BATON ROUGE– The LSU men’s golf team is set to open the 2023-24 season on Labor Day (Monday) at the Golfweek Collegiate Kickoff in Cape Girardeau, Missouri at the Dalhousie Golf Club.
The Tigers will open the season with a mixed lineup of returners and newcomers. For the returners Connor Gaunt (Sr.), Luke Haskew (So.), and Cohen Trolio (Jr.) will get the nod. Gaunt is coming off an impressive off season where he made it to the round of 16 last month at the U.S. Amateur in Cherry Hills Village, Colo.
Those new to LSU that made the lineup are graduate transfer Alex Price and freshman Jay Mendell. Last season Price was the Division III winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award as the nation’s top golfer in 2023. Mendell is also coming off a big year after winning the LHSAA individual state championship at Ascension Episcopal.
The 54-hole stroke play event hosted by Golfweek will be played on the Dalhousie Course that was designed by Gary Niklaus. Gary is the son of golf legend Jack Niklaus. Both father and son played golf professionally and went on to design golf courses across the nation.
The course opened in 2002 and features zoysia fairways, fescue, and bluegrass rough all surrounded by old growth forest and water features. The par-72 course totals 7,389 yards from the tips and is home to just three par-5 holes.
LSU and tournament host school Missouri are the only SEC schools set to compete. Other competing schools include Ball State, New Mexico State, Oral Roberts, Sam Houston State, Stetson, Tennessee-Martin, Texas-El Paso, UT-Arlington, and UT-Rio Grande Valley.
LSU will have a quick turnaround as they will travel to San Antonio for the Valero Texas Collegiate at TPC San Antonio for the first time. The tournament will take place at the Oaks Course on Sept. 9-11, which is the same course the annual Valero Texas Open is played.
The tournament is set for 36 holes on day one and the final 18 holes on Tuesday. The Tiges will tee off for round one at 8:30 a.m. on Monday. Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com.