After being out of competition for more than a month, the No. 27 LSU men’s golf team finished sixth out of a field of 15 teams at the Louisiana Classics Intercollegiate at Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette.
LSU coach Greg Jones said the break did not hurt the Tigers.
“It actually helps as long as you practice, but practice is different from competition,” Jones said. “I felt we did what we had to do to win the tournament, being in that position. Maybe next time we will win the tournament.”
The Tigers went into the final round Tuesday six strokes behind tournament winner Southern Methodist University, which won the tournament for the third-straight year, and Texas Tech, which was in second. The Tigers shot 291 in the first round and 289 in the second round to give them an overall score of 580, for four strokes over par.
The team finished with a round three score of 303 for a total score of 883, which put them at +19.
Jones said he was satisfied with the team’s performance.
“I’m pleased with the effort,” Jones said. “We went for the win today and really pushed hard because I was not going to sit there and just be satisfied with a second- or third-place finish.
“We really had to chase SMU because they came out today and were on fire, so I pushed my guys hard and made them play aggresive, and I guess we just got burned in the end.”
Junior golfer Jeff Riemann said the team’s performance could have been better.
“We played poorly today,” Riemann said. “[Monday] we played all right, but today we made mistakes.”
Jones said the team performed decently in the first and second rounds.
“We played pretty well today, but we just made a few mistakes here and there which cost us some strokes. But, overall I am pretty happy with the way we played,” Jones said after the second round. “We just need to go out tomorrow and play a good round. The guys are ready and excited so we just need to execute.”
The Tigers will now prepare for the Schenkel/E-Z-Go Invitational March 20 at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Ga.
Jones said the team will keep practicing until then.
“[We will] keep working on what we’ve been working on to get better,” Jones said. “What I want from them is, when I decide to push the accelerator, I want them to do it.”
The final team standings: SMU +1, Kansas +2, Texas Tech +4, Tulsa +15, Texas A&M +18, LSU +19, Texas-San Antonio +28, Tennessee +28, Colorado +29, Louisiana-Lafayette +31, Texas State +35, Rice +41, North Texas +43, Missouri +55 and Arkansas State +66.
The final individual scores for the Tigers: Jeff Riemann 72-75-76–223 +7(t24), Heath West 80-70-73–223 +7(t24), Garrett Prather 72-75-76–223 +7(t24), Andrew Lanahan 71-74-79–224 +8(t33), and Garrett Runion 76-70-78 +8(t33).