LAFAYETTE, La. – LSU freshman Jay Mendell finished tied for 7th place on Tuesday at the 39th annual Louisiana Classics. Mendell finished at 4-under 212 at his home course of Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette, La.
Texas A&M took home team honors for the third year in a row with a final score of 31-under 833. Phichaksn Maichon led the Aggies’ with an impressive 18-under 198 to leave Lafayette as the individual medalist Maichon won by 8 strokes.
LSU entered the final round positioned in second place and 7 strokes behind Texas A&M. The Tigers put together a round best 9-under 279 to move into second after finishing the first round in fifth place at 2-under 286.
In the final round LSU carded a 2-over 290 that was led by senior golfer Drew Doyle. Doyle went 4-under 68 on the final day, while Mendell and Gaunt followed at 1-over 73. No other Tigers finished under par.
“Yesterday was a grind for me, ” said Doyle. “The driver wasn’t cooperating during the practice round so I left it in the car during the 36-hole day and just did my best to make as many pars as possible for my team.”
Doyle carded 5 birdies in his final round with just one bogey on the 459-yard par 4 at No. 5. The senior had a clean front nine that boosted his jump up 26 spots from the end of round two to finish tied for eleventh.
“After the rounds I had some time to regroup and came out this morning with the goal of having the best warm up I could have,” added Doyle. “I managed to make some birdies and keep bogeys off the card on the front, then just kept that momentum through the rest of the round.”
Sam Houston carded a 10-under 278 in the final round to jump three spots and move into second ahead of LSU. The Tigers dropped just one place on Tuesday and was followed by Wake Forest at 3-under 861 and SMU at even par 864.
The Tigers will be back in action on Sunday March 24th for the Hootie at Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, S.C. The 54-hole event will take place over three days from Sunday to Tuesday March 26th, 18 holes a day.
Team Leaderboard
1 Texas A&M -31 (276-282-275)
2 Sam Houston -14 (283-289-278)
3 LSU -9 (286-279-290)
4 Wake Forest -3 (289-282-290)
5 SMU E (293-280-291)
LSU
T7 Jay Mendell -4 (70-68-74)
T11 Drew Doyle -2 (75-71-68)
T11 Connor Gaunt -2 (69-72-73)
T26 Alex Price +2 (73-70-75)
T32 Lance Yates +3 (74-70-75)
LSU Individuals
T54 Leo Johansson +7 (72-75-76)
T74 Noah McWilliams +11 (71-77-79)
79 Luke Haskew +13 (78-76-75)
88 Holden Webb +29 (78-83-84)