No. 8 LSU Men’s Golf Finishes 12th At SEC Championship

Tiger Rag News Services

Dan Hayes, Noah McWilliams and Jay Mendell all posted in red figures Friday to lead the LSU Tigers in the final round of stroke play at the 2026 SEC Men’s Golf Championship at the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club.

Hayes and McWilliams both shot 2-under par 68s and Mendell brought it home in ¬under 69 as LSU posted a 5-under round of 275 in the windiest conditions of the three-day event in which officials also used some of the more difficult pin placements.

Only three teams in the 16-team field had a lower scoring round than LSU for its four counting scores on the final day.

“We played nice today,” said LSU Coach Jake Amos. “We had a good, a really good round, considering how tough the weather was. The boys played really well. We had some conversations (Thursday), and they just did everything I asked. They fought, and they were focused, and they were professional and moved up the leaderboard.”

LSU moved up two spots in the final standings to 12th place at 5-under par 835 (275-285-275). The Tigers were seven shots out of what would end up being a three-way playoff for the eighth and final match play finish with Arkansas, South Carolina and Georgia at 12-under par 828. South Carolina won the playoff on the first extra hole.

Here's how the LSU individual leaderboard landed after three rounds of stroke play.

⛳️ Live scoring: https://t.co/DFpOGoGMzN pic.twitter.com/93zc1sfyEq

— LSU Men's Golf (@LSUMensGolf) April 24, 2026

But Coach Amos liked what he saw out of his LSU team on Friday.

“I mean, (Thursday), it looked a little flat,” said Coach Amos, “and today, they were fighting a bit more. We knew we probably weren’t going to make (match play), but we had a nice start and the goal was just to get the most out of everyone’s round, and I think we did that.”

McWilliams had two birdies on his first nine holes (holes 10-18), turning in 33 before playing the front nine holes in even par 35. He had six birdies in total in his round.

Hayes opened with three birdies on holes 10-18 and then finished with five total.

Mendell turned in 1-over 36, but in his final nine holes came in with two birdies for a 2-under 33 to close his round.

Hayes and Mendell both finished T31 in the field of 80 at 3-under par 207 and McWilliams came in T35 at 2-under 208.

LSU also counted a nice even par round of 70 over the 7,005-yard layout from Tiger freshman Hudson Lawson who was put in for his first SEC experience.

Lawson played the final nine holes in 2-under.

“It was a good experience for Hudson,” said Coach Amos. “We wanted to get him some experience. He’s a tough kid and he wasn’t scared. I’m delighted. He had a good counting round today.”

Joining South Carolina in the match play quarterfinals set for Saturday are Auburn, Florida, Texas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Oklahoma.

Auburn’s Jackson Kolvin, the No. 1 player in the country, won the individual title for the third straight year with a 54-hole total of 19-under 191 (64-64-63).

Statistically, LSU was T6 in the field on the par 5 holes at 12-under par and Mendell was T3 at 4-under. LSU was eighth in the field with 52 birdies.

Now it’s back to Baton Rouge, finish up academic work and get ready for the NCAA postseason.

“We’ll meet on Monday and get back to our regular routine,” said Coach Amos. “We’ve been on the road three straight weeks, so I think we need a bit of time to work out and get our school and our life in order again. Get back to our fundamentals. Right around selection time (in May), we’ll start ramping things up again.”

The 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional tournaments will be held from May 18–20 at these six sites: Athens, Ga. (UGA Golf Course), Bermuda Run, N.C. (Bermuda Run Country Club), Bryan, Texas (Traditions Club), Columbus, Ohio (OSU Golf Club), Corvallis, Ore. (Trysting Tree Golf Club), and Marana, Ariz. (The Gallery Golf Club).

Our time in St. Simons has come to an end.

The NCAA selection show is set for 1 p.m. CT on Wednesday, May 6th, where the Tigers will find out what's next this postseason.

⛳️ Live scoring: https://t.co/DFpOGoGMzN pic.twitter.com/XmKcnVTxBS

— LSU Men's Golf (@LSUMensGolf) April 24, 2026

Southeastern Conference Men’s Golf Championship
Sea Island Golf Club – St. Simons Island, Georgia
Final Team Stroke Play Qualifying Results (Par 280-840)
Top eight teams advance to match play
(NCAA Scoreboard ranking in parentheses)
1 Auburn (No. 1) – 289-284-286 – 801 -39
2 Florida (No. 4) – 269-271-267 – 807 -33
3 Texas (No. 3) – 269-269-272 – 810 -30
4 Ole Miss (No. 12) – 265-274-281 – 820 -20
5 Texas A&M (No. 30) – 274-270-280 – 824 -16
6 Mississippi State (No. 41) – 271-273-282 – 826 -14
7 Oklahoma (No. 16) – 266-277-284 – 827 -13
T8 South Carolina (No. 39) – 272-276-280 – 828 -12
(South Carolina wins 8th after one hole playoff)
—
T8 Arkansas (No. 5) – 277-274-277 – 828 -12
T8 Georgia (No. 25) – 280-273-275 – 828 -12
11 Alabama (No. 17) – 272-279-283 – 834 -6
12 LSU (No. 8) – 275-285-275 – 835 -5
13 Tennessee (No. 14) – 278-273-285 – 836 -4
14 Vanderbilt (No. 11) – 278-271-294 – 843 +3
15 Missouri – 275-290-284 – 849 +9
16 Kentucky – 285-290-293 – 868 +28

Individual Top 5 (Par 70-210)
1 Jackson Kolvin, Auburn – 64-64-63 – 191 -19
2 Jase Summy, Oklahoma – 65-65-68 – 198 -12
T3 Christiaan Maas, Texas – 66-67-67 – 200 -10
T3 Cohen Trolio, Ole Miss – 64-70-66 – 200 -10
T3 William Jennings, Alabama – 64-66-72 – 200 -10

LSU Scores
T31 Dan Hayes – 68-71-68 – 207 -3
T31 Jay Mendell – 69-69-69 – 207 -3
T35 Noah McWilliams – 68-72-68 – 208 -2
T60 Arni Sveinsson – 70-75-71 – 216 +6
XX Matty Dodd-Berry – 74-73-xx
XX Hudson Lawson – XX-XX-72