LSU shines in taking Prestige lead over Oklahoma State

If there was a day to make an impression in college golf (especially in the regular season), then this was it. As the second round of the Prestige was live-streamed on Golfweek.com, LSU put on a show worth watching. The Tigers started out three shots back, were 10 shots up at one point, and finished the day three ahead of top-ranked Oklahoma State.

LSU posted 4-under 280 at PGA West’s Greg Norman course in La Quinta, Calif. Senior Luis Gagne and junior Phillip Barbaree contributed rounds of 2-under 69 that helped power the LSU effort.

Gagne, coming off a runner-up finish at the Latin America Amateur Championship last month, didn’t make a bogey after the third hole. For his part, Barbaree eagled the par-4 11th then added two more birdies to close the round.

LSU is 9 under through 36 holes, and leads Oklahoma State, which stands at 6 under.

The Cowboys had the first-round lead but weren’t able to get under par on Tuesday, posting an even-par 284 for the day. Only Austin Eckroat -- with a five-birdie, no-bogey back nine – was able to get in the red. He had a 1-under 70 for the day.

Matthew Wolff was arguably the most intriguing storyline entering the week. The Cowboy sophomore is chasing his fifth consecutive stroke-play victory of the season (read: he hasn’t finished anything but first in a stroke-play event this year), but he took a step backward in that quest on Tuesday. After rounds of 69-75, Wolff is tied for 17th at 2 over. That’s nine shots off the pace of co-leaders Brandon Wu of Stanford and Thomas Hutchison of UC Davis.

Eckroat is third, followed by teammate Viktor Hovland in a tie for fourth with LSU’s Nathan Jeansonne.

Only LSU and Oklahoma State are under par for the week. Pepperdine will enter the final round in solo third at 2 over while UCLA is fourth another shot back and Oregon rounds out the top 5 at 6 over.