BATON ROUGE – The No. 24 LSU Men’s golf team won its second event of the year at the Everett Buick GMC Classic on Tuesday at the Chenal Country Club in Little Rock, Ark. The Tigers put together 15-under 273 in the final round to finish 22-under 842 and take home team honors.
“This team was able to build a lot of confidence and momentum after playing our best team golf of the Fall last week at the Stephens Cup.” said interim head coach Andrew Nelson.
LSU’s 273 on Monday was the lowest of any team all week in the 54-hole stroke play event to conclude the Fall golf season.
“We had a quick turnaround to go on the road to Little Rock.” said Nelson. “The guys handled the stress and a lot of golf over the last 10 days really well.”
The Tigers went into the final round in the lead at 7-under 569 with three teams just one stroke behind. LSU fell to as low as fourth on Tuesday before clawing its way back to the top of the leaderboard.
The program continues to hold a high standard following last weekends news of longtime head coach Chuck Winstead stepping down. “There’s a lot of emotions right now and the more we could get lost in playing the game and competing hard, we believed that would be good enough.” added Nelson.
LSU led all teams in stroke average on both par-threes’ (2.98) and par-fives’ (4.43).
Second place Troy finished nine strokes back at 851. Host school Little Rock followed at 12-under 852. Michigan and Louisiana-Lafayette rounded out the top five at 11-under 853 and 8-under 856, respectively.
Central Arkansas’ Mark Stockdale won the individual tournament with a total of 12-under 204.
Connor Gaunt and Jay Mendell both tied for third with 7-under 209 finishes through three rounds of play.
Gaunt continued to play well in his home state of Arkansas as the graduate jumped 14 spots in the final round. Gaunt headed into his final six holes at even par on the day and went on to birdie four holes and record an eagle on his last to post a 6-under 66 in the round.
Mendell fired a low round of 4-under 68 on Tuesday to secure the first top five finish of his young career. The freshman recorded just one bogey in round three and added five birdies to his card.
Alex Price also fired a 4-under 68 in round three to improve to 1-under 215 and tie for 25th overall. Price won individual honors in the team’s season opening win at the Golfweek Collegiate back in early September.
Graduate transfer Lance Yates finished at even par (72 or 216) to tie for 33rd and sophomore Luke Haskew was tied for 38th at 2-over 218. Both Tigers had contributing scores with the tournament to assist the team win.
The Tigers will be back in action for the Spring season in February as they travel to Mobile, Ala. for the Hal Williams Collegiate at Magnolia Grove Golf Club.
“I’m proud of each of these guys and I’m so happy for them.” Nelson said. “I’m thankful for LSU Golf. There are a lot of people that make up this program and make it so special. It’s fun to bring a win back home to LSU.”