McNeese fall season tees off in S. Carolina

Published 3:36 pm Tuesday, September 5, 2017

McNeese State’s Cowboys take to the road Friday for the East Coast where they open their season in the College of Charleston invitational at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.

Because of the obvious, they go without much practice. In fact, they haven’t been able to post qualifying rounds for the tournament and coach Austin Burk said he would probably be going with a lineup composed of seniors Andreas Krokeide and Ian Berrigan and juniors Blake Elliott, Sutton Farmer and Nick Mattner.

Burk said this year’s team is his most experienced.

“This is the first time that we will have seniors and juniors in our lineup,” he said. “All of these guys had outstanding summers and they are a pretty mature group.

“I’m looking forward to a year that I think will be a good one.”

Burk has seven players on the squad, the other two being sophomores Reid Giardina and Tom Atkins.

The team will play a 12-tournament schedule, four matches in the fall and eight in the spring. A 13th could be another appearance in the NCAA tournament in which the Cowboys have participated in the past two years as well as win a pair of Southland Conference titles.

Following the tournament next week, McNeese will travel to play in the University of Iowa event (Sept. 17-19), the LSU David Toms Intercollegiate (Oct. 7-8) and their own tournament at Vero Beach, Florida (Oct. 23-24).

In the spring they will play in such tournaments as the All-American in Houston, the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette, the Border Olympics in Laredo, Texas, the Wyoming Classic (in Phoenix), the Lone Star Invitational in San Antonio, the Old Waverly Intercollegiate in Starkville, Mississippi, and in their own Lake Charles Invitational at the Country Club at the Golden Nugget.

“Our schedule is getting stronger every year and we’re getting invited to better tournaments that are closer,” Burk said.

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Krokeide returns as the Cowboys’ leading scorer with the 73.72 he posted a year ago, while Elliott was next with 74.15 and Berrigan followed with 74.85. Atkins and Mattner only played in a few events, Atkins with a 76.33 average and Mattner with an 81.75. Neither Sutton nor Giardina saw action last year, the former sitting out a year after transferring from the Air Force Academy where he was a two-year starter on the golf team.

“Andreas is the most experienced player we have and should be the leader of the team,” Burk said. “Blake has improved as much as anyone in the last eight months while Ian is playing more relaxed. Nick is about where Ian was last year. He’s our No. 5 guy right now but could move up.

“Sutton is in the three or four spot but he might come out and be the No 1 guy. Reid has been working hard and I can see him getting into the lineup for sure while Tom, who we signed a couple of years ago to be our No. 1 player, is still fighting a back injury,” the coach said.

As a team last year the Cowboys led the conference in scoring with a mark of 73.41.

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Area golf courses have been spending the past few days getting their layouts back into golfing condition.

Gray Plantation was expected to resume play last Friday (at least the back nine) as was the Jennings Country Club while The National in Westlake was going to reopen that afternoon. Scheduled for returns yesterday were Koasati Pines in Kinder, Mallard Cove, the Country Club at Golden Nugget, L’Auberge and the Lake Charles Country Club.

Frasch Park in Sulphur was expected to open its course yesterday but was still evaluating its situation while the Beauregard Country Club will reopen today.

The courses had been closed between six and seven days. 

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Lake Charles Country Club member Ann Todd made a hole-in-one last week, taking her ace on the Laurel Ridge Country Club course in Waynesville, North Carolina.

She knocked in a 4-hybrid from 110 yards on the No. 8 hole.

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The annual Bishop’s Golf Classic has been scheduled for Oct. 6 at The National Golf Club in Westlake.

Upcoming

Sept. 16 — Two-man four ball, Mallard Cove.

Sept. 29 — McNeese Cowboy Rally, Lake Charles Country Club.

Oct. 7-8 — Sulphur men’s city championship, Frasch Park.

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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