BATON ROUGE ? Fresh off of its sixth-place finish at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate earlier in the week, the LSU men’s golf team travels to Evans, Ga., on Saturday to compete in the Administaff Augusta State Invitational at Champions Retreat Golf Club.
This marks the final tune-up for the Tigers before they travel to Sea Island, Ga., to compete in the 2006 Southeastern Conference Men’s Golf Championships at the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club, April 21-23.
“It will be very demanding for our guys to walk 54 holes in two days with such a quick turnaround between tournaments,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “We’ve faced this type of situation already this year and it’s something a few of the other teams are going to have to deal with too. It’s a challenge that we must overcome.”
The Tigers are competing against another strong 15-team field that features seven teams ranked in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Top 30, including No. 5 UCLA, No. 11 East Tennessee State, No. 12 Tennessee, No. 14 Clemson, No. 23 Minnesota, No. 24 Coastal Carolina and No. 27 N.C. State. Rounding out the field is tournament host Augusta State, Georgia Southern, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, South Carolina-Aiken, Virginia Tech and Washington.
“This is another very strong field to compete against, but we’re used to that with the schedule we have played this year,” Winstead said. “We can only play our own game and not worry about what other teams are doing. That’s one thing we teach all the time is to focus on what we can control and not worry about anything else. If we do that, we should be fine.”
Sophomore Beck Troutman, the reigning SEC Men’s Golfer of the Week, leads the Tigers this weekend after posting his team-leading third top-five finish of the season with a fourth-place tie at the Bulls Bay Intercollegiate. Troutman finished the tournament at even-par 213 after firing rounds of 2-under 69 and 1-under 70 in the final two rounds of the event.
Joining Troutman in the lineup are seniors Andrew Lanahan and Aaron Smith, junior Chris Wells and freshman Jarrod Barsamian, who is making his first tournament appearance since the Tunica National Intercollegiate in November. Troutman and Wells have been in the lineup in each of LSU’s nine tournaments this season, while Lanahan has appeared in seven tournaments. Barsamian is making his fifth tournament start, while Smith is making his third this weekend.
Winstead said his players have limited experience playing Champions Retreat Golf Club but is a course that reminds him a lot of the Country Club of Louisiana and The Bluffs in Baton Rouge.
“This is a very good course and really sets up as a ball striker’s course,” Winstead said. “We’ve got to be able to put the ball in the right spots off the tee and on the green to score. The guys really haven’t seen this course before today, but it should be a fun course for us to play. It reminds me a lot of those because of its length, particularly its length between holes.”
The team will not return to Baton Rouge immediately following the tournament as it will travel to Augusta National Golf Club on Monday to follow former LSU All-American David Toms during his practice round in preparation for The Masters next weekend.
“That’s really an added perk to playing in this tournament,” Winstead said. “I’ve talked to David and our team will be there to root him on during his practice round on Monday. He’s always been a great ambassador for LSU, and I’m sure he’ll play well next week. We’ll all be cheering him on during The Masters.”
Teams will tee off with a shotgun start at 7 a.m. CST as the Tigers are paired with Notre Dame and Washington for the tournament’s opening two rounds Saturday. Fans are able to view live scoring of the event throughout the day by accessing www.golfstat.com.