Smith, Thibeaux, Heinen all make cut, Cox one shot short
BROUSSARD – Michael Smith turned to his caddie — his dad – on Le Triomphe’s 18th fairway Friday and asked a very serious question.
“He said to tell him the truth…do we have to make birdie?” Dennis Smith said. “I told him no … we had to make par, but not birdie. I was hoping that was right.”
As it turned out, dad’s prediction was correct. The Lafayette product and former UL Lafayette standout two-putted for par on the 18th, finishing up at two-under for the tournament and inside the one-under cut line for the Chitimacha Louisiana Open.
His effort was a big part of a stellar performance by the tournament’s four sponsor exemptions. Three of them – Smith, B.C. Thibeaux and Mike Heinen – made the cut and will continue play today, while Kris Cox posted a strong four-under 67 Friday but missed the cut by a single stroke.
“We’re looking like geniuses now,” said Open executive director Danny Jones, who looked at potential large crowds over the weekend with the strong local showing and the free-admission policy in place for this year’s $550,000 Nationwide Tour event.
Smith and Thibeaux, four-year college teammates at UL Lafayette, had identical 70-70—140 scores, Smith getting his in the morning wave and Thibeaux being the last player to finish Friday’s play with a six-foot par putt.
“Wonderful,” said Thibeaux, who was making his Nationwide debut. “I haven’t made a cut this year on the mini-tours and only made five all last year. To make it on this stage….”
Smith had been on that stage one year ago, when he was headed toward a weekend appearance before struggling down the stretch and missing a cut-making putt on the same 18th green that he made his clutch par Friday.
“This feels really good,” Smith said after recording four straight pars to end Friday’s round – and after bogeys at the difficult 13th and 14th holes threatened to de-rail what had been a solid three-under trip through 12 holes. “I still had a few too many three-putts, but I was hitting it well. I just had to hang in there, and now I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
Father Dennis also caddied for Michael during last year’s PGA Q-School, when he advanced through pre-qualifying and the first round before missing out in the second round.
“Not many fathers and sons can get along enough to do this,” Michael said. “The key is that we can both admit when we’re wrong. He helps me a lot, and it makes it pretty special to have him there.”
Smith also had the day’s biggest gallery, one that grew when he went on a birdie binge at the 7th (30-foot putt), 8th (tap-in after an 8-iron within two feet) and 10th holes.
Thibeaux got off to a solid start with birdies at the third and fifth holes before bogeys at the sixth and eighth put him back at even. But he ran in a putt on the 10th for birdie and added another at the par-five 12th, and had a key chip and a one-putt bogey at the 13th and parred the difficult 14th hole.
“After that, I knew all I had to do was keep my focus,” he said. “I didn’t look at the scoreboard all day. I was nervous but it was a good nervous.”
Heinen had a roller-coaster ride on the way to a two-under 69, an effort that left him right on the cut line and put him into weekend play for the 13th time in his 15 Open appearances – a tournament record.
“The scores really weren’t that low,” he said after his morning round, when -1 was still a cut-line question. “It played tough … the wind was blowing pretty good and it kept changing.”
Heinen bogeyed the 13-14 swing but rallied with birdies at 16 and 17 before a three-putt bogey at the 18th.
“I hit it past and just didn’t hit a very good putt coming back,” he said of the final hole. “I hated giving it away on 18, but I putted really good today. I figured I had to birdie coming in at 16 or 17, so to birdie both was a plus.”
Cox had a major rally from his opening four-over 75, but came up just short despite birdies on four of his last 10 holes.
“I just putted well,” he said. “I putted so badly yesterday (33 putts compared to 25 on Friday), but I worked on it on the practice green and my caddie gave me a good tip. I’m pleased … I made some birdies coming in. Just a couple of bogeys hurt, but I probably scored as good as I could.”
Smith didn’t know the other locals’ results when he finished, but he was looking forward to a significant Acadiana presence over the weekend.
“It would be great,” he said. “B.C.’s a really good friend, and Mike and Kris are pretty much role models for me.”
“We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to come out here and play,” Thibeaux said, “and we took advantage of it.”
TOUGH FOR WINNERS: Only one of the four previous winners on this year’s Nationwide Tour will be playing on the weekend.
New Zealand Open winner Bobby Gates, Moonah Classic champion Jim Herman and Steve Pate, who won the Tour’s last outing in Colombia, all finished outside the cut line. Herman shot even-par Friday to finish at 72-71—143 and Pate matched that figure despite shooting one-under Friday (73-70). Gates, the year’s first winner in his initial Nationwide outing, finished with a three-over 74 for a 145 total.
This year’s only winner still playing is veteran Fran Quinn of Holden, Mass., who won the Panama Claro Championship in February and made the cut by one stroke Friday with a 70-70—140 total.
TOUGH FOR EX-CHAMPS: Seven former Louisiana Open champions played in this year’s event, but only two survived to the weekend. Paul Stankowski of Flower Mound, Texas, who won 14 years ago in 1996 and followed that win with a victory in the PGA Tour’s BellSouth Classic one week later – still a singular accomplishment –, posted a four-under 67 Friday and is at four-under 138. That has him tied for 15th entering today’s second round.
Also in is 2008 winner Gavin Coles of Bathurst, Australia, who went one-over on Friday but still hit the cut line with a 69-72—141 score.
Not reaching the weekend were 1992’s inaugural Open winner Sean Murphy (71-71—142), 2001 champion Paul Claxton (76-76—152), 2002 winner Steven Alker (73-72—145), 2005 champ Ryan Hietala (71-85—156) and defending champion Bubba Dickerson, who rallied from a five-over opening 76 to a one-under 70 but still missed the cut by five strokes.
ACE, ACE, BABY: Dallas pro Matt Weibring, who tied for fifth here in 2006 in his only previous Louisiana Open outing, had the tournament’s first hole-in-one since 2008 on Friday. He aced the 181-yard 11th hole during a three-under 68 that left him at two-under 140 entering the weekend. The last Open aces were by Paul Claxton (3rd hole) in the opening round and Garrett Osborn (6th hole) in the fourth round two years ago. The last Open ace on No. 11 came from Daniel Fox in the opening round in 2005.
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