Beautiful weather was hampered this past weekend by a second place finish for the golf team at David Toms Invitational. Louisiana State University, the host of the tournament, placed first.
The annual tournament was held at the University Club golf course in Baton Rouge on Oct. 4 and 5.
Southeastern faced a tough field consisting of several in-state teams, Louisiana Tech, University of Louisiana-Lafayette and LSU, as well as some top ranked out-of-state teams such as Winthrop, Iowa State University and Southern Mississippi University.
The Lion’s Roar / Jay Love
Senior Grady Brame led the Lions golf team this past weekend at the David Toms Invitational tournament. Although a valient effort, Brame and the Lions had to sette for a second place finish behind the Tigers of LSU.
The men out of Hammond, America won the 2013 David Toms Invitational by 16 strokes. Southeastern turned this momentum into a hot start on day one of the tournament. Strong performances from the entire Lions team contributed to the share of the lead with LSU after day one. Even though LSU had control of the top two individual spots, Southeastern followed with spots four through seven.
Leading the way for Southeastern was Grady Brame. The senior finished first overall last year and continued to shine this year in Baton Rouge. After one round he led Southeastern when he shot two shots over par. He repeated himself when he again scored two over par in the second round.
Following up behind Brame was Baptiste Courtachon. The senior was one stroke behind Brame at five over par after two rounds. Tying Courtachon for fifth place after the second round was teammate Christopher Carstensen. Sophomore Lawrence Allan trailed Courtachon and Carstensen by a stroke. This was the first start for the Scotland native since the team’s season-opening win.
Rounding out the Lions on day one was Eamon Bradley. The junior challenged Grame for the title of last year’s tournament, but eventually settled for second. This year proved to be not as kind to Bradley, who was not pleased with his performance at the tournament.
“I didn’t really contribute to the team like I wanted to this weekend,” said Bradley.
Day two of the tournament provided the final round, as well as a thriller to determine this year’s tournament winner. When the tournament was all said and done, only one golfer would finish with a score under par, a telling sign of how challenging the course was. Benjamin Taylor of LSU won top individual golfer and also led the Tigers to a first place finish in the final round. Brame finished his final appearance at the University Club golf course with a finish of two over par. Allan was the only other Lion to finish in the top 10. A nine over par score placed Allan tied for 10th place. Brame was not content with the second place finish of the Lions, but understood that there were still positives to come out of the game.
“It’s pretty disappointing right now,” said Grame. “I’m sure in a couple days we will look back at it and realize it was a good performance regardless of how we finished.”
The Lions will look to bounce back from the second place finish when they travel to Texas to participate in the Miramont Invitational. The tournament begins Oct. 13 and will be the last of the Lions’ fall schedule.