TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
Sophomore Arni Sveinsson of LSU posted a 4-under-par 68 to lead the Tigers in the final round in the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship at the OMNI La Costa Resort course Monday in Carlsbad, California.
The Tigers, who advanced to this final round on the basis of a historic team round of 18-under par on Sunday, finished where they started Monday in 12th place at a 3-over par 1,155 after shooting a 1-over par 289 to close.
LSU needed to finish 2-under par overall to make the final eight teams for match play. UCLA, Tennessee, North Carolina and Stanford tied at that score with a playoff Monday night deciding the other two teams.
Sveinsson, who battled through injury all spring, opened with birdies on the par 5 10th and par 4 11th hole before posting 12 consecutive pars. He then birdied the par 5 sixth, bogeyed the par 4 seventh and finished with back-to-back birdies on the par 3 eighth and the difficult par 4 ninth to finish at 4-under for the day and even par for the tournament (288). He played the last 36 holes in 7-under par after shooting rounds of 77-74-69-68.
For LSU, the final round Monday meant the end of a great few days for this team, culminating a season in which LSU was ranked nationally in the top 10.
“From where this program was two years ago, to where we are now, and the expectations, and being in the top 10 in the country, and expecting to win these kinds of things, I’m pretty proud of that,” LSU coach Jake Amos said. “We got better this season and the face that we’ve put ourselves in this position already is a positive thing. We’ve got four guys returning who now have seen the golf course. We’re all disappointed. We had it right there, and unfortunately it was our own fault. We didn’t make it. Nobody overtook us. We kind of shed some shots coming in.”
From the start, it looked like LSU and the back nine had become close friends after Sunday’s round. Then Monday, the Tigers opened up with seven birdies in the first three holes, including four in the par 5 10th hole. There were a few bogeys but nothing really damaging as LSU for a bit moved up as far as eighth in the standings at one point, getting to 4-under par. But it was the par 5 18th and the first hole, a par 4, that kind of took the momentum away from the Tigers.
“It’s straight up discipline,” Amos said. “The guys knew they needed to be right of the flag on 18, and we had three balls left, and that was pretty much three instant bogeys. Then I think what happened after that is we started feeling like we needed to press. We went after a pin we shouldn’t have gone after, and again just not sticking to our game plan. And all of a sudden, we’re behind the eight ball. Ultimately, if we had just made some nice tidy pars, we would have been right in it coming down the stretch.”
LSU would count three double bogeys on the front side along with two bogeys at 18.
LSU freshman Dan Hayes, who shot a school record 64 on Sunday, rallied from a 3-over start after five holes to finish with two birdies to get back to 1-over 73. He finished 72 holes at even par 288 (76-75-64-73).
LSU also counted a 1-over 73 from Noah McWilliams. The junior had a hot start with four birdies in the first eight holes.
The Tigers other counting score was a 3-over 75 by Jay Mendell, another Louisiana junior with McWilliams, who finished at 3-over 291 for 72 holes. Matty Dodd-Berry posted 5-over 77 to shoot 5-over 293 for 72 holes.
Sveinsson and Hayes finished in a tie for 32nd from the original field of 156 players. Mendell finished tied for 46th. The Tigers finished second in the field on par 3 holes at a 3.02 average. LSU was tied for seventh in birdies with 68 and 10th in pars at 219.
McWilliams was tied for first on par 3 holes at 2.75 (-4), and Hayes was tied for second on par 4 holes at a 3.85 average (-6).
LSU leaves with the memory of its 18-under par round Sunday that lifted LSU from 27th place to 12th, where it finished on Monday.
“It’s an absolutely historic round,” Amos said. “That will be remembered for a while, and they’ll probably be talking about it next year. I’m sure it will come up in speeches from teams in similar situations as us. I’m very, very proud. I know I’m just glad that we have that in us, and we felt we had it in us.”
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
Carlsbad, California – OMNI La Costa Resort and Spa North Course
Final Stroke play Team Results (Par 288-1152)
Top eight teams advance to match play
1 Auburn – 284-272-286-284 – 1126 -26
2 Texas – 287-277-281-284 – 1129 -23
3 Vanderbilt – 287-277-291-285 – 1140 -12
T4 Florida – 291-290-284-276 – 1141 -11
6 Arizona – 287-285-284-293 – 1149 -3
T7 UCLA – 280-289-287-294 – 1150 -2
T7 Stanford – 291-286-289-284 – 1150 -2
(UCLA and Stanford win four-team playoff for final two spots)
T7 North Carolina – 287-288-283-292 – 1150 -2
T7 Tennessee – 292-287-287-284 – 1150 -2
11 Virginia – 288-284-293-288 – 1153 +1
12 LSU – 303-293-270-289 – 1155 +3
13 Duke – 286-286-291-293 – 1156 +4
14 Oklahoma – 292-284-288-293 – 1157 +5
15 San Diego – 286-291-289-310 – 1176 +24
Top 5 Individuals (Par 72-216)
1 Preston Stout, Oklahoma State – 73-67-65-69 – 274 -14
2 William Jennings, Alabama – 66-70-70-69 – 275 -13
3 Josiah Gilbert, Auburn – 70-67-70-70 – 277 -11
T4 Will Hartman, Vanderbilt – 70-68-68-72 – 278 -10
T4 Filip Jakubcik, Arizona – 68-66-72-72 – 278 -10
LSU Scores
T32 Arni Sveinsson – 77-74-69-68 – 288 E
T32 Dan Hayes – 76-75-64-73 – 288 E
T46 Jay Mendell – 75-73-68-75 – 291 +3
T58 Matty Dodd-Berry – 75-72-69-77 – 293 +5
T74 Noah McWilliams – 78-74-74-73 – 299 +11
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