The LSU golf tandem of senior Andrew Lanahan and junior Chris Wells won the collegiate team championship Saturday at the 36th annual Spirit of America Golf Classic.
The tournament was held at the Burningtree Country Club in Decatur, Ala., and was hosted by the Alabama Golf Association and Golfweek.
The duo shot a 54-hole total of 17-under-par 409 to defeat 33 two-man teams representing universities from across the country and won a $5,000 scholarship donation to benefit the LSU men’s golf program from the Burningtree Country Club College Scholarship fund.
“It was our goal to represent LSU well and to show the pride we have in our school and our program,” Lanahan said in a news release. “We got off to a real fast start and never looked back from there. It was one of our goals to win that competition, and we did.”
The Tiger twosome defeated the second-place team of J.J. Wood and Michael Baird of Pepperdine University by 13 strokes.
“We played together in three of the four rounds, and we seemed to feed off of each other,” Wells said of his teammate. “We just kept trying to push each other the whole weekend. I’m proud of the way we played, and it means a lot for us and our program.”
Lanahan and Wells also competed against a field of 150 in the 72-hole individual championship with similar success on the par 71 course.
Wells shot an 11-under-par 273 to finish second, and Lanahan was on his heels with a 10-under-par 274 to finish third.
Wells golfed a tournament-best 7-under-par 64 in the first round followed by rounds of 74 and 66 for a one-stoke lead going Sunday’s final round.
He shot a 2-under-par 69 on Sunday, and was unable to fend off University of Arkansas’ Tommy Campbell, who shot a 4-under-par 67 in the final round to win tournament with a four-day total of 12-under-par 274.
“I had him on the front nine,” Wells said of Campbell. “But he came out and birdied holes 10, 11 and 13 to start the back. He made a run, and I just tried to hang in there and play my game.”
Wells said he was happy with his play though he did not win, and said the three solid rounds he shot will give him confidence as he competes the rest of the summer.
After shooting four rounds under par, Lanahan said he was pleased with the consistency he played with. He shot rounds of 66, 69, 70 and 69.
“It was good for me to play well and stay consistent out there,” Lanahan said. “I had to redshirt last season because of injury, and it shows that a lot of hard work has paid off. I’m definitely looking forward to playing the rest of the summer and next year.”
Lanahan redshirted the 2004-05 season after having surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff.
Wells and Lanahan are competing in the 33rd-annual Rice Planters Amateur Golf Tournament at Snee Farm County Country Club in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., which began July 6 and ends July 9.