Former Cowboy Eriksson wins pro tournament

Published 8:07 pm Sunday, July 2, 2017

Martin Eriksson, who won the Southland Conference crown a year ago while leading McNeese State to the league title, recently became only the third former Cowboy in the past 10 years to win a professional golf tournament.

Turning pro after the first of the year, Eriksson won a 36-hole event on the Oakley Tour in his native homeland of Sweden. Over a par-72 course in Frosaker, he shot rounds of 71-69.

Prior to that performance, former four-time Cowboys MVP and scoring leader Adrien Mork won five times on two pro tours in Europe. 

A native of France, Mork, now an assistant golf coach at Central Florida, claimed two titles on the Challenge Tour — the Morrocco Classic and the OKI Mahou Challenge in Spain — and three on the Alps Tour.

In the 2006 Morocco Classic he became the first player in any European tour event to shoot 59.

Later, while playing on the PGA European Tour, he turned in a top-10 finish in the Russian Open. 

Derek Lamely was another former Cowboy who won within the past 10 years. He played two seasons for McNeese before leaving school. He went on to post a victory on the Web.com Tour in 2009 and take the Puerto Rico Open crown during the PGA’s 2010 schedule.

Numerous other Cowboys have played on various tours since the 1950s, but Mork and Lamely have been the most prominent winners.

Tim Graham, also a four-time Cowboys MVP as well as a three-time SLC champion (1977-79), won the PGA’s Tour school title following his college career. He went on to hold a first-round lead in a PGA event his rookie year.

Ty Armstrong, a Cowboys MVP in 1981, played two years on the PGA Tour and six years on the Nationwide Tour and won the Minnesota State Open.

Others, such as Ben Suarez, Mac Blanchard, Jeb Stuart and Billy Gabbert, competed on various pro tours while Pat O’Brien, Doug Farr, Don Meadows, James Leitz, Billy Trent, Bill Smith, Bear Suarez, Scott Reeves, Todd Boudreaux, Ernie Little, Chris Gentry, Allen Coe, Rick Woodson (he played in the 2017 PGA Senior championship which concludes today), Dave Kaspar, Tim Holt, Danny Tatum, Ron O’Brien, Robbie Newton, Clark Blackmon and Woody Arnold became club pros, designers of clubs, nationally acclaimed teachers and champions in PGA club pro tournaments.

And, one — Kevin McArthur — became a PGA tour pro caddy for a period of time.

The Cowgirls’ Riley Isaac won the Louisiana women’s amateur title last week at the Lake Charles Country Club.

She beat recent Sulphur High graduate Brooke Duzan 5 and 3 in the final.

Isaac, who is a native of Montgomery, Texas, will be a sophomore in the fall for the Cowgirls.

Other locals who fared well in the tournament were Cowgirls player Olivia Hansen, who won consolation honors in the championship flight, Liz Herpin, who was the consolation runner-up in the third flight, and Benita Williams who won the fourth flight.

The National in Westlake has a four-person scramble scheduled for Tuesday. The event will be played with alternating tee shots from red, white and blue boxes.

Players can register in the pro shop or by calling the pro shop office (433-2255).

The dates for Mallard Cove’s 40th annual Shine Flournoy two-man scramble has been set for July 29-30. There will be two shotgun starts both days and the field will be limited to 108 teams.

Upcoming

July 11-12 — Louisiana girls junior state championship at Gray Plantation.

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