Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.
BATON ROUGE – LSU’s men’s golf team is once again on its way to an NCAA Regional as the Tigers have been selected to play in the regional hosted by Oklahoma, the NCAA announced on Wednesday.
The three-day, 54-hole event will be played at the Jimmy Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Oklahoma and runs May 15-17. The teams will play 18 holes each day at The Jimmy Austin OU Golf Club, which will play to a par 72 and 7,452 yards. LSU will be making its first appearance at the Jimmy Austin OU Golf Club.
The top five teams in each of the six regional sites advance to the NCAA Championships, which take place May 26-31 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Thirty teams advance to the NCAA Championships with the top eight following stroke play advancing to match play to determine the national champion.
LSU is appearing in an NCAA Regional for the 15th straight year, all under head coach Chuck Winstead. The Tigers have made every NCAA Regional since 2008. LSU won the 2015 national title a season after reaching the semifinals in match play. LSU also has Top 10 finishes in 2016 (5th) and 2017 (9th) since the match play format began in 2008.
LSU is the seventh seed in the Oklahoma Regional and is joined at the 14-team field by SEC foes Alabama and Ole Miss along with Louisiana-Lafayette. Texas Tech is the top seed, followed by Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss and Wake Forest.
Other teams in the field include Duke, North Florida, Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina-Wilmington, Princeton and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
The Tigers have been led by junior Drew Doyle and graduate Garrett Barber for most of the year. Doyle has five Top 10 finishes this season, including three in the Top 5. He brings a team-best 71.27 stroke average into the NCAA Regional. In 33 rounds this year, Doyle has been at even-par or better 19 times.
Last year, Doyle tied for fifth at 8-under at the NCAA Stockton, California Regional. Doyle with had rounds of 73-65-70 a year ago to the lead Tigers.
Barber is second on the team in scoring average at 71.33 and has a pair of Top 10 finishes, including one in the Top 5. Barber will be appearing in an NCAA Regional for the fourth time of his career.
Other top scorers for the Tigers include freshman Luke Haskew at 72.28, junior Nicholas Arcement at 72.76, senior Connor Gaunt at 73.48 and sophomore Cohen Trolio at 73.74. Arcement, Gaunt and Trolio all bring previous NCAA experience into post-season play for the Tigers.
All NCAA Regional scoring can be found at www.golfstat.com.