As a preseason All-Southeastern Conference selection and the longest tenured member on the men’s golf team, junior Andrew Presley started the season with a lot of unfamiliar pressure on his shoulders.
He had success in each of his first two seasons with the Tigers, but said the pressure at the beginning of this fall was different because contributors like Sang Yi and Austin Gutgsell had graduated.
Yi and Gutgsell were both tournament champions who spent four years on the team and their departures left an experience gap. Behind Presley, No. 12 LSU starts a lineup of one junior and three sophomores.
“Last year we had two seniors and no juniors, and my freshman season we had four seniors,” Presley said. “We suddenly went from having a lot of older people to me being the oldest and being surrounded by younger guys. I had to adjust to that.”
Presley got off to a slow start in the fall season. He finished tied for No. 40 at the season-opening Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic and finished fourth on the team at the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate.
“Sometimes it is easier when you are one of the younger guys on the team,” said LSU coach Chuck Winstead. “You don’t feel as responsible for the team score, where when you’re older, you have to grow into that leadership role. I think he got better than that as the fall went on.”
The results support Winstead’s claim.
Presley went on to win the David Toms Intercollegiate at the University Club and wrapped up the fall season with a team-best No. 9 finish at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational.
”I’m really comfortable with it now,” Presley said. “The beginning of the fall was a lot like getting my feet wet as a leader, but I got it now and I think the spring will be a lot better.”
Presley reclaimed that momentum at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate, LSU’s first spring tournament.
After scuffling through a unfamiliar course to a 5-over score through two rounds, Presley got hot in the final round, birdieing his last three holes to post a 4-under 68. He finished the tournament at 1-over 217, good for a share of fifth place.
Winstead said Presley’s performance showed a lot of maturity because he stayed patient and pulled it together in the end instead of getting frustrated.
“In general, the more he plays the more comfortable he becomes being the older guy,” Winstead said. “That will be very good for us going forward.”
