BATON ROUGE-The LSU Men’s Golf team will begin their fall slate of tournaments at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate on Friday at the Tennessee National Golf Club in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The tournament will consist of 16 teams, with four teams being ranked inside of The Golf Channel Preseason Top 25 (Ole Miss (10), Tennessee (11), LSU (18), Georgia Tech (20)). The rest of the field will include Indiana, The College of Charleston, North Florida, South Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Virginia Tech and East Tennessee State, Penn State, Wisconsin.
The Tennessee Volunteers are the defending champions of the tournament, winning over Ole Miss by one stroke in 2023. Tennessee National Golf Course will play as a par 70 with a reasonable 7,280 yards for the players to take on.
“I’m looking forward to getting the season going with this new group,” said Head Coach Jake Amos. “It’s a great event, and we have a good opportunity to set the tone for the year by competing against some of the best teams in the country.”
Sophomore Jay Mendell will lead LSU in the one spot after a very strong freshman campaign that saw Mendell earn All-SEC honors. The Louisiana native finished his first year as a Tiger with a 72.36 stroke average and a win at the Hal Williams Collegiate ( -10, 203).
Senior transfer Algot Kleen will play as number two, after three stellar seasons at East Tennessee State. The Golf Channel Preseason Honorable Mention All-American currently holds two collegiate wins with victories at the 2023 Puerto Rico Classic (-13, 203) and the 2023 Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate (-11, 205).
Junior transfer Matty Dodd-Berry is in the number three slot and comes to LSU after a very strong 2023 season at East Tennessee State. The England native was the low medalist at the 2023 Southern Conference Championships (-13, 203) and finished his sophomore season with a 1-under 71.37 scoring average. Dodd-Berry also won his regional qualifier at 6-under to earn the opportunity to play in the 2024 British Open at Royal Troon.
Freshman Gunnlaugur Àrni Sveinsson from Iceland will play fourth in the Tigers’ lineup. Sveinsson finished hisjunior career with six wins and 13 top-10 finishes with wins at both the Global Junior Golf Spring Games (76-78-71) and the Global Junior Golf Junior’s International (69-73-66) in Portugal in March of 2024.
Junior transfer Alfons Bondesson rounds out the Tigers starting lineup. Bondesson played his first two seasons of collegiate golf with Missouri and carries a 71.68 scoring average over 68 counting rounds.
Sophomore Noah McWilliams will serve as the alternate for the Tigers in Knoxville. McWilliams has a 75.58 career stroke average with his best finish being T31st at the 2024 Jackson T. Stephens Cup.
Alfons Bondesson will be the first Tiger to tee off at 10:10 AM CT, with the rest of the team teeing off in ten-minute intervals following Bondesson. Individual Noah McWilliams will tee off at 12:10 PM CT.
Live scoring will be provided by Clippd.com and fans can follow @lsumensgolf on all platforms for live updates.