The LSU men’s golf team will play as a No. 1 seed in NCAA Regional play for the first time in program history as they prepare to host 14 teams, including defending NCAA Champion and No. 2 seed Oregon, and five individuals at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional scheduled for May 15-17 at the University Club.
With their recent selection, the Tigers earned their 10th straight and 11th NCAA Regional appearance in 12 seasons under head coach Chuck Winstead.
Each team in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional will compete for five qualifying spots in the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships that will take place May 26 to May 31 at Rich Harvest Farms Golf Club in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
In addition to the Baton Rouge Regional, five teams from the other five NCAA Regional sites will also compete to qualify for the field of 30 teams to compete in the NCAA Championships later this month.
The other sites include the NCAA College Grove Regional (College Grove, Tennessee), NCAA West Lafayette Regional (West Lafayette, Indiana), NCAA Austin Regional (University of Texas Golf Club; Austin, Texas), NCAA Palo Alto Regional (Stanford Golf Course – Palo Alto, California) and NCAA Sammamish Regional (Sammamish, Washington).
The Tigers, who are currently ranked No.6 nationally by the Golfstat Power Rankings, look to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the seventh time in eight seasons.
In this year’s regional action, the Tigers will look to get revenge against Oregon as the Ducks defeated LSU, 3.5-1.5, in the quarterfinal round of match play at last year’s NCAA Championships at Eugene Country Club.
Other teams competing in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional include No. 3-seeded Virginia, No. 4-seeded Duke, No. 5-seeded Northwestern, No. 6-seeded Arkansas, No. 7-seeded Jacksonville, No. 8-seeded Kentucky, No. 9-seeded South Florida, No. 10-seeded Iowa, No. 11-seeded Georgia State, No. 12-seeded Jacksonville State, No. 13-seeded Loyola-Maryland and No. 14-seeded Alabama State.
The individual players competing in this year’s regional are Mississippi State’s Peng Pichaikool, Arkansas State’s Zan Luka Stirn, UAB’s R.J. Keur, Texas-San Antonio’s Zander Lozano and Nicholls State’s Albert Badosa-Soler.