Tigers Struggle in Round One at SEC Championship
by Ethan W. Anderson
BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s golf team carded a 13-over 293 in round one of stroke play at the SEC Championship. The Tigers have some work to do over the next two days as they will need to finish in the top eight to advance to match play in St. Simons Island.
The 7,005-yard par 70 Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club proved to be a difficult track for the Tigers. LSU had no players under par in the opening round. Vanderbilt leads the field at 11-under 269 and is followed closely by Georgia at 10-under 270.
Connor Gaunt led the Tigers with a 1-over 71 in the first round. After starting 4-over through 4 holes, Gaunt fought his way back with 4 birdies and just one bogey to get to 1-over. Jay Mendell carded a 2-over 72. Mendell’s sole birdie came in the 565-yard par-5 at No. 15. The hole is just one of two par-fives on the course.
Alex Price also finished the day at 2-over 72. Price carded four birdies on the day, but was set back by a trio of bogeys and a triple on No. 2. Drew Doyle and Lance Yates both finished at 8-over 78.
LSU will look to climb up the leaderboard on Thursday in round two of stroke play. The Tigers will tee off in the morning as early as 7:00 a.m. central time. Live scoring can be found at Golfstat.com and live updates can be seen across all @lsumensgolf social media platforms.
Team Par – 280 R1
1 Vanderbilt 269 -11
2 Georgia 270 -10
3 Auburn 274 -6
4 Texas A&M 276 -4
5 Tennessee 277 -3
T6 Arkansas 279 -1
T6 Florida 279 -1
8 Ole Miss 281 +1
T9 Alabama 283 +3
T9 Kentucky 283 +3
11 S. Carolina 287 +7
12 Miss. St. 288 +8
13 Missouri 290 +10
14 LSU 293 +13