BATON ROUGE-Rising LSU senior transfer Algot Kleen has been named to the PGA Tour U Top 25 preseason rankings, announced Wednesday by the PGA Tour.

PGA Tour U, founded in 2021, is a program that is meant to bridge the gap between collegiate and professional golf. Student athletes can earn points throughout the season by winning NCAA tournaments, amateur events, PGA tour events and national team events. The top 25 rising seniors in collegiate golf are ranked by the PGA Tour U, and can move up during the season to secure a better placement.

Kleen will start the fall ranked at number 17, with a season full of opportunities to climb the rankings. Kleen joins LSU after a fantastic season in 2023 at ETSU where he finished with a 70.30 scoring average and an individual win at the Golf Club of Georgia.

The senior was also named to the All-SoCon Freshman Team in 2021 and the All-SoCon first team in 2023. Kleen was also named to the PING East All-Region Team in 2023-24.

“Algot had a really consistent junior year in college, looking at his season as a whole,” said LSU Head Coach Jake Amos. “One win, 8 top 10s and 10 top 20’s out of 13 events is the reason he’s in this position now. With our schedule we have in place, he has a great opportunity to move up the PGA Tour U rankings and I’m excited to see what he does” 

The No. 1 player in the final PGA TOUR University Ranking next May will earn PGA TOUR membership, while players Nos. 2-5 (fully exempt) and Nos. 6-10 (conditional) will earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2025. Additionally, players Nos. 6-25 will earn fully exempt membership for the North America Swing of PGA TOUR Americas in 2025.

The PGA TOUR University Ranking is limited to seniors, who may accept performance benefits after the conclusion of their college careers.

Rank/Name/University

1/Preston Summerhays/Arizona State

2/Omar Morales/UCLA

3/Brendon Valdes/Auburn

4/Calum Scott/Texas Tech

5/Jackson Van Paris/Vanderbilt

6/Jackson Buchanan/Illinois

7/David Ford/North Carolina

8/Ian Gilligan/Florida

9/Jose Luis Ballester Barrio/Arizona State

10/Phichaksn Malchon/Texas A&M

11/Deven Patel/Virginia

12/Gray Albright/Florida State

13/Maxwell Ford/North Carolina

14/Stephen Campbell Jr./Oklahoma

15/Justin Hastings/San Diego State

16/Pablo Ereno Perez/UCLA

17/Algot Kleen/LSU

18/Nicholas Mathews/NC State

19/Andrew Goodman/Oklahoma

20/Sebastian Moss/Louisville

21/Tiger Christensen/Arizona

22/Zac Jones/BYU

23/Luke Sample/Duke

24/Nathan Franks/South Carolina

25/Jake Peacock/South Florida