BATON ROUGE — The 19th ranked LSU men’s golf team shot a final round 2-over par 290 Tuesday to win the inagural LSU Spring Invitational at the University Club.
The Tigers began the tournament slowly, finding themselves tied for 10th place after the first round in a field of 18 teams. The Tigers shot 302 in the first round, but responded with a 7-under par 281 in the second round to vault to the top of the leader board after Monday’s play.
Three teams were unable to finish play Monday due to darkness, so they teed off half an hour early Tuesday. Arkansas State, Southern Miss and the College of Charleston teed off at 7:30 a.m., and the other 15 teams began play at 8:00.
The University of Tulsa, coached by former LSU head coach Bill Brogden, finished in second place, five strokes behind the Tigers. Tulsa shot a 289 in the final round, and finished with a total of 878. Arkansas State placed third, at 881, and Rhode Island and Louisiana-Lafayette rounded out the top five.
The story of the tournament was the wind that blew as hard as 30 miles per hour Monday, as well as the cool temperatures both days. The windy conditions seemed to affect every teams’ play, but especially the Tigers.
“When we came out here Monday and saw the wind, we were just shellshocked,” said LSU head coach Greg Jones. “On Monday especially we saw this golf course like we had never seen it before, the wind altered play so much it was like we didn’t even know our own course.”
The win cooperated Tuesday, and that was a positive for the Tigers, who went to work on their home course and won their third tournament title of the season.
“I did not tell the guys anything Monday after the first round when we were struggling because they knew what they had to do, and in the end we pulled it out even though we did not play our best,” said Jones.
The Tigers were led to victory by senior Alan Morgan, who posted a 67 in the final round to finish in second place with a total of 214. He finsished the event 2-under par, and it was his fifth top-10 finish of the season.
Morgan shot a 75 and a 72 in the first two rounds, but rebounded Tuesday with his second-lowest score of the season. He shot a 66 at the Gator Invitational in Februrary.
Jedd McLuen of College of Charleston shot a course record 64 Monday and finished in sixth place with two other golfers. McLuen was the runner-up at the 1999 Country Club of Louisiana Intercollegiate, losing in a three-hole playoff to David Bennett of North Florida. He tied for sixth at the CCLA in October, shooting a 68 in the second round there.
David Inglis of Tulsa won the medalist honors at the Spring Invitational, shooting 73-68-70 for a total of 211. He finished 5-under par, edging Morgan by three strokes. Sophomore John Humphries placed 11th for the Tigers, finishing 2-over par with a total score of 218. Nathan Goulding finished 14th, at 4-over, and Craig Taylor toed for 21st. Garrett Prather finished 27th. Billy Dressler and Damon Julian competed as individuals for LSU. Dressler was 32nd, and Julian was 61st.
Morgan said that the Tigers knew what they had to do to win, but the weather was a real shock, and took a little time to adjust to.
“We knew we were better than what we shot in the first 18 holes, and we just stayed patient and good things happened the second round. The wind also died down today and that really helped.”
The tournament featured two hole-in-ones- one by Shad Muth of Texas-Arlington, and South Alabama’s Ryan Gildersleeve. Muth aced the 13th hole, while Gildersleeve aced number 16.
Despite those few heroic performances, no team finished under par for the tournament.
The victory was the Tigers third of the season, and second at home. The Tigers also captured the team title at the eighth annual CCLA for the first time since 1993. The Tigers also won the Tennessee Tournament of Champions in September. Morgan won medalist honors at both tournaments.
“We made some mistakes, but they are all correctable. The wind died down, and thank goodness Alan shot a real low round or else we may not have won,” said Jones.
“There is a lot of pressure to win your home tournament, with everyone’s family and girlfriends there. We know we are supposed to win, but sometimes it is tough. This is real special, because the University Club is our true home course. It is our version of Tiger stadium.”
The Tigers will have a long break before heading to Statesboro, Ga., for the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational March 24-25.
