LSU men’s golf returned with stellar performances Monday through Wednesday at the Puerto Rico Classic, despite the absence of its superstar sophomore Arni Sveinsson.
The Tigers finished the tournament 37 under par (827), giving them a second-place finish behind No. 1 nationally ranked Virginia.
Here’s what was learned over the three days.
Hudson Lawson needs more playtime
Not many expected LSU to have such a great finish after news broke that the world’s No. 8-ranked amateur golfer, Sveinsson, was too sick to compete in the tournament. This led head coach Jake Amos to play freshman Lawson as the replacement.
With little notice to prepare, Lawson would shoot two under par on day one, a solid performance for his LSU debut. Over days two and three, Lawson would exceed all expectations, finishing five under par on day two and rounding out the tournament with another -2 performance.
Lawson turned heads with Tuesday’s -5 performance, recording a tournament-high two eagles on the same day.
Lawson would finish with the second-best score of the Tigers, -9, and proved he should continue getting a chance in big tournaments like these.
Noah McWilliams and Dan Hayes continue to improve
Junior McWilliams had his best performance of the season and finished with the best performance of the Tigers.
McWilliams finished day one of the tournament six under par, jumping up to the second-best individual performer of the day. He followed Monday’s performance up with a -2 score on Tuesday and a -4 on Wednesday. McWilliams would finish off with 17 birdies and eighth in the final individual rankings, marking his best finish since the fall of 2024.
Hayes also consistently put up big performances each day of the classic.
Without fellow young star Sviensson, Hayes was looked upon to have a big day. Hayes’ first day of the tournament started off great, getting five birdies and finishing -3.
Hayes would come back with another great performance on day two, scoring another -3 while getting seven birdies. He finished day three even, marking this the third straight tournament where the freshman has scored under par. Hayes also finished his tournament, leading all golfers in birdies with 18.
The continuous improvement from Hayes shows there’s plenty more to come from the freshman. Fans should keep paying attention to see how he performs as a key piece of this LSU roster.
When Matthew Dodd-Berry is in form, LSU is at its best
Senior Dodd-Berry couldn’t get going on day one of the tournament, finishing as the only Tiger over par. Dodd-Berry’s struggles came as a surprise for LSU, as he is usually very comfortable closing off the lineup with low scores. His +1 score held the Tigers back some and let Ohio State jump them in the standings, with LSU finishing third after day one.
With LSU seven strokes behind Ohio State, Dodd-Berry needed a big day to tighten up the standings.
Dodd-Berry would have a monstrous day two, recording no bogeys and five birdies. Dodd-Berry would flip his day one score from +1 to -4 after day two, and helped the Tigers jump back to No. 2 in the rankings.
Dodd-Berry’s performance showed how the veteran can push the momentum for this lesser-experienced LSU roster. Although Dodd-Berry would finish at the bottom of the lineup in scoring, his day two performance completely changed the trajectory of LSU’s tournament.
LSU golf will now have a month-long break before returning for The Hayt on March 7. There, the Tigers could continue their run of great tournament performances and possibly come back even stronger when Sviensson returns.