. Burns is the top returning Tiger to the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic after tying for 19th place at 7-over par in his collegiate debut last fall.
Pierce joined his sophomore teammates in match play at the U.S. Amateur as he also advanced to the Round of 32 in his debut appearance in the event. Like Ricard, Pierce is also a former Second-Team All-SEC pick in a decorated collegiate career. Ricard tied for 39th place and Gagne tied for 45th place in their appearance at The Farm Golf Club last fall.
What’s Next?
After kicking off the 2016-17 season at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic this weekend, LSU will head West to Mirabel Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, in two weeks where they will play at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate being held Sept. 23-25 before playing host to the David Toms Intercollegiate from Oct. 8-9 at The University Club in Baton Rouge.