BATON ROUGE – As the 14th-ranked LSU Tigers prepare for postseason play at the NCAA Columbia (Mo.) Regional next weekend, two Tigers have been honored with All-SEC selections as junior Stewart Jolly received first-team honors and junior Curtis Thompson picked up second-team honors for their performance during the 2013-14 season.
Jolly has emerged as one of the top talents in all of college golf with his performance this season as he has earned All-SEC recognition for the first time in his collegiate career with a First-Team All-SEC selection. It marks the sixth-straight season in which an LSU golfer as earned First-Team All-SEC recognition on the course.
Thompson, who was named a First-Team All-SEC performer for the first time in his career a year ago, picked up his second-straight All-SEC selection with a Second-Team All-SEC honor for the 2013-14 season.
Former Tigers John Peterson (2009, 2011), Andrew Loupe (2010, 2011) and Sang Yi (2012) have also joined Thompson and Jolly in being named First-Team All-SEC performers in recent seasons.
Jolly and Thompson have led the 14th-ranked Tigers into NCAA Regional play as the squad is hitting its stride at the right time of the season in the wake of taking home the team title at the Aggie Invitational in their 2014 regular-season finale and earning a runner-up finish at the SEC Men’s Golf Championships for LSU’s best finish in the tournament since 1989. The Tigers actually fired a school-record round of 17-under 263 in their third and final round at the SEC Championships for the second-lowest 54-hole score in tournament history at 18-under 822 in their last appearance.
A junior from Birmingham, Ala., Jolly is LSU’s 35th First-Team All-SEC selection since 1970 as he is the No. 21-ranked player nationally by Golfstat and the No. 23-ranked player nationally by Golfweek this season.
Jolly has smashed his career-best scoring average with a team-leading 71.53 strokes per round in 2013-14 as he has also earned a team-best three top-five and five top-10 finishes in his 10 tournament starts this season for the Tigers. That includes Jolly’s second collegiate victory as the champion of the 2013 Golfweek Conference Challenge held during the fall season at Spirit Hollow Golf Club in Burlington, Iowa.
Jolly’s 2014 spring season is highlighted by a run of three-straight top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish at the Valspar Invitational at Floridian where he fired a career-low 10-under par 203 for 54 holes.
Jolly was recently selected as one of the 10 members for Team USA that will compete against Team Europe at the 2014 Palmer Cup to be held June 26-28 at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England. The Palmer Cup is an annual Ryder Cup-style tournament featuring the top American and top European golfers competing at the collegiate level each season.
Thompson has enjoyed a second-straight All-SEC campaign as one of the nation’s premier players as he ranks No. 46 nationally by Golfweek and No. 51 nationally by Golfstat heading into NCAA Regional play.
Like Jolly, Thompson has also appeared in all 10 tournaments for the Tigers this season, earning two top-five finishes and three top-10 finishes with a career-low 72.03 scoring average on the season. Thompson opened the 2014 spring season with a seasonal-best finish by tying for fourth place at The Prestige at PGA West where he fired a 6-under par 207 for three rounds in the event held on Feb. 17-19. Thompson also earned his top career finish at the SEC Championships while tying for 13th place in his last tournament appearance.
Both Jolly and Thompson will be leading the Tigers into NCAA Regional play next weekend as they are set to travel to The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Missouri, to compete as the No. 3 seed in the 14-team field at the NCAA Columbia Regional hosted by the University of Missouri from May 15-17.
All-SEC honors were chosen by the league’s head coaches. Ties were not broken.
FIRST TEAM ALL-SEC
Bobby Wyatt, Alabama (SEC Championship Medalist)
Robby Shelton, Alabama
Joey Garber, Georgia
Stewart Jolly, LSU
Trey Mullinax, Alabama
Sebastian Cappelen, Arkansas
Michael Cromie, Georgia
*Cory Whitsett, Alabama
*Chad Ramey, Mississippi State
SECOND TEAM ALL-SEC
Niclas Carlsson, Auburn
Matt NeSmith, South Carolina
Lee McCoy, Georgia
Ben Crancer, Texas A&M
Emilio Cuartero, Missouri
Curtis Thompson, LSU
Greg Yates, Texas A&M
Matt Gilchrest, Auburn
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Matthias Schwab, Vanderbilt
Robby Shelton, Alabama
Matt Gilchrest, Auburn
Greyson Sigg, Georgia
Euan Walker, Missouri
* – Indicates a tie
COACH OF THE YEAR
Jay Seawell, Alabama
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Robby Shelton, Alabama
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Robby Shelton, Alabama
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Cory Whitsett, Alabama