UL squad sixth entering final round, three strokes out of third

MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. – UL’s golf team slipped back one spot in Tuesday’s second round, but remains in the hunt for a high finish in the Sun Belt Conference Golf Tournament entering the final round.

The Ragin’ Cajuns added a 303 to their opening 297 total, and stand s at 24-over-par 600 going into Wednesday’s final 18 holes. The Cajuns are 14 back of 41^st-ranked and front-running Middle Tennessee, but are only two strokes out of fourth place.

Middle held onto its first-round lead with a 300 score on Tuesday, but New Orleans made a big move with the low round of Tuesday’s play with a five-over 293 team score. The Privateers are only three strokes back at 589, and South Alabama is one more stroke behind at 390.

North Texas and UL Monroe are each two strokes ahead of the Cajuns at 598 after two trips around the 7,171-yard par-72 “Fighting Joe” layout at the Robert Trent Jones at the Shoals complex.

The Cajuns couldn’t match their consistency from Monday’s first round when all four of UL’s counting scores ranked in the top 25 individually and the lowest score the Cajuns had to count was a three-over 75. Instead, UL had to count both a 77 and an 80 in Tuesday’s second round.

Kyle Pritchard, though, rebounded from an opening 75 with a one-under-par 71 in the middle round, and he stands tied for eighth individually at two-over 146. His 71 tied for the third-lowest round of the day.

UL’s Philipp Fendt, who was tied for 10^th after an opening 73, added a 75 to stand at four-over 148 and tied for 15^th entering the final round. Andrew Noto (75-77–152) is tied for 28th, Thomas Disch (74-80—154) is tied for 34^th and Mark Brockhurst (77-82—159) is 50^th in the 60-player field.

UNO’s Oscar Zetterwall holds the individual lead at 71-66—137, seven-under-par after shooting the day’s low round by four strokes Tuesday. He is six strokes ahead of the field. Carlos Ortiz of North Texas, who blazed to a 64 on Monday to tie the course record and lead the event by six shots, skied to an 83 on Tuesday and shot himself completely out of the top 10.

The final round will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday with UL paired with North Texas and UL Monroe.

