The No. 6 LSU men’s golf team is in unfamiliar territory.
The Tigers begin their next tournament on Sunday in Naples, Florida, in the Talis Park Challenge, the first time LSU coach Chuck Winstead and his troop compete in the two-day event.
“We have never played in this event so I really don’t know how the scores will be,” Winstead said.
The Tigers will be competing against a field of 15 teams, including Texas A&M and No. 5 Vanderbilt.
The two-day event features 36 holes in the first round, and 18 in the following. The Tigers haven’t competed in a two-day event since their home tournament, the David Toms Intercollegiate on October 4-5.
“The guys haven’t played a 36-18 in a while,” Winstead said. “We just need to make sure their stamina stays up to be able to play two rounds in one day instead of over a span of three days.”
LSU finished its previous event, the Querencia Cabo Collegiate Championship, at 14-over par, 866. The Tigers finished their final round at 3-under par, 281, jumping six teams to finish in a tie for seventh place.
Junior Zach Wright led the team at 1-under par for the event. Wright shot for a team-low round of 2-under, 69 on the final day, which boosted him into a tie for 10th place overall.
Pierce finished next in line behind Wright, shooting a 3-over par, 216. He ended this week four strokes behind the junior, placing himself into tie at 20th.
Winstead predicted the scores were going to be high in the Mexico tournament before the competition, and they were. LSU’s seventh place finished kept it on pace to finish as part of the top-10 team standings in every event this season.
He said there was nothing specific he led this team through this week to fix problems that occurred in Mexico. But his team’s use of the driver seemed to be imperative when looking forward to the event in Florida.
“This golf course is considerably different than Cabo,” Winstead said. “Cabo was narrow, and you couldn’t hit the driver on every hole. This golf course from what I hear will use a driver from almost every hole. So, if there was any focus this week I would say it would have to be with the driver.”