LSU Gold

Men's Golf Begins Spring at Sea Best Invitational

by Kip Haines
+0
Men's Golf Begins Spring at Sea Best Invitational

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL – The No. 7-ranked LSU Men’s golf team will tee off Monday, Feb. 5 in its first tournament of the spring at TPC Sawgrass – Dye’s Valley Course for the 10th annual Sea Best Invitational.

Jacksonville University will play host to 15 teams as part of the two-day, 54-hole tournament that runs through Tuesday. The par-70 Dye’s Valley Course will play 6,873 yards for the week.

The Tigers look to continue firing on all cylinders after a strong fall season with four top-five finishes in five tournaments. They closed out their last tournament, the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic in Hawaii, with a 31-under par first-place finish.

The Field

LSU is the leading team in the field in this week’s Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.

Other top-25 teams in the field this week include, No. 20 North Carolina, No. 24 Duke, and No. 25 Arkansas, while No. 27 Tennessee, No. 30 North Florida, and No. 43 South Florida are all in the top 50. Other schools in the 15-team field include Campbell, East Carolina, Jacksonville, Liberty, Lipscomb, USC Upstate, and Winthrop.

The Lineup

The Tigers are starting their spring season with a similar lineup to the starting five in the fall. Juniors Luis Gagne and Nathan Jeansonne, sophomore Philip Barbaree and freshmen Jacob Bergeron and Trey Winstead will all be competing in the opener. Senior Blake Caldwell will also be competing as an individual.

Barbaree and Winstead are coming off of impressive fall seasons as the two youngsters had three top-10 finishes, which include Barabaree’s tie for fifth at the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic and Winstead’s tie for ninth place at the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational.

All-American Gagne and Bergeron also look to carry over their solid fall season to the spring. Gagne posted a 71.64 scoring average in his five starts and Bergeron had two top-10’s to go with his team leading 71.29 scoring average.

Live scoring for the 54-hole event on the par-70 course will be available at LSUsports.net through golfstatresults.com. Updates during the day can be found on Twitter @LSUmensgolf and a complete update after the round on Twitter, Instagram and www.Facebook.com/LSUmensgolf.