SUN BELT CONFERENCE GOLF TOURNAMENT

SECOND ROUND SCORES

TEAM

1. Middle Tennessee      286-300—586

2. New Orleans              296-293—589

3. South Alabama          296-294—590

4. North Texas               291-307—598

4. UL Monroe                302-296–598

6. UL Lafayette                  297-303—600

7. Arkansas State             303-298—601

8. Western Kentucky      298-306—604

9. Florida Atlantic             305-303—608

10. Ark.-Little Rock          308-302—610

11. Troy                                312-304—616

12. Denver                          308-309—617

INDIVIDUAL

1. Oscar Zetterwall, UNO              71-66—137

2. Hunter Green, MT                      73-70—143

3. Troy Anderson, DU                     72-73—145

3. Rodolfo Cazaubon, UNT           72-73—145

3. Chris Plumelli, USA                     72-73—145

3. Craig Smith, MT                            70-75—145

3. Alex Yost, WKU                            71-74—145

8. Marc-Eltienne Bussieres, USA               73-73—146

8. Kyle Pritchard, UL                        75-71—146

8. Jack Hiluta, USA                           73-73—146

11. Linus Gillgren, UALR                 76-71—147

11. Jason Millard, MT                      73-74—147

11. Carlos Ortiz, UNT                       64-83—147

11. Nick Wilson, ULM                      70-77—147

15. Philipp Fendt, UL                       73-75—148

15. Ken Looper, UNO                     74-74—148

15. Wessel Zwiegers, ASU            76-72—148

18. Espen Kofstad, DU                   76-73—149

18. Michael Oates, ULM                                74-75—149

20. Hector Arias, UNO                    76-74—150

20. Doug Kleeschulte, WKU         75-75—150

20. Chris Pledger, ASU                   76-74—150

20. Kell Shenep, ASU                      75-75—150

20. Ben Silverman, FAU                 76-74—150

25. Kent Bulle, MT                           70-81—151

25. Neil Horsley, WKU                    78-73—151

25. Adam McCleary, ULM             79-72—151

28. Andrew Noto, UL                      75-77—152

28. Richard Casko, Troy                  74-78—152

28. Justin Eaves, Troy                     79-73—152

28. Sebastian Gunnarsson, UALR              78-74—152

32. McLain Leberte, USA               78-75—153

32. Kelly McHugh, FAU                  78-75—153

34. Thomas Disch, UL                      74-80—154

34. Dylan Raines, UALR                  77-77—154

34. Sebastian Szirmak, UNO        75-79—154

37. Marco Scarola, UNT                 79-76—155

37. James Searson, ULM               83-72—155

37. Brad Simons, MT                       74-81—155

40. Peter Fallon, UNT                     76-80—156

40. Klointon Krieger, DU                                76-80—156

40. Reid Merritt, Troy                     77-79—156

40. Justin Thompson, FAU            82-74—156

40. Tyler Thompson, ASU             79-77—156

45. Carl McCauley, FAU                 73-84—157

45. Zachary Portemont, Troy       83-74—157

47. Michael Baskovich, FAU         78-80—158

47. Andrew Heiser, WKU              74-84—158

47. Dustin Thompson, UNT          80-78—158

50. Mark Brockhurst, UL                                77-82—159

51. Lloyd du Preez, ASU                                76-84—160

52. Nicklaus Benton, UALR           77-84—161

52. Rourke Van Der Spuy, Troy   82-79—161

52. Felipe Velazquez, UALR         81-80—161

55. Blake Kelley, USA                      79-82—162

56. Jeremy Cross, ULM                  79-84—163

57. Jon Lopez, DU                            84-84—168

58. Derek East, UNO                       83-86—169

59. Kevin Gillick, DU                        87-83—170

60. Logan Edelen, WKU                 92-87—179

Cajuns only one stroke out of third, 11 back of front-running Middle Tennessee

MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. – UL’s golf team couldn’t boast an exceptionally low individual score Monday in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, and coach Theo Sliman wasn’t disappointed in that.

Instead, Sliman was happy with the consistency the Ragin’ Cajuns showed in their first trip around The Shoals’ 7,171-yard “Fighting Joe” layout, a trip that has them in fifth place after the first 18 holes – but only one stroke out of third place and 11 out of the lead.

“We had good consistency from top to bottom,” said Sliman after his team’s nine-over-par 297. “To me, I’m proud of that for the first day. Now if each player can clean that up just a little bit and we get some putts to fall, we can make a pretty good move.”

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Cougars win team title, Notre Dame’s Nickel has best individual score

NEW IBERIA — Johndavid Nickel of Notre Dame started out strong and never looked back in claiming individual honors, and St. Thomas More had solid all-around scores to win the team title in the Acadiana Area High School Golf League’s wrapup tournament for the 2010 season.

Nickel was three-under on the front side on the way to a 33-38–71 score over the Squirrel Run layout, finishin four strokes in front of Teurlings Catholic’s Michael Hollier and Acadiana High’s A. J. Gaudin in the individual chase.

STM, meanwhile, had its four counting scores all between 77 and 82 and rode that balance to a 317 total score, 14 shots better than runner-up Notre Dame (331). Lafayette High, which had won all but one of its eight AAHSGL matches during the regular season, had injury problems in the season-finale tournament and finished tied for third at 333 with Teurlings Catholic.

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Lady Cougars claim Division I (4-5A) title by one stroke

ALEXANDRIA — With a big help from Hanna Schorr’s final-round 75 score, St. Thomas More claimed its second straight Division I (Classes 5A and 4A) state girls golf title on Thursday, April 22, at Alexandria Golf and Country Club.

The Lady Cougars finished with a team score of 327 for the two-day event, a single stroke better than Mount Carmel of New Orleans (328) and seven better than third-place Sam Houston (334). The win gives STM two state crowns and one runner-up finish in 2008 in the three years of the program’s history.

Schorr, a junior, carded her 75 to go with an opening 77 on Wednesday, and her 152 total was good enough to tie for third in the individual chase. But it was a final putt on the 18th green by freshman Danielle Perez that gave her an 89 — her first sub-90 score of the year — and was the final stroke in STM’s one-shot victory.

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Four Acadiana area teams finish in top dozen

The Hebert Municipal team tied for the second-low score in the final round and finished third overall in the Louisiana Golf Association’s Club Team Championships that wrapped up Sunday, April 25, at Pelican Point in Gonzales.

Todd Weber’s two-under-par 70 — one stroke off the best round of the day — led the Hebert team, which had won the 2006 title and remains the only municipal-course unit to win the state team title in the history of the event. In all, the Hebert unit of Weber, Ted Weber, Thad Weber, James Hamilton, Paul Hamilton and David W. Duhon shot 298 in the final round and finished the two-day event at three-over-par 435.

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Riley finishes in top 10 at TPC Louisiana event

AVONDALE — Acadian-by-marriage Chris Riley posted a three-under 69 in the final round Sunday and finished in the top 10 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, leading three Louisiana golfers that made the cut for the state’s PGA Tour stop.

