The LSU men’s golf team couldn’t rally past its opening-round struggles to repeat as champions of the John Hayt Invitational at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., but the team saw welcome contributions from the bottom of its lineup.LSU finished in second place with a 24-over par 888, 12 strokes behind champion North Florida. The Ospreys won with a 12-over 876.Sophomores Austin Gutgsell and Sang Yi pulled together their best overall performances of the season in the John Hayt Invitational.Gutgsell saved his best play for the last round. The Mandeville native enjoyed a bogey-free 18-holes en route to a 2-under par 70 to close the tournament.The Tigers finished the first day of the tournament with virtually no shot of repeating as champions in the event. LSU sat in a three-way tie for seventh place after the first day.LSU’s top two golfers, juniors Andrew Loupe and John Peterson, had uncharacteristically rough days.Peterson opened up the John Hayt invitational by shooting a 9-over 81, his worst round this season and his first round in the 80s since last season’s Schenkel/E-Z-Go Invitational.Loupe, coming off a second-place finish at the Gator Invitational, fired an opening round 5-over par 77.The Tigers’ opening round was saved by Gutgsell and Yi. Gutgsell finished the first round with an  even-par 72, while Yi fired LSU’s second-best round of the day with a 3-over 75.Things started looking brighter for LSU following the conclusion of the second round. With the exception of Gutgsell, every Tiger improved their score in the second round.Yi soared up the leaderboards following his 2-under 70. Yi had a blemish-free scorecard on the front nine and carded five birdies in the second round.The Tigers finished the second round in sole posession of seventh place, but LSU wasn’t done moving up the team leaderboard.Gutgsell’s strong third-round performance was followed by Peterson’s best round of the tournament, an even par 72, and another 3-over 75 by Yi.The Tigers posted a 3-over 291 for the final round, their best round of the tournament and the best team score of the third round.LADY TIGERS FINISH NINTH IN VALDOSTAThe No. 20 LSU women’s golf team finished in the middle of the pack in the Kinderlou Forest Challenge at Kinderlou Forest Golf Course in Valdosta, Ga.LSU complied a 39-over 915 team score, putting the Lady Tigers in ninth place.Junior Megan McChrystal and sophomore Tessa Teachman proved to be a formidable one-two punch for the Lady Tigers. Both were tied for ninth place in the individual standings following the second round.Teachman shot a cumulative score of 4-over 223, while McChrystal bested her teammate by one stroke, finishing at 3-over 222. Teachman finished in a tie for 10th place, and McChrystal finished in a tie for seventh.The remainder of the Lady Tigers failed to put up consistent scores, however. Sophomore Jacqueline Hedwall shot a promising 2-over 75 in the first round, but followed it with back-to-back 5-over 78s to close out the tournament. Juniors Abby Oberthier and Amalie Valle struggled throughout much of the tournament. The two golfers combined to post five rounds in the 80s.LSU finished the tournament 26 strokes behind the Kinderlou Forest Challenge winners, Tulane.The Green Wave finished at 13-over 889.The Lady Tigers return to action Friday, March 12 for the Tiger-Wave Classic in New Orleans.—————Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]