BATON ROUGE — The future of the LSU men’s golf program has been on display this season as freshmen have cracked the lineup week in and week out, and three Tigers were rewarded for their play Thursday by being named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
This marks the first time in league history that the Southeastern Conference has published an all-freshman team in addition to its all-conference teams released on April 28.
LSU’s Andrew Loupe, John Peterson and Clayton Rotz are among eight rookies in the SEC that have been named to the league’s inaugural all-freshman team as they join standouts Sam Chavez of Arkansas, Harris English and Russell Henley of Georgia, Jonathan Randolph of Ole Miss and Robin Wingardh of Tennessee.
The trio has proven to be among the nation’s premier freshman classes this season as it currently ranks No. 3 in the country in the latest Golfstat Top 25 Freshman Class Impact Ranking.
Their hard work has paid off this season as Loupe, Peterson and Rotz have helped lead the Tigers into the postseason. The squad will compete in the NCAA West Regional to be held May 15-17 at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash.
“I know it’s very rewarding for these young men to be honored for having a solid first year in our program,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “It’s quite an accomplishment for three freshmen to come in and make this kind of an impact in the SEC. Each has played extremely well at times this year, and they’ve been rewarded for their hard work with this honor.”
LSU’s momentum shows no signs of slowing down any time soon as the Tigers will welcome the nation’s fourth-ranked recruiting class to campus in the fall according to Golfweek.
Joining the LSU program in the fall will be Austin Gutgsell of Mandeville, La., Josh Jones of The Colony, Texas, and Sang Yi of Carrollton, Texas. Yi and Jones are ranked among the Top 20 junior golfers in the country for the Class of 2008 with Yi being ranked No. 12 and Jones coming in at No. 20 in the latest junior rankings released by Golfweek.
“What this freshman class has been able to accomplish in their first year of college golf is further evidence that we’re putting the pieces in place for LSU golf to be competitive on a national level once again,” Winstead said. “The future looks even brighter with the outstanding recruiting class we have coming in next year. It’s just an exciting time to be a Tiger.”
2008 SEC MEN’S GOLF ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Sam Chavez, Arkansas
Harris English, Georgia
Russell Henley, Georgia
Andrew Loupe, LSU
John Peterson, LSU
Clayton Rotz, LSU
Jonathan Randolph, Ole Miss
Robin Wingardh, Tennessee