FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – The No. 15 LSU men’s golf team dominated play on the final day of The Blessings Collegiate Invitational Wednesday to score a commanding team win and have the top two individuals in the tournament which concluded a three-day run at The Blessings Golf Course.

LSU posted an 8-under round of 280 in the last round to win going away with a 54-hole total of 862, 2-under par, 16 shots clear of second place Mississippi State at 14-over par 878. Louisville was another 12 shots back in third.

Tiger freshman Arni Sveinsson held on to the lead he acquired after the second round when he shot 67 to win the individual title. Sveinsson found himself tied after seven holes but the native of Iceland took the lead back on the eighth hole, part of four consecutive birdies in the round.

Sveinsson posted a final round of 1-under 71 to finish at 7-under par 209 (71-67-71). Sveinsson turned in 35 and after birdies on 10 and 11, gave a couple of strokes back on 13 and 14 before righting his journey and finishing the back nine in even par.

His toughest challenger turned out to be one of the team’s veterans, Algot Kleen, who already has one win on the season. Kleen in the final round would shoot the tournament record, closing out with a birdie on 18 to make it a 9-under par 63, two shots better than the previous Blessings record of 65 set previously by five golfers, the last by Sarut Vongchaisit of Ole Miss in 2022.

An Arkansas golfer had posted 64 on the course in the past, not in a tournament, but a regular round of golf.

Kleen’s 63 is tied for the third lowest in LSU men’s golf history behind the 62s shot by Sam Burns in 2017 and Luis Gagne in 2018.

Kleen shot 31 on the front side with three birdies and an eagle on the par 5 fifth hole. He had five birdies in a 4-under final nine of 32.

“It started off well; I made a long putt which kind of kickstarted the round,” said Kleen, “and I just kept hitting good shots and putts. I was able to get it going all the way to the 18th hole. I was trying to catch this freshman (Arni), and I did my best but I wasn’t even close. That just shows how good he is.”

Sveinsson mastered the unique format of all five Tigers playing together during the course of the event.

“It was definitely weird, playing with all of your teammates,” he said. “But if we were playing well, we were able to feed off of each other’s energy and that worked really well for us.”

While the round had a few bumps along the way, the freshman weathered it all and stayed in the lead.

“I started off pretty slow, but then I got a couple of birdies and had a few setbacks,” Sveinsson said. “But I had to just stay in the moment and just trust my game. I got a putt to fall, and that took a lot of stress off my shoulders.”

Of his teammate, Sveinsson, Kleen said, “So impressive. I remember my freshman year and I was nothing like him. He’s so composed, his golf game is so complete. He had some setbacks, but he kept getting back and fought.”

For the Tigers, it is two team wins and two individual wins in the first three events.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better start,” said first-year men’s head coach Jake Amos. “The group that we’ve got is very competitive, and they love to win. They’ve bought into how I like to operate and hopefully we get a few more wins. It was an unusual format, but I think it really showed our team chemistry out there.

“The best thing about this whole situation is that you get to see everyone in every situation. (Assistant) Coach (Jace) Long has walked with Arni the first couple of events and got to watch him and see how good he is. Winning really shows how calm the guys are in high-pressure situations and how hard they compete.”

“Two team and individual wins, that’s a pretty good start to the season (in three tournaments),” said Kleen. “It should be fun to see what we can do as a team for the rest of the year.”

On the final day, the Tigers also counted an even par round of 72 from sophomore Jay Mendell and a 2-over 74 from transfer Matthew Dodd-Berry. Mendell posted a top 10 finish of T8 at 4-over par 220 (71-77-72). Dodd-Berry finished in at T18 with an 8-over total of 224 (73-77-74).

LSU’s next tournament is the Fallen Oaks Collegiate at Saucier, Mississippi Oct. 20-21.

BLESSINGS COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL
Fayetteville, Arkansas – Blessings Golf Club
Final Team Results – Par 288-864
1 LSU 285-297-280 – 862 -2
2 Mississippi State 287-297-296 – 878 +14
3 Louisville 301-288-301 – 890 +26
4 BYU 298-295-299 – 892 +28
5 Arkansas 299-302-296 – 897 +33
6 Ohio State 300-300-300 – 900 +36
7 Kent State 302-305-303 – 910 +46
8 Kansas State 301-299-315 –915 +51
9 Missouri 304-298-318 – 920 +56
10 Virginia Tech 305-307-315 – 927 +63

Top 5 Individuals (Par 72-216)
1 Arni Sveinsson, LSU – 71-67-71 – 209 -7
2 Algot Kleen, LSU – 72-76-63 – 211 -5
3 Sebastian Moss, Louisville – 71-71-72 – 214 -2
4 Jordan Gilkison, Kent State – 72-69-74 – 215 -1
5 Eric Fortlage, Arkansas – 75-70-72 – 217 +1

LSU Scores
1 Arni Sveinsson – 71-67-71 – 209 -7
2 Algot Kleen – 72-76-73 – 211 -5
T8 Jay Mendell – 71-77-72 – 220 +4
T18 Matthew Dodd-Berry – 73-77-74 – 224 +8
30 Luke Haskew – 71-80-77 – 228 — +12