Lake Charles Cup tees off Saturday

Published 4:51 pm Sunday, October 29, 2017

Competition within each of the three local participating golf clubs has been taking place the past several weeks for the Lake Charles Cup matches that will be played Saturday and Sunday.

Each — Gray Plantation, Mallard Cove, The National — will send 12 amateurs and the club pro to the Ryder Cup-style tournament. Saturday’s round will be played at Gray and Sunday’s will be at Mallard.

Gray is the defending champion and will have some of those who competed on last year’s winning team playing again this week. Head pro Tyler Kuhn will captain the team.

The 12 amateur players will be: Scott Hall, Bruce Eisen, Gus Barber, Troy Higginbotham, Rusty Montiville, Joe Underwood, Brian Bernhardt, Jeff Harper, Jeff Ardoin, Ryan Nettles, Bill Schwarzauer and George Arnold. Alternates are Sid Bradley, Philip Hoffpauir, Brian Soram, Darren Bertrand, David Duzan, Buddy Burks, Bill Wiese, Greg Norsworthy, Shammi Syed, Steve Springer, Tim Andreas and Doug Burnett.

Pros Eric Kaspar and Ben Suarez are scheduled to play for The National team on alternate days and amateur players will be Neithan Allen, Jevon Perry, Bill Stevens, Lawrence David, Russell Leblanc, Tyler Havard, Bill Wiese, Dave Stratton, Todd Mathis, Ricky Norwood, David Stewart and Kenny Brown.

Pro Derek Smith will captain the Mallard Cove team that was still undergoing qualifying rounds. Members selected for the team or still in a qualifying stage are Gage Primeaux, Jason Ortego, Robert Fray, Ellis Hawkins, Jason Fruge, Scott Hudson, Bill Perkins, Mike Beglis, Gray Little, Bob Self, Elmer Roach, Paul D’Antoni, David Culpepper, Derrian Webb, Brad Evans, Larry Leger, Burk Walker, Thomas Jones and Chad Langley.

Chris Walling is this year’s Lake Charles Country Club men’s champion, having won the title by eight shots. He posted rounds of 67-69-73 for a 7-under 209 total.

Billy Gabbert took runner-up honors (73-73-71—217) while Donny Abshire (74-71-79—224) was third and Shane Heinen (73-72-81—226) fourth.

Doug Quienalty won the president’s flight with a 221 score (72-79-70) and Tom Thomas (75-76-74—225) was second.

Taking first flight honors was Vinny Canzano (75-78—153) while Bill Kiteley was second (809-78—158) and Martin Byrley won the second flight (82-86—165) with Jim Mitchell second (84-87—171).

Low net winners were Joe Landry, Eric Eskew, John Moffett Jr. and Phil Blair.

The team of Philip Hoffpauir and Charles Karam teamed to win first flight honors in last week’s two-man shamble at Gray Planation. They posted an 11-under par score, the same total as scored by Rusty Montiville and Brian Bernhardt in taking second flight honors.

The top score, however, was shot by the George Arnold-Tony Gibbs duo who went 19 under in winning the third flight.

Frasch Park in Sulphur hosted its annual Spoon Bill scramble last week with Lester Saucier providing the highlight by acing the 180-yard ninth hole.

The hole-in-one, though counting as such in the tournament, had to be declared unofficial because the cup that day measured at 15 inches instead of the usual 4.25 inches.

The tournament was the sixth since it was started in 2012, and pro George McInnis said he tries to jazz up play to make it more interesting like putting in the 15-inch cup on one hole.

“I really think that 15-inch holes on every green would be very popular with my members,” he said.

Saucier’s ace helped he and Ron Riley win the second flight. Rod Browne and Elmer Roach took the first flight while Logan Moore and Gary Slaven claimed honors in the third flight.

Also at Frasch Park, the second annual senior men’s club championship will take place Nov. 11. Only golf association members qualify for the event.

Champions are crowned in the 50-59, 60-69 and 70-and-older divisions. Last year Todd Broussard won the 50s, Lee Hooper the 60s and B. J. Breaux the 70s.

Mack Kennedy, a 72-year-old Mallard Cove regular, beat his age by one shot a couple of weeks ago.

In shooting his 1-under 71, he knocked down five birdies.

The Lake Charles Country Club will host the annual Louisiana Junior Cup matches on Saturday and Sunday.

Six of the players named to the team come from Southwest Louisiana — Brooke Tyree, Daphney Tilton, McKenzie Leduff, Dez Reich, Brayden Wright and Austin Stewart.

Players selected are divided onto a West and an East team.