Countdown to Southwest La. open

Published 5:41 am Sunday, February 26, 2017

The state’s first professional golf tournament of the year opens play in 10 days (March 8-12) at The National in Westlake.

It’s the Southwest Louisiana Open, which now runs under the All Pro Tour brand with Callaway golf as a major partner. For the past 16 years the tour, which will make five stops in Louisiana this year, had been aligned with Adams Golf Pro Tour Series.

APT President Gary DeSerrano said the tour opener in Westlake will have a full field.

“Right now we are full (132 players) with a waiting list,” he said. “It’s going to be a real strong field too, and if you win you’ll be beating some pretty good players. Last year we had 10 players (from the tour) advance to the web.com.”

Drew Scott, who won in a playoff last year, is not returning, but in the field will be last year’s tour money leader Scott Kelly, who was in that playoff, as well as Mark Walker, the tour’s player of the year.

Two locals who are entered are Ben Suarez and Neithan Allen. Suarez, who finished third a year ago, will be making his season debut, while Allen, an amateur, earned his berth by winning the Westlake city title.

Club pro Dave Kaspar said he was expecting the course to play a little longer than 7,000 yards.

“The course is coming around and will be in good shape,” he said. “We’ve started to lower the height of the grass on the green to speed up the pace of the greens. I think that it will be soft (the course) and will play long. We’ve been getting a significant amount of rain and it’s soft right now. We won’t get the roll that we have had in the past.”

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A pro-am is scheduled the day before the tournament begins (March 7) and Kaspar said there were openings. He also noted that volunteers to work the tournament were needed and that any family wishing to house one of the pros could contact the pro shop about it.

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Eric Brown led the local Southwest Louisiana Junior Golf Association varsity team in last week’s tournament at the Bentwater Country Club in Texas, shooting 67-73 to win the event. He took the title by three shots, producing the lowest single round and lowest two-day score by any team member. The team finished fourth.

Tomorrow, Brown along with teammates Austin Stewart, Chase McCormick and Braden Wright, will begin play in the two-day Gator Invitational at the Jackson (Miss.) Country Club. The event is one of the nation’s top tournaments for high school golfers.

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Also, the high school golf season gets underway tomorrow at the Farm D’Allie in Carencro and Sulphur High will host its annual tournament on Saturday at Frasch Park.

Upcoming

Friday — Tim Coffey Memorial, Lake Charles Country Club.

Saturday — Sulphur High tournament, Frasch Park (Sulphur).

March 10 — Billy Navarre Chevrolet-Cadillac Mardi Gras Museum Golf Classic, Gray Plantation.

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Louis Bonnette has written about local golf for the American Press since 1971. His column appears each Sunday. Contact him at 274-5689 or lbonnette@mcneese.edu