Beauregard Country Club hires new pro

Published 6:29 pm Sunday, March 11, 2018

Ben Suarez, a McNeese State graduate and former Cowboys golfer, was named the head professional at the Beauregard Country Club in DeRidder.

He took over the position upon the retirement of Danny Tilton, who had served the club for three decades.

The 28-year-old Suarez had played on several tour,  among them the Adams (Texas and Louisiana) and the Swing Thought (Florida, for three years after graduation and had been working as a golf instructor for the past year.

“It’s exciting and I want to thank the (club’s) board of directors for the opportunity,” he said of his new role. “This is a great place to start. We have a great membership in a good community and I hope to be able to help grow the game here.”

During his time playing professionally he had several second- and third-place finishes and several years ago produced a third-place performance in an Adams Tour event at The National in Westlake.

In a three-year career at McNeese the Sulphur native led the Cowboys in scoring three consecutive years, was twice named the team’s most valuable player, had a top-10 finish in the Southland Conference Tournament and was named to the all-Louisiana collegiate team.

He also won men’s city championships in Sulphur and Westlake during his amateur career.

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The lone hole-in-one reported this week was made by Darleen Wallace at the Lake Charles Country Club. She aced the 107-yard 16th hole with a 7-wood. It was her first hole-in-one.

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The team of Dwight Gerst, Keith Douget, Peto Sellers and Larry Douget won last week’s scramble at The National sponsored by the St. Theodore Holy Family Catholic Church for the elementary school.

The foursome shot a 59 and won on a scorecard playoff over the team of Richard Deville, Landon Deville, Brendon Deville and Dylan Deville, which had the same score.

Low net honors were taken by the team of Delan Webb, Tyler Havard and Chad Johnson.

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Dates for upcoming tournaments have been posted for the Ray Dingler Memorial and the Sheriff Tony Mancuso/Louisiana High School Athletic Association event.

Both will be scrambles.

The Dingler is scheduled for May 1 at the Lake Charles Country Club while the Mancuso tournament will be played April 20 at Frasch Park in Sulphur.

The Dingler benefits the McNeese men’s and women’s golf teams, and proceeds from the Mancuso go to support LHSAA programs for female athletes in the state and the sheriff’s office deputies.

Upcoming

March 24 — Chris DiMarco-McNeese fundraiser, Lake Charles Country Club

March 26-27 — McNeese collegiate Lake Charles Invitational, Golf Club of Golden Nugget.

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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