BATON ROUGE, La. – Three University of South Alabama men's golfers finished in the top 20 of the final individual standings Sunday at the David Toms Intercollegiate hosted by Louisiana State, lifting the Jaguars to a season-best fourth-place result as a team.

Rasmus Karlsson and Peter Staalbo both posted final-round 73s to tie for seventh and 11th, respectively, individually, while Jason Mendel paced the Jags with an even-par 72 over the last 18 holes to move up 14 spots into a tie for 19th place.

USA carded a 300 group score on the final day of the tournament, coming in fourth in a field of 14 schools with an 897 three-round total.  LSU, which recorded a 6-under-par 282 in the last round, won the team title with an 11-under-par 853 score over 54 holes, with only North Texas (888) and McNeese State (891) also in front of the Jaguars.

Four Tigers tied atop the individual leaderboard — which included 77 players after a withdrawal prior to the start of play — with three-round 1-under-par 215 totals.  Karlsson led the Jaguars with his second top-10 result of the fall after finishing with a two-day 221 score, one stroke ahead of Staalbo and four ahead of Mendel.  Sylas Elliott (229) tied for 31st place in the individual standings after shooting an 82 in the last round while Stephen Wall (252) had an 84 over the final 18 holes to come in 74th place.

"The course played difficult yesterday afternoon, and that trend continued today.  The wind was still blowing, the greens and fairways continued to dry out and the pin locations were tough," South head coach Alex Hamilton said.  "Peter, Rasmus and Jason all fought really hard and played some really good golf today at times.  Jason played very well down the stretch, Peter had a stretch where he probably played as good as anybody in the field today, and Rasmus played his usual, steady, solid golf."

Teeing off at the fourth hole of the par-72, 7,220-yard University Club, Karlsson played the back nine of the course at 2 under after birdies on the 422-yard 12th and No. 17, which was playing at 528 yards.  He responded to a double at the first hole with a three on No. 2, ending the event tied for fourth with 12 birdies over 54 holes as well as tied for second on par-five holes after playing those at 7 under.

Staalbo — who finished among the top 20 in the final standings for the fourth time this season — was 3-under-par on the course's back nine holes, birdying both the par-five 11th and 17th holes while tacking on a three at No. 18, playing at 458 yards.  He carded just one fewer birdie than Karlsson, and was tied for third for the weekend with a 2 over total on par-four holes.

Mendel matched Staalbo with five birdies in tying his low 18-hole score of the year, while it marked his first round at or below par in three events this fall.  In addition to birdies with fours on Nos. 11 and 17, the junior — who was among the top 15 in the field with 33 pars over 54 holes — recorded threes at the ninth, 12th and first holes after opening play on No. 6.

Elliott began the final round with a birdie three at the 375-yard fourth, and he added a two at No. 13 — playing at 209 yards — while ending up among the top 20 individuals in birdies (eight) and par-four scoring over the weekend.  Wall, playing in the Jaguar lineup for the first time in his career, was 3 over on the front side of the course.

USA will close out the fall season with the Steelwood Collegiate Invitational, which will be played at the Steelwood Country Club on Oct. 29-30.

"We are getting closer as a team, I still don't think we're where we need to be or where we can be," said Hamilton.  "We are closer now to putting together a complete tournament round and a complete tournament as a team, but if you look at our hole-by-hole scores we're still not able to play as complete a round as I would like.  More and more guys are understanding the patience needed to play this game at this level, and the commitment needed to play at a high level; we are definitely further along today than we were at Kiawah [Island], but we still have some room to grow.

"I believe in these guys and think we can play some really good golf, I'm looking forward to seeing them continue to learn and get better."

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).

—USA—

David Toms Intercollegiate
University Club, Baton Rouge, La.
Par 72, 7,220 yards
Team Scores: 1) Louisiana State 279-292-282—853 (-11); 2) North Texas 295-298-295—888; 3) McNeese State 292-302-297—891; 4) South Alabama 294-303-300—897; T5) Louisiana Tech 297-312-305—914; T5) Louisiana-Lafayette 308-303-303—914; 7) Louisiana-Monroe 296-314-306—916; 8) Southeastern Louisiana 312-303-303—918; 9) Central Arkansas 298-317-308—923; T10) Pennsylvania 303-311-310—924; T10) DePaul 301-317-306—924; 12) Western Carolina 296-318-313—927; 13) Southern Illinois 301-310-323—934; 14) Navy 323-319-323—965.

Individual Leaders: T1) Brandon Pierce, LSU 66-76-73—215 (-1); T1) Eric Ricard, LSU 71-75-69—215; T1) Luis Gagne, LSU 73-69-73—215; T1) Sam Burns, LSU 72-76-67—215; 5) Daniel O'Loughlin, MSU 70-76-71—217; 6) Ian Snyman, NT 73-75-72—220; T7) Rasmus Karlsson, USA 73-75-73—221; T7) Josh Goldenberg, Penn 66-77-78—221; T7) Nathan Jeansonne, LSU 70-72-79—221; T7) Devin Jackson, NT 73-75-73—221.

South Alabama Scores: T7) Rasmus Karlsson 73-75-73—221 (+5); T11) Peter Staalbo 76-73-73—222; T19) Jason Mendel 75-78-72—225; T31) Sylas Elliott 70-77-82—229; 74) Stephen Wall 81-87-84—252.