BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s golf team was chosen to participate in the 27-team field at the NCAA Central Regional on May 16-18 at Little Rock, Ark., the NCAA announced via teleconference late Monday afternoon.
The regional will be held at the Pleasant Valley Golf Course, a par-72 course with a yardage of 6,785. Arkansas-Little Rock will be the host institution for the tournament. The top ten teams from each of the three regions (Central, West, and East) will advance to the 2002 NCAA Championships on May 29-June 1 at Columbus, Ohio. The East Regional will be held at Roswell, Ga., and the West at Albuquerque, N.M.
The Tigers finished tied for 19th place at the East Regional last season at Williamsburg, Va. LSU last appeared in the NCAA Championships in 1997. The Tigers advanced to the championships that season from the East Regional held at Lake Forest, Ill. This is LSU’s sixth postseason appearance in seven seasons.
“We are very happy to be selected to play in this regional,” said third-year head coach Greg Jones. “It is always great to make the postseason field, but we need to get ready to go and play in a really tough field.”
LSU, fresh off of a fourth-place finish at the 2002 Southeastern Conference Championships two weeks ago, is one of six SEC schools in the field this season, joined by Alabama in the Central Region. Florida, Tennessee, Auburn and Georgia will all compete at the East Regional. Vanderbilt’s Brandt Snedeker will participate as an individual in the East, while Kentucky’s John Holmes will play as an individual in the Central Regional.
LSU won two tournaments during the 2001-02 season; the Gator Invitational at Gainesville, Fla., in February, and the rain-shortened LSU Spring Invitational in March in Baton Rouge. Heavy rain and freezing temperatures forced the teams to play just one round at the tournament. The win at the Gator was one of the most impressive victories for the LSU golf program in years. The Tigers fired a 6-over par 846 to edge host and defending national champion Florida by one stroke on their home course. The Tigers are one of only eight schools besides Florida to ever win the event, and the first since 1998 to do so after winning this season.
LSU is led by the duo of true freshman Heath West and senior Nathan Goulding. Both players were named to the 2002 All-SEC Team on Monday. Goulding is second on the squad with a 72.6 stroke average, second with five top-20 finishes, and has 14 rounds of par or better on the season. West leads the team with six top-20 finishes, and also has three top-10 finishes. He also had 14 rounds under par and shot the lowest round by a Tiger all season (67). He and Goulding placed eighth and second respectively at the Gator Invitational.
West also became the first LSU freshman golfer to make the All-SEC team since Rob McNamara
in 1984.
“This regional looks tough, with teams like Maryland, North Carolina State and Virginia Tech in it,” said Jones. “I think the NCAA did a good job of evening out the regions, so we will have to play really well to advance. You have to play well and focus on each round if you want to have a shot to go on.”
The Tigers’ will go with their usual lineup of Goulding, West, juniors Garrett Prather and John Humphries, and redshirt freshman Jason Horrell.
CENTRAL REGIONAL (May 16-18, 2002)
Pleasant Valley Golf Course (Little Rock, Ark.)
Host:
Arkansas-Little Rock
LSU
Texas Christian
North Carolina State
Oklahoma State
Virginia Tech
Oklahoma
Toledo
Purdue
Lamar
Baylor
Alabama
Tulsa
Kansas
SMU
Illinois
Houston
Missouri
Colorado
Texas-Arlington
Northwestern
Arkansas State
Maryland
St. John’s
Austin-Peay
Princeton
Army
Jackson State