BATON ROUGE – The No. 7 LSU men’s golf team fought back in the closing holes of the opening round of the Puerto Rico Classic to post a good 6-under par round of 282 on the Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
Three Tigers shot under par on the opening day of the 54-hole tournament in which LSU was in a play 4, count 4 situation (unlike the normal play 5, count 4) when Nick Arcement was unable to go in the opening round because of illness.
Senior Algot Kleen had a four-birdie round of 3-under 69, while freshman Arni Sveinsson had two birdies and an eagle to post 2-under 70, while junior Alfons Bondesson posted two birdies in a 1-under 71. Sophomore Jay Mendell finished at even par 72.
The Tigers were hovering around 1-or-2 over par as a team heading to the final holes on the front nine in the shotgun start round when all four players birdied the par-5, 547-yard second hole. LSU then got a birdie from Mendell and an eagle 2 from Sveinsson on the short 361-yard par 4 third hole to give LSU a 7-under total on those two holes.
The Tigers are in a large group tied for sixth with Tennessee, Georgia and North Florida. Ole Miss is the tournament leader at 16-under par 272, followed by Purdue (-14), Oklahoma (-13), South Carolina (-11) and Virginia (-8).
Kleen is in a group at T13 at 3-under 69, four shots out of the lead of Brett Schell of North Florida at 7-under par 65. Sveinsson is T21 and Bondesson is in a group at T29 as 43 players broke par on the opening day on the par 72, 7,152-yard layout.
LSU had 11 total birdies and Mendell’s eagle was one of five recorded in the opening round. The Tigers were 3-under on the par 4 holes, tied for third in the field. Sveinsson played the par 4s in -3, T2 in the field. Bondesson had 15 pars in his round, T2 as well in the field.
Arcement, if available, is eligible to return to the tournament field Tuesday and play the last two rounds as a potential counting member of the team.
The Tigers will start on holes 7-10 in the second round which is again scheduled for a 6:30 a.m. CT start (8:30 a.m. in Puerto Rico). LSU will be paired with Georgia and North Florida. Live scoring can be found at Golfstat.com and the green Puerto Rico Classic tab.
Puerto Rico Classic
Grand Reserve Golf Club – Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
First Round Team Results (Par 288)
1 Ole Miss 272 -16
2 Purdue 274 -14
3 Oklahoma 275 -13
4 South Carolina 277 -11
5 Virginia 280 -8
T6 Georgia 282 -6
T6 Tennessee 282 -6
T6 North Florida 282 -6
T6 LSU 282 -6
10 Marquette University 285 -3
11 Minnesota 286 -2
12 College of Charleston 289 +1
T13 Iowa 294 +6
T13 Ohio State 294 +6
15 Wisconsin 297 +9
Top 5 Individuals (Par 72)
1 Brett Schell North Florida 65 -7
T2 Kent Hsiao Purdue 66 -6
T2 Cameron Tankersley Ole Miss 66 -6
T2 Cohen Trolio Ole Miss 66 -6
T5 Joe Wilson IV Ohio State 67 -5
T5 Paul Chang Virginia 67 -5
T5 Ryder Cowan Oklahoma 67 -5
T5 Sam Easterbrook Purdue 67 -5
LSU Scores
T13 Algot Kleen – 69 -3
T21 Arni Sveinsson – 70 -2
T28 Alfons Bondesson – 71 -1
T44 Jay Mendell – 72 E
Nicholas Arcement — WD