Coming off of two back-to-back team wins, the No. 7 LSU men’s golf team is going back to Georgia for the second time this season.
The Tigers will look for a third straight win at the United States Collegiate Championship in Alpharetta, Georgia. The three-day event will take place this weekend at the Golf Club of Georgia’s Lakeside Course. The slightly longer of the club’s two courses is a par-72 round that will require careful navigation of its 7,017 yards.
Senior All-American Ben Taylor, who is coming off his first individual win, said he is pleased with the program’s direction after playing its first three tournaments.
“It’s great.” Taylor said, “Since I’ve transferred [to LSU] we haven’t had two wins in a row. It has certainly given us good momentum going into [the United States Collegiate Championship].”
LSU will face the highest-ranked field since Georgia Tech hosted the Carpet Capital Collegiate. A total of nine teams ranked in Golfweek’s top 25 team standings will compete, including the third-ranked Bruins of UCLA, the fourth-ranked Cardinal of Stanford University and No. 7 LSU.
“We know that it is going to be a very strong field, and it’s going to be a big tournament to end the fall with,” Taylor said. “So having two wins is great. We’re pumped and ready to get the third one in a row.”
Taylor’s fellow senior and All-American Stewart Jolly followed his win in Iowa at the Golfweek Conference Challenge with a tie for the 30th position in LSU’s own David Toms Intercollegiate and said he is determined to improve on what he considered a below average performance.
“I just have to tighten everything up,” Jolly said. “[My game] wasn’t far off. My score was worse than I actually felt my game really was. I’m just trying to get better each day.”
Despite Jolly’s poor individual performance, he was pleased with his teammates’ performances.
“It was awesome,” Jolly said. “Ben [Taylor] has been playing really well for a while now. It’s good to see him finally get the job done. I was just trying to hang in there and get the team win and we did it. It’s pretty exciting.”
Taylor and Jolly will be joined in Georgia by junior Zach Wright, sophomore Eric Ricard and senior Myles Lewis. Each will have the opportunity to join Jolly and Taylor in the winner’s circle as the third Tiger to win an individual crown.
The Tigers tee off on hole No. 1 at 9 a.m. on Friday and will be in the first grouping alongside the University of Texas Longhorns and the University of
Virginia Cavaliers.