BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 6 ranked LSU men’s golf team is set to play their second tournament of the fall season in Olympia Fields, Ill., this weekend at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational, hosted by Illinois.

The event is set to be played at the par-70, 7,215-yard South Course of the Olympia Fields Country Club. The course was designed in 1915 by Tom Bendelow of Aberdeen, Scotland whose more than 700 courses include such classics as The Apawamis Club and Medinah No. 3. The South was renovated in 2007 by Steve Smyers and was most recently renovated and restored by Andy Staples in 2023.

The 54-hole event will begin with 8:00 a.m. tee times off No. 1 on Friday. All three days will include 18 holes of play, starting Friday and ending on Sunday.

The Tigers enter this week as one of 13 nationally-ranked teams in the Golfweek Magazine preseason poll, seeing the Tigers start at No. 6 in the nation. No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Arizona State, and No. 5 Oklahoma State are the three teams in the field ranked ahead of LSU.

LSU is fresh off of playing this week at the Inverness Intercollegiate, finishing in 12th at 30 over in three rounds of 18 holes. A 21-over start on Sunday put them behind big on the leaderboard, while all 18 teams in the field finished at 11 over or worse. The Tigers closed the last two days with six-over and three-over par performances. Senior Jay Mendell led LSU with a T26 finish at five over on the week, while freshman John Doyle flashed his talents as the only Tiger to go under par in a round (70, Round 3).

Notably, junior Arni Sveinsson will not be in action this weekend, allowing for sophomore Dylan Kayne to get the go in this weekend’s lineup.

THE LSU LINEUP

Jay Mendell | Senior | Lafayette, La.

This season: 73.33 stroke avg. in 3 rounds | Career entering 2026-27: 71.15 stroke avg. in 109 rounds

Mendell returns as possibly the steadiest hand for the Tigers after a record-breaking 2025-26 season… 2026 Golfweek All-American Honorable Mention… 2026 GCAA PING All-Southeast Region Team… led the Tigers with an LSU record single season stroke average of 69.82 in 34 rounds – became the first Tiger to close a season under 70… recorded 25 rounds of par or better, which ranks top 10 in LSU history for a single season… moved up in the LSU record book to No. 4 on the all-time career stroke average list with his mark of 71.147 through three seasons.

John Doyle | Freshman | Manchester, England

This season: 73.67 stroke avg. in 3 rounds | Career entering 2026-27: 73.67 stroke avg. in 3 rounds

2026-27 Golf Channel Preseason All-Freshman… Doyle signed with LSU as the No. 1 U18 golfer in Ireland, according to WAGR.com… European Golf Rankings had him ranked as the No. 3 European on their Boys/Men listing and No. 1 U18 European overall… the Mitchelstown, Co Cork, Ireland, native currently ranked as high as 179th overall in the World Amateur Golf Rankings… the star amateur from Ireland is a two-time Irish Boys winner and has played in many highly-ranked events including the Junior Ryder Cup, DP World Tour, World Amateur Team Championship (Eisenhower Trophy), Men’s Home International, and European Amateur Team Championship.

Noah McWilliams | Senior | Benton, La.

This season: 74.00 stroke avg. in 3 rounds | Career entering 2026-27: 71.71 stroke avg. in 73 rounds

Had a breakout season for LSU after only a 72.48 stroke average in 2024-25… in 2025-26… had a stellar junior season with a 70.05 stroke average in 37 rounds – the mark of 70.05 ranks third in LSU history for single-season stroke average… recorded two top-five finishes and five top-ten finishes in 2025-26… moved up in the LSU record book to No. 8 on the all-time career stroke average list with his mark of 71.712 through three seasons.

Dan Hayes | Sophomore | Manchester, England

This season: 75.00 stroke avg. in 3 rounds | Career entering 2026-27: 70.30 stroke avg. in 37 rounds

Had one of the best freshmen seasons in LSU history, with a 70.30 stroke average in 37 rounds – the 70.30 average ranked No. 6 in LSU history for single-season stroke average and was third best on the team for 2025-26… recorded 27 rounds of par or better last season, which is the second-best season in LSU history behind Sam Burns’ 33 in 2016-17… helped lead an amazing comeback in the third round at the NCAA Championship to make the fourth-round cut with an LSU record at the NCAA Championship of eight-under 64 in the third round – eight under is the second-lowest single round to par mark in school history… had his highest finish individually at the Bryan Bros Collegiate, taking T11 with a five-under 208 (71-67-70)… was a 2025 U.S. Amateur Qualifier.

Dylan Kayne | RS Sophomore | Paarl, South Africa

This season: 75.00 stroke avg. in 3 rounds | Career entering 2026-27: 72.27 stroke avg. in 15 rounds

Kayne last season had a 71.83 stroke average after competing in two tournaments… tied his best low total for 54 holes and low 54 holes to par marks of three-under 213 (69-70-74) at the Argent Financial Classic… had a .740 win/loss during the season and recorded three rounds of par or better… best finish came at the 2024 La Tour Intercollegiate where he took T6.

PARTICIPATING TEAMS [National ranking]

Top-25 Ranked: Florida [#1], Arizona State [#2], Oklahoma State [#5], LSU [#6], Texas Tech [#7], Illinois [#11], Pepperdine [#14], Alabama [#16], Florida State [#17], Texas A&M [#18], Stanford [#20], Georgia Tech [#22]

Unranked: Baylor, Northwestern, UNLV

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