On Saturday, LSU men’s golf completed the remaining six holes of Round Two from Friday and finished the 18 holes of Round Three to complete the Gator Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.
The tourney was slated to be a three-day event (18 holes a day), but mother nature ran her course. The squad came in fourth with a score of 21 under par (819), eight strokes behind Florida, the home team and the victors.
“Really solid start for our guys,” LSU Head Coach Chuck Winstead said. “We are just getting started, but I know that this group will improve as we move through the spring.”
After Round One scoring was completed on Friday afternoon, the field took back to the course and attempted to complete as many holes as possible, so play would not be interrupted due to inclement weather on Saturday.
“It is definitely different to have the format of the event change,” Trey Winstead told the Reveille. “[Playing 30 holes in one day] is mentally tiring, being in a grind for that long. You don’t have a chance to sub out.”
The men’s golf team completed the 18 holes from Round One, finishing with a score of 10 under par, and then went on to complete 12 more holes before play was suspended due to darkness on Friday night.
Following the 30 holes played on Friday, the Tigers were tied for third place with a score of 14-under par.
When play resumed on Saturday morning following a three-hour rain delay, the momentum was with the Tigers. Senior Trey Winstead and Junior Garrett Barber finished Round Two with sub-par scores of 4-under. Both Winstead and Barber rolled in an impressive seven birdies and carded three bogeys apiece.
Freshman Nicholas Arcement also had his sub-par score of 2-under par which was counted for Round Two. His round was highlighted with 14 pars, three birdies and one bogey.
Neither helping nor hurting the team for Round Two, following a low score for Round One, Connor Gaunt contributed an even par score.
On Saturday the forecast was not looking bright, but rather dark and wet for Sunday. The field would finish Round Three and complete the event on Saturday.
Winstead continued to find fairways and seek pins as he posted the lowest score for the Tigers in Round Three, finishing 3-under par. In his round, he connected with five birdies, two of which came from long par-5s and two from par-4s. In total Winstead would finish the tournament 9-under-par and tied for fourth for the lowest individual score. This is his highest finish for his senior season so far.
“I definitely scored the ball a little bit better,” Winstead said. “We were just focusing on us. We are just trying to get better, focusing on the present, the shot on hand.”
Gaunt was able to contribute to the team with a score of 1-under par. His collective score of 5-under par tied him for 18th with Barber.
Barber, the Florida native, finished his third round 1-over-par.
Arcement shot a 2-over-par 72 on Saturday. His collective score for the tournament, 2-under-par, placed him tied for 35th.
Although LSU was not able to bring home gold, they found much success on the course over the two-day play period.
The squad collectively carded 58 birdies, four shy of Auburn who had the most in the field. They were able to capitalize on par-3s – among the field they were tied for first with Georgia for stroke average (2.99) and score (1-under-par) on the short holes.
Further, this marks the second time out of four events this year that a home team has won their hosted event: Vanderbilt at the Vanderbilt Legends and now Florida at the Gator Invitational. Another note is that Arkansas placed in the top-three when they hosted the Blessings Invitational.
The Tigers will return home for an off week from competition. The following week, February 26-28, the Tigers will host the LSU Invitational at the University Club in Baton Rouge. More information about the allowance of spectators and starting lineups will be posted as the date gets closer.   
“We are definitely excited in hosting an event,” Winstead said. “We take a lot of pride in the course. We are very excited to defend our course.”
“We are focusing on getting better each day and the results will come.”