LSU Golf Second Round In Puerto Rico Paced by Sveinsson, Kleen, Mendell

BATON ROUGE – Three LSU Tigers combined to shoot 14 under par Tuesday in the second round of the Puerto Rico Classic at the Grand Reserve Golf Club at Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

Freshman Arni Sveinsson posted a 6-under 66, senior Algot Kleen a 5-under 67 and sophomore Jay Mendell was at 3-under 69 to pace the seventh-ranked LSU men’s golf team to a 14-under round of 274 and a T4 position going to Wednesday’s final round. It is the second lowest under par round the team has shot in the 2024-25 campaign and the tied the fourth lowest aggregate score of the year.

LSU shot the co-lowest tournament round of the day at 14-under par tied with Purdue and Georgia.

Purdue is the tournament leader at 28-under par 548 (274-274), one shot ahead of Ole Miss at 27-under 549 (272-277). South Carolina is third at 23-under 553 (277-276) with Georgia (282-274) and LSU (282-274) tied for fourth, a shot ahead of Oklahoma in sixth at 19-under par 557 (275-282).

Sveinsson posted a clean card that featured six birdies. Starting on hole eight on the shotgun start, the freshman, already with a title under his belt, birdied three par 4s on holes 10-18, and then followed up with a birdie 3 on the par 4 first hole and birdies on the par 5 second and fifth holes. It was his second lowest aggregate round of the year.

Kleen, who opened with 69 on Monday, had seven birdies in his 5-under round. Starting on the seventh hole, he birdied the par 3 eighth and turned back to hole one at 2-under par. He came home 3-under on the final six holes with birdies on the par 5 second and fifth holes to go with a birdie on the short par 4 third hole.

The pair are right in the thick of the individual competition as both players are tied for third at 8-under 136. Sveinsson moved up 18 spots on Tuesday after rounds of 70-66, while Kleen (72-69) moved up 10 spots on the leaderboard. Kent Hsiao of Purdue (66-66) and Cohen Trolio of Ole Miss (66-66) are the leaders at 12-under par. Six total golfers are tied for third at 8-under 136.

Mendell with his 69 moved up 19 spots on the board on the second day. He posted a four-birdie round that featured three birdies in his last four holes on the par 5 fifth, the par 4 seventh and par 3 eighth holes. Mendell is at 3-under 141 for 36 holes and is in a group tied for 25th place.

Senior Nick Arcement was able to go after missing the opening round with an illness and he was the fourth counting score for LSU at even par 72. Arcement finished strong for LSU, getting back to even with birdies on the par 3 eighth and par 4 ninth holes.

The third round on Wednesday is scheduled for a 5:30 a.m. CT start (7:30 a.m. in Puerto Rico) and LSU will be paired with Georgia and Oklahoma starting on holes 4-7. Live scoring can be found on the Golfstat.com site on the green Puerto Rico Classic tab.

After this event LSU will be off for just under a month before teeing it up in the Louisiana Classic in Lafayette which starts on March 10.

PUERTO RICO CLASSIC
Grand Reserve Golf Club – Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
Second Round Team Results (Par 288-576)
1 Purdue 274 274 548 -28
2 Ole Miss 272 277 549 -27
3 South Carolina 277 277 554 -22
T4 Georgia 282 274 556 -20
T4 LSU 282 274 556 -20
6 Oklahoma 275 282 557 -19
7 Virginia 280 283 563 -13
8 Tennessee 282 285 567 -9
9 Marquette University 285 284 569 -7
10 Minnesota 286 288 574 -2
11 North Florida 282 295 577 +1
12 College of Charleston 289 289 578 +2
13 Iowa 294 289 583 +7
14 Wisconsin 297 292 589 +13
15 Ohio State 294 297 591 +15

Top 5 Individuals (Par 72-144)
T1 Kent Hsiao Purdue 66 66 132 -12
T1 Cohen Trolio Ole Miss 66 66 132 -12
T3 Algot Kleen LSU 69 67 136 -8
T3 Arni Sveinsson LSU 70 66 136 -8
T3 Brock Blais South Carolina 68 68 136 -8
T3 Buck Brumlow Georgia 70 66 136 -8
T3 Sam Easterbrook Purdue 67 69 136 -8
T3 Johan Widal Marquette 68 68 136 -8

LSU Scores
T3 Arni Sveinsson – 70-66 – 136 -8
T3 Algot Kleen – 69-67 – 136 -8
T25 Jay Mendell – 72-69 – 141 -3
T51 Alfons Bondesson – 71-75 – 146 +2
—- Nick Arcement — — – 72