BATON ROUGE ? After winning its most recent team championship at the 2009 Reunion Intercollegiate in Jackson, Miss., a week ago, the LSU men’s golf team has cracked the nation’s Top 20 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index released this week.
The Tigers will head into the SEC Men’s Golf Championships this weekend ranked No. 17 in the country as the tournament kicks off Friday at Frederica Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga.
LSU has won three tournament titles this season, marking the first time since the 2003-04 season that the Tigers have accomplished that feat. The squad opened the season on Sept. 14 by winning the team title at the Gopher Invitational before taking the crown at the John Hayt Invitational and the Reunion Intercollegiate during the spring season.
The SEC is as strong as ever as the Tigers are one of six teams ranked among the top 17 teams in the country that will battle one another for the title of SEC champion this weekend. LSU is joined by No. 1 Georgia, No. 7 Florida, No. 10 Alabama, No. 11 South Carolina and No. 13 Arkansas.
Not only are the Tigers among the top teams in the country entering the postseason, but they have two of the nation’s premier players on their side who are ranked in the Top 100 by Golfweek.
Sophomore John Peterson has caught fire this spring with an impressive three top-five finishes in his last four tournaments and is ranked No. 37 in the latest individual rankings by Golfweek. With his first career individual title at the John Hayt Invitational and back-to-back third-place finishes at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate and Reunion Intercollegiate under his belt, Peterson will be among the hottest golfers to tee it up in the SEC Championships this weekend.
Yi is also ranked among the Top 100 players in the country in the latest Golfweek ranking at No. 85 this week. Like Peterson, Yi has also finished in the top five in each of his last two tournament appearances, while both golfers lead the team with three Top 10 finishes on the season.
GOLFWEEK/SAGARIN TOP 25
1. Georgia, 69.82
2. Oklahoma State, 69.85
3. Southern California, 70.15
4. Stanford, 70.59
5. Clemson, 70.66
6. Georgia Tech, 70.85
7. Florida, 70.89
8. Washington, 70.90
9. Indiana, 71.04
10. Alabama, 71.10
11. South Carolina, 71.13
12. Texas Tech, 71.14
13. Arkansas, 71.17
14. Illinois, 71.24
15. Texas, 71.34
16. TCU, 71.37
17. LSU, 71.42
18. UCLA, 71.44
19. Central Florida, 71.46
20. Texas A&M, 71.48
21. Arizona State, 71.49
22. Colorado State, 71.49
23. UNLV, 71.51
24. NC State, 71.52
25. Florida State, 71.53