BATON ROUGE — The 28th-ranked LSU men’s golf team will welcome 16 teams to town this weekend as the Tigers host the fourth-annual LSU Spring Invitational at the University Club.
The Tigers, playing in their last tournament of the regular season, are looking to win their second home event this season, having already captured the Country Club of Louisiana Intercollegiate title this past October. LSU won last season’s edition of the tournament by five strokes over Jacksonville State as the Tigers’ John Humphries claimed the individual title. LSU is the three-time defending champion of the LSU Spring Invitational.
Thirteen teams return again this season from last year’s tournament field while UNC-Charlotte and Xavier are new additions to the tournament this year. Mississippi State, Arkansas State, and Tulane are paired together and will tee off first to begin round one on Friday while Jacksonville State, Xavier, and Central Florida is the other morning group. The tournament consists of three rounds, one each day, with action beginning at 8 a.m. all three days. The Tigers are paired with Maryland and Furman.
LSU is coming off of a seventh-place finish at the Schenkel/E-Z-Go Invitational last month in Statesboro, Ga. Junior Heath West led the Tigers by tying for 14th place, shooting a 1-over par 217. West leads LSU this season with a 73.0 stroke average, four top-10 finishes, and 1 rounds of par or better.
West has also finished outside of the top 20 only three times this season as he has collected five top-20 finishes. West will headline the Tigers’ lineup for the tournament and is joined by juniors Brandon Aydlett, Jeff Riemann, and Andrew Lanahan, as well as senior Garrett Prather.
Lanahan has a 73.4 stroke average this season with three top-20 finishes and seven rounds of par or better. He tied for 17th place at the Schenkel Invitational as he shot a 2-over par 218 including a career-best 66 in round one. Prather tied a career-low by firing a 4-under 68 in the second round of the event en route to a 34th-place finish. Freshman Garrett Runion, sophomores David Pollett and Aaron Smith, and juniors Greg Mason and Jason Horrell will all play as individuals for the Tigers.
“We always look forward to our home event and this is our last one of the season so we want to do all the things that we are capable of to play good, solid golf and just go out there and try to win,” said LSU head coach Greg Jones. “The course is in magnificent shape, we have a good, talented field here, and we are ready to go so it is time to play,” said Jones.
LSU will be in search of its third tournament victory of the season, having already won the Baylor Invitational and CCLA Intercollegiate back in the fall. The three victories would equal the most in a season under Jones, tying them with the 2000-01 team, which also won three- that is Jones’ second season at the helm.
The Tigers will next compete in the 2004 Southeastern Conference Championships April 16-18 in Sea Island, Ga.
2004 LSU Spring Invitational Field:
Arkansas-Little Rock
Arkansas State
Central Florida
UNC-Charlotte
Furman
Jacksonville State
Louisiana-Lafayette
LSU (Host)
Maryland
Memphis
Middle Tennessee State
Mississippi State
South Alabama
South Florida
Southern Miss
Tulane
Xavier