Riley, husband of Lafayette native and former LSU and LPGA Tour player Michelle Louviere, finished at 10-under 278 (73-66-70-69) and moved up four spots in the final round to tie for seventh overall and earn $199,467 for his efforts. Riley birdied five of Sunday’s first 12 holes and stood at 5-under for the final round before bogeying the 14th and 16th holes, but still had his best finish of the season and moved from 156th to 113th on the Tour money list.

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Lions take close win to end regular season, tournament next up

Lafayette High got balanced scores to take a close win over Teurlings Catholic and Acadiana High in the final Acadiana Area High School Golf League regular-season match held at The Farm d’Allie in Carencro.

The Lions posted a team 161 score to finish just ahead of Teurlins (167) and Acadiana (171) heading into the league tournament, scheduled April 20 at Squirrel Run.

A 38 from Justin Duplantis and a 39 from Layne Sims were enough to lead the Lions, while Teurlings’ Michael Hollier had the day’s low round with a one-over 37. Tyler Menard and Adam Hobbs paced Acadiana with 40 scores.

SCORES

LAFAYETTE HIGH (161) — Justin Duplantis 38, Layne Sims 39, Brady Sturm 41, Matt O’Friel 43, George Rees 44.

TEURLINGS CATHOLIC (167) — Michael Hollier 37, Stephen Hardey 40, Austin Richard 41, Tyler Poche 49, Travis Courville 56.

ACADIANA HIGH (171) — Tyler Menard 40, Adam Hobbs 40, A. J. Gaudin 41, Jacob McBroom 50, Bach Hebert 51.

Cougars win tight three-team race over Pios, Teurlings Catholic

Led by the 39 scores of Ross Robicheaux and Eustin Corrigan, St. Thomas More took a narrow one-stroke win over Notre Dame in Acadiana Area High School Golf League action March 31 at Les Vieux Chenes.

STM finished with a 162 score while Notre Dame finished at 163, Teurlings Catholic at 172 and Rayne at 196.

Kent Broussard added a 41 and Colby Berberich a 43 for STM, while Kyle Camp at 39 and Ali Lucas and John David Nickel at 40 led the Pios and John Beslin paced TCHS with a 40.

SCORES

STM (162) — Ross Robicheaux 39, Eustis Corrigan 39, Kent Broussard 41, Colby Berberich 43, Andrew Romero 49.

NOTRE DAME (163) — Kyle Camp 39, Ali Lucas 40, John David Nickel 40, Louis Mayeux 44, Will Mahaffey 47.

TEURLINGS CATHOLIC (172) — John Beslin 40, Austin Richard 41, Stephen Hardey 43, Dakota Simon 48, Seth Forestier 49.

RAYNE (196) — Cory Johnson 45, Caleb Bruce 48, Landyn Thibodeaux 52, Chaz LeBlanc 52.

Rees, Sims both shoot even par to lead Mighty Lions

Behind the even-par 36 scores of George Rees and Layne Sims, Lafayette High took an easy win in the weekly Acadiana Area High School Golf League action at Acadian Hills.

The Lions had a team total of 149 to outdistance Catholic-New Iberia (213) and Comeaux (224) in the three-team event.

In addition to Rees and SIms, Brady Sturm carded a 37 and Justin Duplantis and Matt O’Friel had 40 scores for the Lions. Thomas Dartez led Catholic High with a 48 and Tanner Whitley’s 54 paced Comeaux.

The local prep golf league takes a one-week spring break before returning to action on Tuesday, April 13 at Squirrel Run. There are three more four-team events prior to the league championships April 20 beginning at 1 p.m. at Squirrel Run.

SCORES

LAFAYETTE HIGH (149) — Layne Sims 36, George Rees 36, Brady Sturm 37, Justin Duplantis 40, Matt O’Friel 40.

CATHOLIC-NEW IBERIA (213) — Thomas Dartez 48, Marcus Lopez 52, Andrew Walker 56, Zach Beck 57.

COMEAUX (224) — Tanner Whitley 54, Michael Foti 56, Austin LeBlanc 57, Dylan Lopez 57, Andrew Lawrence 59.

Final-round 64 provides six-stroke win in Nationwide event

BROUSSARD – The winds are normally a regular obstacle at Le Triomphe Country Club, and there were storm warnings again in the final round of the Nationwide Tour’s $550,000 Chitimacha Louisiana Open.

This time, though, it was a “hurrican.”

That’s “big storm” in Spanish, Fabian Gomez’ native language, and it was never more fitting since the product of Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina blew away the field over the final 18 holes to claim his first major professional title.

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