LSU Gold

Men's Golf Adds Woollam to Heralded Class

by Aaron Hyder
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Men's Golf Adds Woollam to Heralded Class

Baton Rouge, La. – The LSU men’s golf team inked Chris Woollam to a National Letter of Intent on Wednesday, head coach Chuck Winstead announced. Woollam will come to Baton Rouge all the way from Hilton, KZN, South Africa. A well-rounded ball striker, the South African will be a member of the 2018-19 LSU squad.

“Chris has the attributes we look for in our players,“ Winstead noted. “He’s a bright young man, hard-working, disciplined and committed to continuing to improve. He’s a very talented player and one that we are very excited about joining our team for next season.”

Playing in a number of high caliber tournaments, Woollam is well versed in both stroke and match play. His 2017 stats saw him average 70.81 strokes per round, while hitting 72 percent of fairways and an impressive 78 percent of greens in regulation.

In 2018 alone, he has registered a pair of runner-up finishes at two major tournaments – the Sanlam South African Championship and the Northern Amateur Championship; both of those events were match play. The result of his high-quality play has him ranked as the 423rd-best golfer in the World Amateur rankings.

The Sanlam South African Championship boasts a rich history of successful golfers – Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman – and in 2017, Woollam etched his name in the record book by earning medalist honors in the stroke play portion of the tournament with rounds of 65 and 64 to finish at 15-under par. Finishing the initial 36 holes tied with the reigning English Amateur champion, Dan Brown, Woollam used composed play on the first three playoff holes before nestling his second shot from the fairway to tap in range on the fourth playoff hole to claim the Proudfoot Trophy. The trophy is awarded to the golfer with the best gross score in the two qualifying rounds of the South African Amateur.

Woollam served as a team captain at Hilton College for the past five years dating back to 2013. He won the 2017 KwaZulu-Natal High School Championship with a three-under par 141 (71-70), and he captured first-place finishes at the 2016 and 2017 Gowrie Golf Club men’s championships, while also earning a first-place showing at the 2016 KZN Midlands Schools Championship. A multiple-time selection for the national South African High School team, he earned third-place honors at the 2016 South African U17 stroke play championships.

Having already signed one of the top classes in the country in November, Woollam does nothing but give a boost to the already elite incoming crop of freshman for the Tigers.