LSU Gold

Men's Golf Ready to Defend Title at Toms Event

by Will Stafford (@WillStaffordLSU)
Round 1 Pairings +0
Men's Golf Ready to Defend Title at Toms Event

BATON ROUGE – In the wake of their record-setting victory at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate in Arizona two weeks ago, the No. 2-ranked LSU Tigers will tee it up on their home course at The University Club where they look to defend their team title at the eighth-annual David Toms Intercollegiate being held Saturday and Sunday.

Teams will play two rounds Saturday with a shotgun start scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. CT, followed by Sunday’s final round that will also get underway at 8:30 a.m. with another shotgun start. The University Club will play to a par 72 and 7,220 yards for the championship. Golfstat live scoring will be available throughout the event at http://www.golfstat.com.

The Tigers are five-time winners of David Toms Intercollegiate in seven previous seasons as they will tee off Saturday as the defending champions after scoring an even-par 864 to win by 16 shots last fall.

The Field

The Tigers look to defend their title against a 14-team field that also features two other clubs ranked among the nation’s Top 100 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index released earlier this week. LSU enters the weekend ranked No. 2 nationally in Golfweek’s power ranking, while No. 31-ranked North Texas and No. 66-ranked Louisiana-Monroe are among the title contenders.

The Tigers are also ranked No. 4 in latest Bushnell Golfweek Coaches’ Top 25 following their record-setting victory at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate two weeks ago as they moved up three spots in the ranking.

Rounding out the field of 14 teams at the eighth-annual David Toms Intercollegiate are Central Arkansas, DePaul, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, Navy, Pennsylvania, South Alabama, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Illinois and Western Carolina. Louisiana-Lafayette is the top returning team from last year’s event when the Ragin’ Cajuns placed fifth overall in the final team standings.

LSU’s starting five is paired with in-state rivals Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana Tech during Saturday’s action as they will tee off from holes Nos. 1-3. Four individuals are also set to compete beginning at Nos. 14-17.

Last Year

The Tigers were the only team to finish at par or better in the seventh-annual event a year ago as they finished 16 shots clear of the field with their winning score of even-par 864. Kansas State finished runner-up at 16-over par 880, followed by Liberty in third place at 22-over 886, Iowa in fourth place at 26-over 890 and Louisiana-Lafayette in fifth place at 36-over 900.

LSU All-American Eric Ricard captured his first collegiate title by seven shots when he finished at 10-under par 206 for the championship, including his career-low round of 7-under par 65 in the second round.

The Tigers dotted the leaderboard a season ago as Ricard was followed by Nathan Jeansonne in a tie for second place overall at 3-under par 213 to earn what would be the best finish of his freshman season. Senior All-American Zach Wright also cracked the Top 10 of the final leaderboard at 5-over 221 to tie for eighth place.

Last Time Out

The 2015 NCAA Champions are riding a wave of momentum heading into the weekend following their record-setting victory at the inaugural Maui Jim Intercollegiate held at Mirabel Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, just two weeks ago. They captured their first tournament title in two appearances this season and the 26th team title into the 12th year of the Chuck Winstead era at LSU.

The Tigers posted team rounds of 14-under 270, 13-under 271 and 14-under 270 en route to a school-record tournament score of 41-under par 811 to finish five shots ahead of Baylor in second place at 36-under.

Leading the way was sophomore All-American Luis Gagne, who captured his first career tournament title in emphatic fashion with a three-round score of 17-under par 196. Gagne closed out the championship by firing a 5-under 66 in the final round after opening with back-to-back career-lows of 6-under 65 in the first and second rounds of the event.

Fellow sophomore All-American Sam Burns and senior All-American Brandon Pierce also cracked the Top 10 of the leaderboard at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate as Burns placed eighth at 7-under par followed by Pierce in a tie for ninth place at 6-under par for his first top-10 finish of the season. Sophomore Nathan Jeansonne tied for 13th place at 5-under par, while senior All-American Eric Ricard tied for 18th place at 2-under par.

The Lineup

LSU’s record-setting lineup returns to defend its team title at the David Toms Intercollegiate this weekend as Burns, Gagne, Jeansonne, Pierce and Ricard will be in action once again. Senior Rhyne Jones makes his third appearance of the 2016 fall season, while junior Blake Caldwell will see his first action and freshmen Carter Toms and Drew Gonzales both make their collegiate debuts as individuals.

Burns is off to a flying start to his sophomore season with two top-10 finishes in his two appearances and the second-leading scoring average on the team at 69.00 strokes per round in six rounds played this fall. He tied for sixth place in LSU’s season opener at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic on Sept. 11 before placing eighth at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate.

Gagne is the top Tiger with a 68.50 scoring average through two events, while Jeansonne owns a 69.33 average in one start. Pierce adds a 70.67 average and Ricard boasts a 71.33 average in two appearances each.

What’s Next?

After playing host to the eighth-annual David Toms Intercollegiate this weekend, the Tigers will be back in action Oct. 21-23 with a trip to Alpharetta, Georgia, to tee it up at The Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate. They end the 2016 fall season with a trip to Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, where they will compete at the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic at Ka’anapali Golf Club from Nov. 4-6.