A faction of experienced golfers will try to carry their hot swinging from the summer into a promising season as the No. 9 ranked LSU men’s golf team tees off this weekend in its first team tournament of the season at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic in Rocky Face, Ga.
The Tigers will try to use momentum from four golfers’ performances in the US Amateur tournament in August to take the top spot.
Coach Chuck Winstead said the experience of senior Landon Lyons and juniors Stewart Jolly, Myles Lewis and Ben Taylor in the amateur tournament has this year’s team poised for success.
“Their performance in the tournament shows their form is well,” Winstead said. “We’ve been playing well and I expect us to have a good year.”
The Tigers ended tied for fourth in the same tournament last season, and Winstead said their knowledge of the course at The Farm Golf Club can help the team succeed.
Senior Andrew Presley and junior Curtis Thompson each shot a 1-under-par at the course in 2012 to lead the team that scored a combined 4-under-par 286. Jolly and sophomore Zach Wright shot an even par last season and Lyons rounded out the Tigers’ team with a 4-over-par.
Winstead will bring back four members of last year’s five-man lineup with Presley, Jolly, Thompson and Wright. They will be joined by senior Smylie Kaufman representing LSU this weekend.
“All the guys in the lineup have played in the tournament before,” Winstead said. “There will be no adjustment to learning the course which is an advantage.”
The Tigers’ returning players and their improving play brings a sense of experience that last year’s team did not have, he said.
Winstead was pleased with the way the team has been hitting in practices in Baton Rouge this week and thinks that play can translate into a successful weekend of golf.
LSU will face rigorous competition this weekend as the tournament features several of Golfweek’s Preseason Top 30 teams including No. 4 Georgia Tech, No. 6 Texas, No. 11 Georgia, No. 12 Auburn, No. 18 South Carolina and
No. 21 Clemson.