UNIVERSITY CLUB – BATON ROUGE
Team Results
Par 288-576
1. LSU 302-281-290 – 873 +9; 2. Tulsa 291-298-289 – 878 +14; 3. Arkansas State 292-291-298 – 881 +17; 4. Rhode Island 292-301-293 – 886 +22; 5. Louisiana-Lafayette 302-297-288 – 887 +23; 6. Southeastern Louisiana 306-292-295 – 893 +29; 7. Florida State 296-298-300 – 894 +30; 8. College of Charleston 304-295-298 – 897 +33; 9. Texas-Arlington 293-303-303 – 899 +35; 10. McNeese State 292-306-308 – 906 +42; 11. Tulane 302-301-306 – 909 +45; 12. Southern Mississippi 309-307-294 – 910 +46; 13. Central Florida 301-303-308 – 912 +48; 14. South Alabama 303-309-307 – 919 +55; 15. Oral Roberts 303-314-303 – 920 +56; 15. Troy State 299-306-315 – 920 +56; 17. South Florida 298-306-317 – 921 +57; 18. Louisiana-Monroe 313-312-312 – 937 +73.
Top 50 Individuals (Par 72-216)
1. David Inglis, Tulsa, 73-68-70 – 211 -5
2. Alan Morgan, LSU, 75-72-67 – 214 -2
2. Michael Sims, Rhode Island 70-73-71 – 214 -2
4. Andy Lewis, Florida St., 71-74-70 – 215 -1
4. Adam Rauth, Ark. St., 74-68-73 – 215 -1
6. Jedd McLuen, C of C, 78-64-74 – 216 E
6. Richard Ainley, ULL, 73-74-69 – 216 E
6. Billy Carreto, SLU, 76-72-68 – 216 E
9. Tim Yelverton, So. Miss 73-72-72 – 217 +1
9. Logan Goettsch, Tulsa, 74-72-71 – 217 +1
11. John Humphries, LSU, 75-69-74 – 218 +2
12. Shad Muth, UTA, 70-75-74 – 219 +3
12. David Spitz, Rhode Island, 75-71-73 – 219 +3
14. Nathan Goulding, LSU, 75-72-73 – 220 +4
14. Matt Young, Arkansas St., 75-71-74 – 220 +4
14. James Griffin, Tulane, 75-71-74 – 220 +4
14. Billy Lowry, Tulsa, 74-72-74 – 220 +4
18. Rick Westbrook, Florida St., 72-74-76 – 222 +6
18. Wixson Huffstetler, Arkansas St., 71-75-76 – 222 +6
18. Orn Hjartarson, ULL, 75-74-73 – 222 +6
21. Jacques Chevallier, SLU, 73-73-77 – 223 +7
21. Craig Taylor, LSU, 78-68-77 – 223 +7
23. Adrien Mork, McNeese St., 72-77-75 – 224 +8
23. Charleton Dechert, ORU, 71-78-75 – 224 +8
23. Daniel Brunson, C of C, 71-77-76 – 224 +8
23. Austin Williams, ULL, 78-76-70 – 224 +8
27. Matt Johnson, Troy St., 75-75-75 – 225 +9
27. Kevin Henry, Tulsa, 73-78-74 – 225 +9
27. Mark Donaldson, Florida St., 78-72-75 – 225 +9
27. Garrett Prather, LSU, 77-72-76 – 225 +9
27. Scott Crisco, Arkansas St., 72-78-75 – 225 +9
32. Jakob Berlin, South Alabama, 76-78-72 – 226 +10
32. Justin Strausbaugh, Tulane, 74-74-78 – 226 +10
32. Luke Main, UTA, 73-74-79 – 226 +10
32. Shawn Matthews, Tulsa, 71-81-74 – 226 +10
32. *Billy Dressler, LSU, 77-73-76 – 226 +10
37. Thomas Giles, Rhode Island, 78-78-71 – 227 +11
37. Theo Sliman, ULL, 78-75-76 – 227 +11
37. Josh Goldstein, C of C, 78-77-72 – 227 +11
37. Tele Wightman, So. Florida, 75-76-76 – 227 +11
41. Manuel Kempe, SLU, 79-72-77 – 228 +12
41. Jarrett Walker, McNeese St., 77-76-75 – 228 +12
41. Greg Mason, ORU, 77-77-74 – 228 +12
41. Matt LeConche, UCF, 77-78-75 – 228 +12
45. Ben Osbrach, UCF, 76-81-72 – 229 +13
45. Chris Wilson, ULM, 76-80-73 – 229 +13
45. Kevin Kahle, UCF, 73-74-82 – 229 +13
45. Joel Woods, McNeese St., 75-75-79 – 229 +13
45. Todd Polowitz, Embry Riddle, 80-73-76 – 229 +13
Other LSU Scores
61. *Damon Julian, LSU, 79-76-77 – 232 +16