Tiger Golfers Have First Round Lead At Blessings; All Five Players Inside Top 12

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – The No. 15 LSU men’s golf team posted seven birdies on the first two par 5s they played Monday in the Blessings Collegiate Invitational and that helped push them to the lead in this unique format event at the Blessings Golf Club.

The event is unique in that the 10 schools are represented by both their men’s and women’s teams playing separate tournaments, but playing as a fivesome when it comes to play on the course. That set up a long six-plus hour opening round for the players on the difficult 7,700-yard par 72 layout on a warm, sun splashed day.

LSU ended up with an opening round of 3-under par 285, one of two teams to post under par on the day. Mississippi State is second at 1-under par and the two SEC teams have separated themselves by a good margin after the first 18 holes as BYU and host Arkansas are back at 11-over par 299 in a tie for third.

On the 587-yard par 5 10th hole, the Tigers first hole of the day, Arni Sveinsson, Jay Mendell, Luke Haskew and Matthew Dodd-Berry all posted birdie 4s, putting LSU at 4-under par right off the start. Then came a stretch when Sveinsson, Dodd-Berry and Kleen both birdied the par 5, 610-yard 15th hole.

That was in between the 14th and 16th holes when LSU posted three birdies on all three holes. In all, LSU would have 15 birdies on their first nine holes among the four players, 12 of them counting in the play 5, count 4 score format.

Overall on the par 5s, the Tigers would play the four holes in a counting 8-under par.

“We’re a good driving team,” said first-year Tiger Coach Jake Amos. “So if we hit good tee shots, we’ll be in a good position to do well on the par fives. It was funny, they were just trying to feel the whole thing out the first few holes. Playing with their teammates was kind of strange and the were getting used to the course. But they did very well on those par fives (10 and 15).”

The Tigers in all for the day would post 23 birdies on the day and all five Tigers are in the top 12, four in the top seven of the individual competition.

Sveinsson, Mendell and Haskew (playing his first event of the season), all finished at 1-under par 71, tied for third in the individual competition. The event is led by Drew Wilson of Mississippi State and Mehrbaan Singh of Virginia Tech at 2-under 70. Sebastian Moss is the fourth player at 1-under par 71.

Kleen finished at even par 72 (T7) and Dodd-Berry is at +1 73.

For Coach Amos, this was what he wanted to see after his team won the opening event in Knoxville and didn’t have their best stuff in the prior tournament in San Antonio.

“We did a lot of things well,” he said of the start. “We got a little sloppy at the end, but playing a six-or-seven- hour round was taxing. Talking to AK (Algot Kleen), he was tied both physically and mentally so I think that last hole just got away from us. We played really nice and I feel we should be about five or six shots better, but to be leading is always good.”

The Tigers will be the last team off the course on Tuesday in the second round with the early-late tee times over the first two days, starting off No. 1 at 11:45 a.m. But that will them squarely in the TV window of the Golf Channel which begins second round coverage at 3:30 p.m. CT.

The Blessings Collegiate Invitational
Fayetteville, Arkansas – Blessings Golf Club
First Round Team (Par 288)
1 LSU 285 -3
2 Mississippi State 287 -1
3 Arkansas 299 +11
3 BYU 299 +11
5 Ohio State 300 +12
6 Louisville 301 +13
6 Kansas State 301 +13
8 Kent State 302 +14
9 Virginia Tech 303 +15
10 Missouri 304 +16

Top 5 Individual (Par 72)
T1 Drew Wilson, Mississippi State – 70 -2
T1 Mehrbaan Singh, Virginia Tech – 70 -2
T3 Sebastian Moss, Louisville – 71 -1
T3 Jay Mendell, LSU – 71 -1
T3 Luke Haskew, LSU – 71 -1
T3 Arni Sveinsson, LSU – 71 -1

LSU Scores
T3 Jay Mendell – 71 -1
T3 Luke Haskew – 71 -1
T3 Arni Sveinsson – 71 -1
T7 Algot Kleen – 72 E
T12 Matthew Dodd-Berry – 73 E