The LSU men’s golf team is kicking off its spring season today in La Quinta, Calif., by participating in The Prestige at PGA West Invitational.
The tournament is in its 14th year and defending champions USC and Washington are looking to keep their titles intact.
The tournament is co- hosted by Stanford and UC Davis, and LSU head coach Chuck Winstead said he expects the Tigers to be competitive in this tournament.
“There’s a lot of good teams in this tournament,” Winstead said. “It’s our first tournament of the spring, so we’re looking to be competitive every time you go out. But in addition to that, we’re going out into nice weather so we’ll look to build momentum from that.”
Winstead said with the recent weather issues in Baton Rouge, west coast teams have been able to practice more than the Tigers, but he’s looking forward to the tournament as LSU will be the only squad from the Southeastern Conference in attendance.
Winstead said he has especially been impressed with juniors Curtis Thompson and Ben Taylor and expects them to perform well in this tournament.
Thompson is coming off of a strong performance at the Jones Cup Invitational on Jan. 31, finishing sixth with an overall tournament score of 5-over-par.
Taylor finished 26th in the Jones Cup with an overall score of 10-over-par, but shot an impressive 1-over-par in the second round of the tournament.
“Thompson has been playing well,” Winstead said. “He and Ben Taylor. Taylor hasn’t shot anything over par the last week and a half. It’s good to see Ben play the way he has been.”
Winstead said this tournament will help put the team into perspective and get on track with the goals they set for this spring.
The Tigers traveled to California on Saturday to get some practice rounds in before teeing off their spring season today.