Former Cowboy MacIntyre wins pro event

Published 7:06 pm Sunday, October 22, 2017

For the second time in four months, a former McNeese State golfer has won on a professional golf tour.

Last week Robert MacIntyre, a native of Scotland who only last month played for the Great Britian/Ireland team against the USA in the Walker Cup, won the Sahara Kuwait Championship on the Mena Tour.

The Mena Tour is a golf tour with events in the Middle East and North Africa. It was founded in 2011 by the Dubai-based Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation and is affiliated with the R&A and Arab Golf Federation.

MacIntyre won his title by two shots, posting a 14-under score of 65-66-65—196 for the 54-hole event. It was his second top-three finish on the tour. In his first Mena event — the AYKA Champions the week before in Jordan — he tied for third.

In those two tournaments he won $11,811 and will now begin work on earning a berth on the European Tour, being headed to Q-school next month.

MacIntyre played a year and a half at McNeese before leaving to prepare for a professional career. While at McNeese he set a school single-season scoring record of 71.78, was named the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year and placed ninth in the league tournament.

He was the No. 14-ranked amateur in the world golf rankings when he began his pro career.

Martin Eriksson was the first former Cowboy to win a pro tournament this year when he won the Oakley Tournament in Sweden in July. At McNeese he had been a conference player of the year as well as league champion. 

The team of Pete Karam and Mike Eason won the recent Mafia Four-Ball tournament at the Lake Charles Country, taking the title in a sudden-death playoff.

The Karam-Eason team (65-61) and the Guy Romero-Jim Mitchell duo (62-64) had tied for honors in regulation with 126 scores. Karam and Eason claimed honors with a par by Eason on the first hole of sudden death.

There was a tie for third place between the teams of Michael Lyons-Jason Corkran and Phil Kramer and Scott Bailey, both shooting 63-64—127.

The Lake Charles Country club will be crowning its men’s club champion today after three days and 54 holes of play. A new champion will take the honor as defending champion John Henry Faulk could not play because of a prior commitment.

Among those expected to be in contention are Billy Gabbert, Doug Quienalty, Shane Heinen, Chris Hood and Chris Walling.

Holes-in-one were posted the past week by Dexter Naylor at Mallard Cove and Gary Johnson at Frasch Park.

Naylor aced the 138-yard 11th hole at Mallard with a 9-iron while Johnson ran in a 120-yard shot on the seventh hole at Frasch Park in Sulphur with an 8-iron.

Johnson’s ace was the fifth in his career.

Upcoming

• Wednesday — Brighton Bridge hospice scramble, Koasati Pines (Kinder).
• Friday — Chamber Southwest Louisiana scramble, Gray Plantation.
• Nov. 4 — Lake Charles Cup match, Gray Plantation.
• Nov. 5 — Lake Charles Cup match, Mallard Cove.
• Nov. 4-5 — Louisiana Junior Cup match, Lake Charles Country Club.

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