WEST POINT, Miss. – Yannick Schütz recorded his fourth top-20 result of the spring while Brooks Rabren posted an even-par 72 to pace the University of South Alabama men's golf program in the final round of Mississippi State's Old Waverly Collegiate Championship Tuesday.
No. 10 Louisiana State fired an 11-under-par 277 over the last 18 holes to come from behind and finish 13 strokes in front of 20th-ranked South Florida, with the Jaguars ending up eighth out of the 15 schools competing with an 888 group total. Ole Miss' Braden Thornberry was the event's medalist with a 12-under-par 204 two-day total following a 6-under-par 66 in the final round as he concluded play five shots ahead of his nearest competitor.
Schütz had a 221 score over 54 holes, and with that total tied for 16th place in the individual standings. Rabren's even-par round gave him a score of 226 for the tournament, one shot in back of Rasmus Karlsson and Peter Staalbo and one in front of Jason Mendel.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Event (host): Old Waverly Collegiate Championship (Mississippi State)
Date: 4/17
Course: Old Waverly Golf Club (par 72, 7,000 yds)
Live scoring: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=14848
TEAM SCORES
1) Louisiana State 287-291-277—855 (-9); 2) South Florida 286-297-285—868; 3) Ole Miss 284-289-297—870; 4) Mississippi State 296-290-288—874; 5) Lipscomb 291-299-288—878; 6) Coastal Carolina 299-295-287—881; 7) ULM 300-293-292—885; 8) South Alabama 293-295-300—888; 9) Memphis 316-306-286—908; 10) Chattanooga 306-307-296—909; 11) Louisiana 318-304-292—914; 12) McNeese State 299-303-316—918; 13) Little Rock 308-309-302—919; 14) Southern Mississippi 314-303-305—922; 15) Louisiana Tech 309-314-301—924.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
1) Braden Thornberry, OM 71-67-66—204 (-12); 2) Dawson Armstrong, LU 71-70-68—209; T3) Trey Winstead, LSU 70-75-67—212; T3) Luis Gagne, LSU 72-69-71—212; T5) Claudio Correa, USF 72-69-73—214; T5) Garrett Johnson, MSU 75-71-68—214; 7) Christian DiMarco, USF 72-75-69—216; T8) Kyle Flexsenhar, USF 69-79-70—218; T8) Brad Bawden, UM 75-73-70—218; T10) Jacob Bergeron, LSU 74-76-69—219; T10) States Fort, CCU 73-74-72—219.
SOUTH ALABAMA SCORES
T16) Yannick Schütz 72-73-76—221 (+5); T29) Peter Staalbo 75-70-80—225; T29) Rasmus Karlsson 71-77-77—225; T34) Brooks Rabren 79-75-72—226; T37) Jason Mendel 75-77-75—227.
TEE SHOTS
-Schütz now leads the Jaguars with five top-20 performances in 2017-18 after placing among the top 25 only once in five events last season.
-The sophomore was among the top five in the field playing the course's par-five holes at 5 under for the event, and his 11 birdies over 54 holes are were tied for the fifth-highest total over the last two days.
-Rabren matched Schütz with a team-leading four birdies in the final round, as the two are now tied with a squad-high 10 scores at or below par.
-With the performance, the junior moved up 15 spots in the individual standings after ending the opening day of play tied for 49th place.
-Both of Karlsson's birdies on the last day of the event came on the front nine as he placed among the top 30 in the individual standings for the first time since coming in fourth at the Mobile Sports Authority Intercollegiate Feb. 12-13 in the first tournament of the spring campaign.
-He and Staalbo were 4-under par on the venue's par fives to stand among the top 10 individuals in the field in the category.
-Rabren, Staalbo and Mendel ranking among the top 15 players competing after finishing with pars on 36 of 54 holes.
-A total of 84 individuals from 15 teams competed in the event over the last two days.
THEY SAID IT
Head coach Ben Hannan
On the team's final round of the event: "We started in the middle wave and got off to a decent start — we were under par pretty early and playing well — and midway through the front nine we had a couple of hiccups on Nos. 4-6 which stalled our momentum a little bit. We gathered ourselves to play the par-five ninth hole at 5-under par with five straight birdies to turn at 1 over, and on the back we just had a couple of errant shots and some missed putts which deflated us a little bit. We started pressing and pushing and continued to beat ourselves, which is really the tale of the day."
On the play of Brooks Rabren in the last round: "Brooks struggled yesterday tee to green, which is unlike him; he is a very consistent ball striker. He got a good feeling on the range this morning and hit the ball really well throughout the day today. The wind was gusting again — but obviously warmer — and he was able to control his golf ball and give himself a ton of opportunities, and aside from one bad shot on the last hole Brooks played really good golf and closed with a nice round."
On preparing the start of the Sun Belt Conference Championship Sunday: "With the short week the first thing we will try to do is learn as much as we can about the golf course, specifically the condition because that will dictate a lot of choices that will be made. We'll probably spend a lot of time on the scoring aspect of the game because if you drive the ball in play at The Raven you're going to have a lot of looks. But more than anything, we will continue to work on mentally getting ourselves ready to go and compete. We're looking forward to that opportunity."
Up next: Action at the Sun Belt Conference Championship will begin in Sandestin, Fla., Sunday with the first of three rounds of stroke-play competition at the tournament.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
Join the Birdie Club — the men's golf specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Birdie Club go directly to support the South Alabama men's golf program. For more information on how you can join visit: jaguarathleticfund.com/birdieclub.
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