March 11, 2012
Day 1 Results
Day 2 Tee Times
Live Scoring
CHOUDRANT, La. - Cody Blankenship and Sam Forgan both fired one-under-par 71s to lead Louisiana Tech in the opening day of the 2012 Argent Financial Classic held at Squire Creek Country Club.
Cody Santone added an ever-par 72 for the Bulldogs as Tech sits in first place in the team standings through 18 holes with an even-par team total of 288, four strokes ahead of 20th ranked LSU and 46th ranked Middle Tennessee.
"LSU jumped out early and got in red figures and then they came back a little. Then we put up some red numbers," said Tech head coach Jeff Parks. "I was proud of the way we played today. We dropped a few strokes on the closing holes but overall we played well. We just have to come out again tomorrow, play our game and not worry about anything outside of our control."
Blankenship and Forgan are tied for fourth overall in the individual standings out of 56 competitors in the nine-team event. LSU's Smylie Kaufman, playing as an individual for the Tigers, leads the field after shooting an eye-popping seven-under-par 65 Sunday.
Middle Tennessee's Brad Simons shot a 68 to sit in second place with LSU's Sang Yi shot a 70 and is alone in third place. Only nine golfers shot in the red numbers during the opening round.
Santone is tied for ninth with seven other competitors. Patrick Blunt shot a 74 and is tied for 21st while Travis Wilmore shot a 75 and sits in 29th place. Three Bulldogs are playing strictly as individuals as Jonathan Bale shot a 74, Jack Lempke a 76 and Chandler Vilcheck an 84.
The team standings include LA Tech (288), LSU (292), Middle Tennessee (292), UALR (297), Southern Miss (299), Missouri State (299), UTSA (301), Jacksonville State (303) and Rice (310).
After using a shotgun start on Sunday due to the forecast for afternoon showers, the competition is scheduled to resume Monday morning using tee times. The opening group will tee off at 8 a.m. while the five Tech players competing in the team competition are scheduled to tee off starting at 10:20 a.m.
Fans are welcome to come out to watch the event during the final two days of competition.
Live scoring is available for the event by logging onto www.golfstat.com.
