Hank Shaheen has played in various weather conditions on courses throughout the nation in his golf career, but the play he found himself in during the second round of the recent USGA’s mid-amateur championship was entirely different.

“It’s hard to club yourself with a wind blowing 30 mph,” he said, “And besides we’re at 6,800 feet, everything was going a long way.”

The first day in the tournament was a good one for him. He shot even-par 70 on the CommonGround Golf Course in Parker, Colorado, with 34-36 and was in a big group tied for 24th place.

The second day was entirely different.

“It was really hard to commit to something,” he said of the shots he had to make in wind that took control, either with him or against him.

In what was his first USGA national championship event, his tournament came down to two back-to-back holes — the Nos. 13 and 14 on the back side of the Colorado Golf Club in Aurora.

That second day Shaheen started on the back nine. Three consecutive pars had him going good but then came the 13th and 14th.

“Short par-4s,” he said.

He was down the middle with his tee shot both times, but his second shot was the kicker.

“It was a complete miss both times,” he said, noting that his gap wedge to 150 feet flew 170 feet, putting him into deep rough behind the green both times and resulting in a pair of 4-over-par eights.

He went in with a 45 on that nine but rebounded with a 35 on the front nine. He missed the cut by three shots.

In emphasizing the strength of the wind that second day, Shaheen said, “On No. 6 we’re playing a 265-yard par-3. I hit an 8-iron to 3 feet (he made the birdie).

“Those were championship golf courses and I would love to play them again,” he added.

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McNeese State’s Cowgirls golf team will be in action again Friday, but it’s going to be a different kind of play.

The nine members of the team are going to be doing a little “meet and greet” as they help put on their annual Roxie Stewart memorial fundraising tournament at the Lake Charles Country Club.

Cowgirls coach Mike Fluty said the girls will be involved throughout the event and might even show up on some of the holes to hit shots for those taking part in the event.

“We moved the tournament (now in its third year) from the spring to this time of the year just to get the girls more involved with our local golfers,” the coach said. “In the past the tournament wasn’t held until school was out in the spring and most of the girls had gone home.”

Fluty said openings remain for teams in the tournament. Contact him at 309-6648.

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Former McNeese golfer Robert MacIntyre continues to impress with his play on the European PGA Tour while Lake Charles Country Club assistant pro Greg Sonnier took a shot at a PGA post in action last week.

After three rounds and 54 holes of play in the European Tour’s BMW Championship in England, MacIntyre was tied for 23rd place with a 5-under 211 (69-72-70).

Sonnier missed the cut at the PGA’s Sanderson Farm Championship with rounds of 73-71 for an even par 144. It took 3-under par to continue.

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Chris Stoute and Pam Fossett tied for fifth place in the recent Louisiana Golf Association’s women’s amateur championship at Koasati Pines in Kinder. Both shot 85 while Nancie Witz finished 26th with 110.

The tournament was shortened to 18 holes because of rain. Julie Harrison of Baton Rouge won her fourth consecutive title with even-par 72.

In the super senior division, Stoute was the runner-up while Wiltz finished 11th.

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Brian Larocca is the new senior champion at Gray Plantation after shooting 1-under 143 (69-73) in the two-day tournament.

He had owned a 3-shot lead over Greg Ardoin and Craig Trosclair after the first day but doubled bogeyed his first hole on the final day. He still went on to take the title in his first year of senior eligibility, Trosclair placing second with 72-73—145 and Ardoin third with 72-76—148.

Sid Bradley won the super senior title with 70-74—144 while Jim Morris and David Fraser tied for second at 167.

Darren Bertrand won the senior first flight with 78-80—158 and Tony Gibbs won the super senior first flight (77-73—150).

Also during the tournament, Morris posted the third hole-in-one of his career, knocking in a gap wedge from 101 yards on No. 17. It was his second time to ace that hole.

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Sulphur native Brooke Tyree posted her first collegiate top-10 finish last week when she led Texas A&M to a seventh-place showing in Toledo’s Glass City Invitational.

Tyree shot 76-73-71—220 for ninth place.

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Over the past two weeks 79-year-old Robert Crader has shot lower than his age twice at Mallard Cove, posting a 77 and a 78. He had four birdies with the 5-over-par score and three with the 6 over.

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The Mallard Cove women’s club championship was rescheduled for Oct. 21-22.

Upcoming

Friday — Chamber SWLA Classic, The National (Westlake).

Saturday — Sulphur Community Christian Coalition scramble, Frasch Park (Sulphur).

Oct. 12-13 — Mallard Cove men’s club championship.

Oct. 18 — McNeese Petrochem Golf Classic, Mallard Cove; LA Bolt two-man scramble, The National.

Oct. 19-20 — 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