The No. 7 LSU men’s golf team finished the weekend in third at the United States Collegiate Championship after a first round without a single Tiger finishing par. LSU finished with a team score of 857 (296-279-282) thirteen strokes behind the second place team.
Despite finding themselves in an 8-over-par hole and sitting in a tie for the 13th as a team after one round, the Tigers were able to go out in the second round and shoot the lowest team score of the day putting them in position to climb into the top three.
The Tigers were led by sophomore Eric Ricard who shot his final two rounds a total of seven shots under par. Ricard finished tied for eighth with a 5-under-par final score of 211 (74-68-69).
Junior Zach Wright, who led the Tigers in the first two rounds, was the only LSU golfer to not go over par in the first round. His 2-over-par final round of 74 dropped him eight spots on the leaderboard into a tie for the 13th position with a weekend score of 213 (72-67-74).
But the play of the two youngest Tigers on the board was not enough to catch either of the first two teams on the leaderboard.
The No. 17 University of Texas Longhorns took home the title with a team score of 843 (278-288-277). The Longhorns turned in all four of their lowest golfers’ scorecards for the week with scores below par.
The Longhorns edged out the No. 26 University of Virginia Cavaliers,who finished with a final 844 (272-295-277). The Cavaliers were led by sophomore Derek Bard and senior Denny McCarthy who finished in the first two spots in the individual standings. Bard took the victory by six strokes over his teammate and tournament runner-up McCarthy with a final 201 (66-71-64).
The next two finishers for the Tigers were senior Myles Lewis and senior All-American Ben Taylor who finished as part of a seven-way tie for 39th.
Lewis climbed 15 spots with a 2-under-par final round 70 to finish with a final 219 (76-73-70). Taylor’s final round 74 dropped him nine spots for a final 3-over-par 219 (74-71-74).
All-American senior Stewart Jolly found himself in the rare position of being the fifth-finishing Tiger and not producing a qualifying score in the first two rounds. His 3-under-par final round of 69 was not enough to overcome shooting a 4-over-par 76 on each of the first two days. Jolly’s final 5-over-par score of 221 (76-76-69) put him in a tie for 50th place individually.
The United States Collegiate Championship was the final tournament of the fall semester for the Tigers. The Tigers will pick up the season in the spring at The Prestige at PGA West in La Quinta, California on Feb. 16, 2015.