LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The LSU men’s golf team struggled on day one of the 2002 NCAA Central Regional, shooting a 13-over par 301 in round one at the Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock, Ark., to finish the day in 18th place.
The Tigers, making their second-straight NCAA regional appearance, are eight shots out of 10th place, the cut off mark to qualify for the upcoming NCAA Championships. Ten teams from each of the three regions, the Central, West and East, plus two individual golfers in each region from teams not participating advance to the 2002 NCAA Championships, held May 29-June 1 at Columbus, Ohio. LSU has not been to the NCAA Championships since 1997.
Senior Nathan Goulding was LSU’s highest finisher on the day, shooting a 2-over par 74 on Thursday. Goulding is tied for 43rd place after one round.
True freshman Heath West shot a round of 3-over 75, to tie for 59th place.
Junior John Humphries and redshirt freshman Jason Horrell both shot 4-over 76s in round one, and are tied for 71st place. Junior Garrett Prather shot a 6-over 78 Thursday.
Oklahoma State is leading the 27-team field after one round, after firing a 1-under 287. Kansas, Oklahoma, and TCU are tied for second, at 1-over par. Purdue is fifth at 2-over 290. Oklahoma and Purdue both tied with Kent State last season as the champions of the Central Regional.
Bret Guetz of TCU, and Oklahoma’s John Kidwell are tied for the individual lead after one round, with both players firing a 4-under 68s on Thursday afternoon. Two golfers are tied for third place and eight players are deadlocked in fifth place.
“We really struggled on quite a few holes out here today, and never really got on track at all,” said LSU head coach Greg Jones. “We had too many bogeys and too many three-putts and did not take advantage of a lot of the holes that we should have. We just need to keep our focus and do better tomorrow.”
The Tigers will tee off beginning at 8:14 on Friday for round two of the tournament and are paired with conference-rival Alabama and Tulsa. LSU placed in a 19th-place tie at the 2001 NCAA East Regional held at Williamsburg, Va.
TEAM SCORES (par 288)
1. Oklahoma State 287 -1; t2. Kansas 289 +1; t2. Oklahoma 289 +1; t2. TCU 289 +1; 5. Purdue 290 +2; t6. SMU 291 +3; t6. Toledo 291 +3; t8. Alabama 292 +4; t8. Baylor 292 +4; 10. Illinois 293 +5; t11. Colorado 294 +6; t11. North Carolina State 294 +6; t13. Tulsa 296 +8; t13. Virginia Tech 296 +8; t15. Missouri 298 +10; t15. Northwestern 298 +10; 17. Maryland 299 +11; 18. LSU 301 +13; 19. Texas-Arlington 303 +15; 20. Houston 304 +16; 21. Lamar 306 +18; 22. St. John’s 308 +20; 23. Austin Peay 313 +25; t24. Arkansas State 314 +26; t24. Princeton 314 +26; 26. Army 319 +31; 27. Jackson State 337 +49
TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS (par 72)
t1. Bret Guetz, TCU, 68 -4; t1. John Kidwell, Oklahoma, 68 -4; t3. Jan Are Larsen, Alabama, 69 -3; t3. Franklin Hatchett, SMU, 69 -3; t5. Cody Freeman, Oklahoma, 70 -2; t5. Anders Hultman, Oklahoma State, 70 -2; t5. Travis Hurst, Kansas, 70 -2; t5. David Jones, Toledo, 70 -2; t5. Par Nilsson, Oklahoma State, 70 -2; t5. Creighton Paige, Princeton, 70 -2; t5. Ben Portie, Colorado, 70 -2; t5. Lee Williamson, Purdue, 70 -2
LSU SCORES
t.43 Nathan Goulding 74 +2
t.59 Heath West 75 +3
t71. John Humphries 76 +4
t71. Jason Horrell 76 +4
t96. Garrett Prather 78 +6