STATESBORO, Ga. — The LSU men’s golf team shot a final-round 8-over par 296 to finish in eighth place at the Schenkel/E-Z-Go Invitational on Sunday at Forest Heights Country Club.
The Tigers (No. 23 GolfWorld/No. 36 GolfWeek) finished the tournament at 14-over 878, 13 strokes behind tournament champion Augusta State, who finished two strokes ahead of Wake Forest to win their first-ever Schenkel title. North Carolina State finished third while Florida and Georgia rounded out the top five.
Senior Nathan Goulding finished in a tie for ninth place for LSU. Goulding shot a 1-over 217, including a final-round 1-under 71 on Sunday to earn his fourth top-10 finish of the season. True freshman Heath West, tied for seventh after two rounds, finished tied for 20th place at 3-over 219. John Humphries placed 26th at 4-over 220.. Jason Horell placed 43rd at 8-over 224, and Garrett Prather finished in a tie for 58th place at 11-over 227. North Carolina State’s Justin Walters won medalist honors with a 9-under 207 score.
“We played a decent round today, but we still can not string enough low numbers together to really make that push,” said LSU head coach Greg Jones. “Hopefully we can get some good practice and a little bit of rest and be ready when we head to our next tournament in a couple of weeks.”
The tournament featured one of the toughest fields in any collegiate golf tournament this season, as the No. 2-5 teams currently ranked in the Sagarin/GolfWeek Top 25 rankings were present.
LSU finished 13th at the Schenkel a year ago, with Goulding tying for 25th place. The Tigers recently finished fourth at the Conrad Rehling Alabama Spring Invitational on March 17 at Tuscaloosa, Ala. LSU will return to the state of Georgia for their next two tournaments, the Kroger Invitational on April 6-8 at Augusta, Ga., hosted by Augusta State University, and then the 2002 Southeastern Conference Championships on April 19-21.
Agate to Follow:
TEAM SCORES
1. Augusta State 284-285-296 — 865 +1; 2. Wake Forest 288-285-294 — 867 +3; 3. North Carolina State 294-289-288 — 871 +7; 4. Florida 292-289-291 — 872 +8; 5. Georgia 294-286-294 — 874 +10; t6. Clemson 286-293-297 — 876 +12; t6. Duke 286-293-297 — 876 +12; 8. LSU 293-289-296 — 878 +14; 9. Tennessee 292-288-300 — 880 +16; 10. Georgia Southern 291-295-299 — 885 +21; 11. Washington 301-288-297 — 886 +22; 12. East Tennessee State 294-294-300-888 +24; 13. Auburn 293-299-301 — 893 +29; 14. North Carolina 298-298-301 — 897 +33; 15. South Carolina 305-296-300 — 901 +37
TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS
1. Justin Walters, North Carolina State, 68-72-67 — 207 -9; 2. Bryant Odom, Georgia, 71-72-69 — 212 -4; t3. Michael Webb, Augusta State, 70-70-74 — 214 -2; t3. Oliver Wilson, Augusta State, 71-73-70 — 214 -2; t5. Ari Savolainen, Florida, 74-71-70 — 215 -1; t5. D.J. Trahan, Clemson, 69-69-77 — 215 -1; t5. Camilo Villegas, Florida, 73-73-69 — 215 -1
LSU SCORES
t9. Nathan Goulding 74-72-71 — 217 +1
t20. Heath West 72-71-76 — 220 +4
t26. John Humphries 72-73-75 — 220 +4
t43. Jason Horrell 76-74-74 — 224 +8
t58. Garrett Prather 75-73-79 — 227 +11