BATON ROUGE – Connor Gaunt fired a 3-under 69 to lead LSU on a windy day in the first round of The Hootie at Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, S.C. on Sunday.
“It was a good day out there for the team and me,” said Gaunt. “The practice round was awesome as we did not see much wind, but today it was a different story. The wind blew and the course was playing difficult. We stayed patient and bounced back on the back nine. The mindset tomorrow is to see how much we can separate from the field.”
Gaunt’s 3-under 69 earned him a share of second place with Charleston’s Max Dupree. West Virginia’s Max Green recorded a 5-under 67 to finish the day as the solo leader.
The graduate senior finished his first nine holes at even par before carding 3 birdies in his last nine to make a move. Gaunt made up the most strokes on the par threes where he averaged a field best 2.60.
LSU earned its spot atop the leaderboard after a 4-under 284 in the first round. The Tigers carded the most birdies of the day with 19 and were the best team on the 8 par fours at Bulls Bay averaging 4.03.
“The guys played nicely and it was good to see some nice play with a lot of grit,” said interim head coach Andrew Nelson. “We started slowly, with some poor play around the greens. The guys responded well, they stayed patient and very positive. We are looking forward to competing and the opportunity in front of us tomorrow.”
New Mexico is two strokes off the LSU lead after a 2-under 286 opening round. South Carolina and East Tennessee sit tied for third at 1-under 287 and West Virginia rounds out the top five at even par 288.
Gaunt is followed by Jay Mendell who carded a 1-under 71 that featured an eagle on his 17th hole of the day. The freshman holed-out on the 395-yard par four to drop from 1-over to 1-under and move LSU to 4-under.
Drew Doyle and Alex Price each scored an even par round of 72 to contribute. Doyle and Price sit tied for 15th with five others. Lance Yates was 5-over 73 as the round one drop score.
LSU will look to separate itself in round two tomorrow as it will tee off on holes Nos. 9 and 10 starting at 9:00 a.m. ET. Fans can follow along with live scoring at Golfstat.com and through live updates across all social platforms, @lsumensgolf.
Team Scores
1 LSU 284 -4
2 New Mexico 286 -2
T3 South Carolina 287 -1
T3 East Tennessee 287 -1
5 West Virginia 288 E
6 Charleston 291 +3
7 Marquette 294 +6
8 Coastal Carolina 295 +7
9 Purdue 298 +10
T10 Furman 299 +11
T10 Kent State 299 +11
T10 Missouri 299 +11
T13 NC State 300 +12
T13 Kentucky 300 +12
15 Toledo 304 +16
LSU Scores
T2 Connor Gaunt 69
T7 Jay Mendell 71
T15 Drew Doyle 72
T15 Alex Price 72
T42 Lance Yates 75
Individual Top 20
1 Max Green, West Virginia 67 -5
T2 Max Dupree, Charleston 69 -3
T2 Connor Gaunt, LSU 69 -3
T4 Mats Ege, East Tenn 70 -2
T4 Frankie Harris, USC 70 -2
T4 Aidan Lafferty, Marquette 70 -2
T7 Zach Adams, USC 71 -1
T7 Albert Boneta, N-Mexico 71 -1
T7 Carson Herron, N-Mexico 71 -1
T7 Algot Kleen, East Tenn. 71 -1
T7 Jack Lundin, Missouri 71 -1
T7 Jay Mendell, LSU 71 -1
T7 Peyton Snoeberger, Purd. 71 -1
T7 Matthew Watkins, N-Mexico 71 -1
T15 Nick Dentino, Purdue 72 E
T15 Matty Dodd-Berry, East Tenn. 72 E
T15 Drew Doyle, LSU 72 E
T15 Spencer Oxendine, NC State 72 E
T15 Alex Price, LSU 72 E
T15 Rafe Reynolds, USC 72 E