LSU INTRO THIS IS LSU PREVIEW TIGERS REVIEW HISTORY A Program on theRise After competing with one of the youngest starting lineups in the country Each is sure to battle for a coveted spot in the starting lineup as the Tigers last season, the LSU men’s golf team is more confident and more experienced compete with what is surely their most talented roster in more than a decade. heading into the 2008-09 season as the Tigers are poised to take the next Yi was the 12th-ranked junior golfer in the country and the 10th-ranked step under fourth-year head coach Chuck Winstead and earn a berth into the prospect for the Class of 2008 when he signed with the Tigers, while Jones NCAA Men’s Golf Championships for the first time in 12 seasons. was the nation’s 19th-ranked junior golfer and the 16th-ranked player in his Back to lead the way are the top five performers from a team that earned a classification according to the Golfweek Junior Rankings. Gutgsell was also spot in NCAA regional play for the first time since 2005 with an appearance in one of the nation’s Top 100 recruits for the Class of 2008 as he was ranked No. the NCAA West Regional in 2008. 89 in the country when he elected to sign a national letter of intent with the Sophomore standout Andrew Loupe made an immediate impact in his rookie Tigers. season after finishing the year with a team-leading two Top 10 and five Top 20 The Tigers will kick off their season Sept. 13-14 with a trip to Wayzata, finishes to go along with a team-leading 74.1 stroke average. Senior Jarrod Minn., for the first time to compete against many of the elite teams from the Barsamian and fellow sophomore John Peterson also finished the season with Midwest in the Gopher Invitational at Spring Hill Golf Club. The Tigers will a 74.1 stroke average to lead the way. return to the Southeast a week later with their fourth straight appearance in Like Loupe, sophomore Clayton Rotz also burst onto the collegiate scene the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate slated for Sept. 22-23 at Shoal Creek Country while matching his team-leading two Top 10 and five Top 20 finishes en route Club following a 10th-place finish last season. to being named a member of the inaugural eight-man SEC All-Freshman Team. LSU earned its first and only tournament victory of the Chuck Winstead era Both Loupe and Peterson also earned a spot on the team as they established at the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate in 2005 in the first year of its inception. themselves among the top classes of newcomers in the conference. The Tigers earned a runner-up finish in their first ever appearance at the Junior Bryant Lach was without a doubt the most improved player on the Squire Creek Invitational last fall and are looking for more this fall as they team as he had a 74.2 stroke average a season ago, which is a three-stroke return to Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, La., to tee it up Oct. 13-14. improvement from his scoring average as a freshman in 2006. They will then wrap up the fall season with a trip to the prestigious Isleworth- LSU carried its momentum into the off-season as more Tigers earned the UCF Collegiate Invitational scheduled for Oct. 27-29 at Isleworth Golf and right to compete in the United States Amateur Championship than ever before. Country Club in Windermere, Fla. The purple and gold was on display at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina Following a three-month layoff, the squad will open play in the spring in August as Barsamian, Lach and Rotz were each a part of the 312-man field season with their annual trip to Gainesville, Fla., on Feb. 14-15 to compete in the most prestigious amateur championship in the world. against one of the strongest fields it will face in the regular season at the Gator Not only do the Tigers return one of the more talented young teams in all of Invitational at the Mark Bostick Golf Course. The Tigers were tied for sixth in college golf, but they also welcome one of the nation’s top classes of incoming the event a year ago and will be looking for their first team title since 2002. freshmen as Austin Gutgsell of Mandeville, La., Josh Jones of The Colony, They will then return to the state of Florida a week later for an appearance in Texas, and Sang Yi of Carrollton, Texas, will don the purple and gold for the the John Hayt Invitational scheduled for Feb. 22-23 at historic Sawgrass first time this season. The trio was the No. 4 recruiting class in the nation for Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach. the Class of 2008 according to the final Golfweek recruiting rankings. 