BRYAN, Texas – Lance Yates earned the best finish of his career on Sunday at The Aggie Invitational in the final round of action at the Traditions Club. Yates fired a 2-under 70 to move up 10 spots on the leaderboard and finish the tournament at 5-over 221 and tied for ninth.
“It’s super cool,” said Yates on his top ten finish in his final regular season tournament. “Was kind of struggling going into the week so it just shows that I can compete even without my best stuff.”
Yates 2-under 70 in the final round marked the only round under par by any Tiger throughout the tournament. The graduate student’s previous career high was a tie for tenth finish at the 2022 Veterans Intercollegiate when he was playing for the University of North Florida.
“Got a few putts to drop early and continued to hit good shots,” added the Baton Rouge native. “At the turn I was just trying to keep my foot on the gas and help the team get the best finish possible.”
“Lance has been a solid player for this team all year,” said interim head coach Andrew Nelson. “He has counted a lot of rounds for us and is a great teammate. I’m proud of him and happy for him on earning his first Top 10 as a Tiger. Lance made 40 pars in 54 holes. He stayed very steady and committed to playing his game.”
As a team, LSU carded a 6-over 294 in round three to climb up three spots on the leaderboard and walk away with a fourth place finish. The only team to go lower than LSU on Sunday was the second place team in Texas A&M, who combined for a 2-over 290. Jamie Montojo of the Aggies led his team at 1-over 217 to split individual honors with Louisiana Tech’s Niilo Maki-Petaja.
“I’m very proud of the toughness and grit we showed this week, said Nelson. “The golf course played very difficult and we certainly didn’t have our best. I’m proud of the guys finding a way and finishing well. The last 5 holes are very hard and we played them 3-under as a team. This was the difference in us catching some teams and being able to finish 4th.”
Connor Gaunt followed Yates on Sunday with a 1-over 73 that moved him into the top 25 individually. Drew Doyle carded a 3-over 75 in the final round to finish tied for 12th after starting the day tied for tenth at 3-over. Jay Mendell was the final contributor at 4-over 76 on Sunday.
LSU was the second best team from the par fives as it averaged a 4-under 4.93 across all three rounds. The Tigers were third from the par threes with a 14-over 3.23 average. LSU had the second most pars at 167 and the fifth most birdies with 30.
The Tigers will be back in action for the post season at the SEC Championships in St. Simons, Ga at the beautiful Sea Island Golf Club. The event will feature three rounds of stroke play, one round a day. Match play will follow on the fourth day if necessary.
Team Scores (R1-R2-R3– TOT)
1 Baylor 290-292-296 – 878 +14
2 Texas A&M 300-294-290 – 884 +20
3 Sam Houston 304-295-297 – 896 +32
4 LSU 302-303-294 – 899 +35
T5 Louisville 305-295-300 – 900 +36
T5 UTSA 292-309-299 – 900 +36
7 Louisiana 302-307-297 – 906 +42
T8 Memphis 300-304-306 – 910 +46
T8 La. Tech 306-292-312 – 910 +46
10 FGCU 303-304-304 – 911 +47
11 Lamar 309-313-299 – 921 +57
12 New Mexico State 320-307-304 – 932 +67
LSU Scores (R1-R2-R3– TOT)
T9 Lance Yates 76-75-70 – 221 +5
T12 Drew Doyle 72-75-75 – 222 +6
T25 Connor Gaunt 78-76-73 – 227 +11
T44 Alex Price 76-77-79 – 231 +16
T56 Jay Mendell 78-82-76 – 236 +20
T56 Noah McWilliams (ind.) 82-77-77 – 236 +20
Individual Top 5 (R1-R2-R3– TOT)
T1 Jamie Montojo, Texas A&M 71-77-69 – 217 +1
T1 Nilo Maki-Petaja, La. Tech 70-74-73 – 217 +1
3 Phichaksn Maichon, Texas A&M 75-69-74 – 218 +2
T4 Brody Stevenson, FGCU 78-72-69 – 219 +3
T4 Malan Potgieter, ULL 75-71-73 – 219 +3
T4 Zach Heffernan, Baylor 69-74-76 – 219 +3