26 2008-09 LSU MEN’S GOLF MEDIA GUIDE Season Preview LSU INTRO LSU closes out the month of March with a pair of familiar trips as they play to earn one of 30 spots in the NCAA Championships. This year, a total of THIS IS LSU return to Statesboro, Ga., to compete in the Schenkel/E-Z-Go Invitational at 84 teams will qualify for regional play with the top six teams from each region PREVIEW Forest Heights Country Club from March 20-22 before traveling to Awendaw, advancing into the 36-team field at the national championships. S.C., to tee it up in the fifth-annual Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate at The 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships will be held at historic TIGERS picturesque Bulls Bay Golf Club from March 29-31. Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, from May 27-30. The UCLA Bruins enter the REVIEW Following its appearance in the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate, the season as the defending national champions after earning a narrow one-stroke HISTORY squad will have one last opportunity to prepare for the postseason as it joins a victory over Stanford a year ago. strong regional field in the second-annual Bank of America Intercollegiate. Conference rival Ole Miss will play host to the event as it will be held April 7-8 at Reunion Golf and Country Club in Jackson, Miss. The Tigers matched their best performance a year ago with a runner-up finish in the inaugural event. The SEC Men’s Golf Championships return to St. Simons Island, Ga., for the ninth straight season with Frederica Golf Club playing host to the event for the second year in a row from April 17-19. After moving to Frederica Golf Club a year ago, the nation’s most competitive conference championship called the Seaside Course at nearby Sea Island Golf Club its home for the previous seven seasons. LSU finished in a tie for eighth place in the 12-team field in 2008. In July 2008, the NCAA’s Division I Men’s Golf Committee met in Colorado Springs to discuss a proposal that would alter the format by which the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships is conducted. The proposal was accepted and is set to take effect this season. Instead of cutting the field to 15 teams after 54 holes and crowning both an individual champion and team champion after 72 holes of stroke play as has been the case in recent years, the NCAA individual champion will be determined following the conclusion of 54 holes of stroke play with the top eight teams advancing to a single-elimination match play tournament. The team with the lowest score after three rounds of competition will play the team with the eighth-lowest score, the second-place team will play the seventh-place team and so on until a team champion is crowned. The idea is that the newly established format will make the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships an attractive option for television coverage. Regional play will also change dramatically during this year’s championship season with three regions expanding to six to create more postseason opportunities for programs nationwide. According to the old format, 81 teams competing in three fields of 27 were required to earn a Top 10 finish in regional Bryant Lach 2008-09 LSU Men’s Golf Roster NAME HT. CLASS EXP. HOMETOWN (PREVIOUS SCHOOL) Jarrod Barsamian 5-10 Sr. 3L Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (Episcopal HS) Brent Blaum 5-11 Jr. 1L Coral Gables, Fla. (Westminster Christian HS) Austin Gutgsell 6-0 Fr. HS Mandeville, La. (Mandeville HS) Josh Jones 5-11 Fr. HS The Colony, Texas (Texas Home School) Bryant Lach 6-0 Jr. 2L The Woodlands, Texas (The Woodlands HS) Brian Leveille 5-7 Jr. SQ Basking Ridge, N.J. (Ridge HS) Andrew Loupe 6-1 So. 1L Baton Rouge, La. (Episcopal HS) John Peterson 5-11 So. 1L Fort Worth, Texas (Paschal HS) Clayton Rotz 5-10 So. 1L Chambersburg, Pa. (Chambersburg Senior HS) Sang Yi 6-0 Fr. HS Carrollton, Texas (Hebron HS) Head Coach: Chuck Winstead (4th season) Assistant Coach: Shane Warren (4th season) Clayton Rotz Andrew Loupe 2008-09 LSU MEN’S GOLF MEDIA GUIDE 27 LSU Tournament Information INTRO Gopher Invitational Gator Invitational Date: Sept. 12-14, 2008 Date: Feb. 14-15, 2009 THIS IS LSU Host: Minnesota Host: Florida PREVIEW Location: Wayzata, Minn. Location: Gainesville, Fla. TIGERS Course: Spring Hill Golf Club Course: Mark Bostick Golf Course REVIEW Par: 72 Par: 70 Yardage: 7,020 Yardage: 6,800 HISTORY Last Year’s Team Champion: Lamar (868) Last Year’s Team Champion: Florida (820) Last Year’s Medalist: Casey Clendenon, Lamar, and Danny Zimmerman, Last Year’s Medalist: Michael Schachner, Duke, and Zack Sucher, UAB (203) Wisconsin (215) Field: Central Florida, Chattanooga, Coastal Carolina, Duke, Florida, Florida Field: Arkansas, Iowa, Iowa State, LSU, Marquette, Minnesota, Pepperdine, State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, LSU, Mississippi State, North Florida, SMU, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Yale Ole Miss, UAB, Wake Forest LSU’s 2007-08 Finish: DNP LSU’s 2007-08 Finish: 6th SID Contact: Matt Slieter SID Contact: Daniel Apple SID E-mail: [email protected] SID E-mail: [email protected] SID Office: (612) 625-4389 SID Phone: (352) 375-4683 ext.