Australian’s six-under 65 continues comeback from slow start

BROUSSARD – When Andrew Buckle was three over after his first four holes in Thursday’s opening round of the Chitimacha Louisiana Open, he didn’t panic. Even two shots into the water on the pesky 12^th hole, his third of the tournament, didn’t faze him.

“It can always get away from you, but you can’t think like that,” said the Brisbane, Australia, native. “There are a lot of holes left. You’ve just got to keep playing. Anything can happen.”

It started happening for Buckle on Friday, and carried over into Saturday, when he added a six-under 65 to his second-round 64. Those stellar rounds were enough to give him a two-stroke lead – a lead he didn’t know he had — entering today’s final round of the $550,000 Nationwide Tour event.

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South African leads by one shot entering Saturday’s third round

BROUSSARD – Garth Mulroy kick-started his 2009 season with a top-10 finish in last year’s Chitimacha Louisiana Open.

Through two rounds of this year’s Nationwide Tour event, he’s at it again.

The South African cast aside struggles of the last two months and posted another stellar number in Friday’s second round, birdieing the final four holes in a five-under 66 that gave him the halfway lead in the $550,000 event at Le Triomphe Country Club.

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Veteran birdies final hole in virtual dark to grab first-day honors

BROUSSARD – John Riegger didn’t even see the shot that gave him the first-round lead Thursday in the $550,000 Chitimacha Louisiana Open.

It was too dark, and his surgically-repaired eyes don’t handle low-light situations that well. And the few fans that remained around the ninth green to see his final full swing didn’t react much to his sweet 215-yard 3-iron that nestled 10 feet behind the flag.

“I couldn’t see it land … I thought it was in the bunker,” he said. “I’ve had three Lasik surgeries. And when I didn’t hear any clapping, I didn’t know where it was.”

It was within range, and he ran in his seventh birdie putt of the day in Thursday’s dying light to cap a five-under 66 – good enough for a one-stroke lead over seven players entering today’s second round of the Nationwide Tour event at Le Triomphe Country Club.

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Lions win three-way shootout with STM, Teurlings

Tuesday saw the closest competition so far this season in the Acadiana Area High School Golf League, and Lafayette High was the eventual survivor of a three-team shootout at Squirrel Run.

The Mighty Lions posted a 162 team total to edge out both St. Thomas More (165) and Teurlings Catholic (167) to capture the week’s first four-team event. Opelousas Catholic did not field a full team.

Layne Sims, Brady Sturm and Matt O’Friel each had four-over 40 scores to lead LHS’ balanced scoring. STM actually had the day’s three low scores with Kent Broussard at 37, Ross Robicheaux at 38 and Eustis Corrigan at 39, whle Austin Richard and Michael Hollier led TCHS at 40.

League action returns on Thursday, March 25, when Comeaux, Notre Dame, Rayne and STM square off at Bayou Bend in Crowley.

SCORES

LAFAYETTE HIGH (162) — Layne Sims 40, Brady Sturm 40, Matt O’Friel 40, Justin Duplantis 42, George Rees 48.

ST. THOMAS MORE (165) — Kent Broussard 37, Ross Robicheaux 38, Eustis Corrigan 39, Colby Berberich 51, Dillon Angelle 55.

TEURLINGS CATHOLIC (167) — Austin Richard 40, Michael Hollier 40, Christian Hurst 43, Stephen Harden 44, Dakota Simon 50.

OPELOUSAS CATHOLIC (no team score) — Ben Vidrine 42, Jason Howard 42.

Cypress Bayou Casino $1 Million Shootout begins Louisiana Open

BROUSSARD – No one walked away with the $1 million grand prize – for the 19^th straight year – but Robert Boudreaux still walked away happy here Sunday in the final round of the Cypress Bayou Casino $1 Million Hole-in-One Shootout which officially opened activities of the Chitimacha Louisiana Open.

 Boudreaux was the closest to the pin with his shot out of 46 finalists Sunday, hitting to within 10 feet, seven inches on the difficult 180-yard eighth hole at Le Triomphe Country Club. His shot was good enough to claim the $1,000 first prize.

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Toms, Sonnier, Mathis post solid finishes

Shreveport’s David Toms used a stellar second-round 63 to get back into contention and eventually had a top-20 finish in the PGA Tour’s Transitions Championships at Tampa Bay, Fla. Toms shot 74-63-73-71–281, three-under-par, after an up-and-down final round that included four birdies and four bogeys.

Hammond’s Heath Slocum shot 73-72–145 and missed the two-over-par cut by one stroke. Toms and Slocum are both in this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando.

In other local pro golf news from Sunday:

*  Former UL Lafayette standout Greg Sonnier, now living in Lake Charles, had a top-10 finish in the $125,0o0 Coca-Cola Walmart Open at Oak Wing in Alexandria, the first of 16 stops on this year’s Adams Golf Pro Tour Series which wrapped up Saturday.

Sonnier shot 70-68-69-73–280, eight-under-par, and won $2,965. Lafayette’s Brian Rowell (even par), Lafayette native and current Dallas resident Kris Cox (+2) and Lafayette products B. C. Thibeaux (+3) and Michael Smith (+5) missed the two-round cut line of one-under-par.

* Former Opelousas resident Amanda Mathis, now playing out of Picayune, Miss., finished tied for 16th in the $100,000 Florida’s Natural Charity Classic, the opening event of this year’s Futures Tour at Winter Haven, Fla.

Mathis shot 71-73–144 in the rain-shortened event and banked $908 for her finish. She was in the top five after the opening round of play before slipping back on Saturday. Sunday’s final round was washed out. Angela Oh won a one-hole playoff with Jane Rah for the title and the $14,000 first-place prize after both tied at seven-under 137.

Layne Sims shoots 1-under to lead Mighty Lions

Paced by the one-under-par 35 carded by Layne Sims, Lafayette High took a narrow three-stroke win over St. Thomas More Wednesday in a four-team Acadiana Area High School Golf League event at Acadian Hills.

Sims’ score, unofficially the lowest round in league play this season, joined with the 37 of Brady Sturm and 41’s by Matt O’Friel and George Rees to give LHS a team 154 score, just ahead of STM’s 157 total. Notre Dame was a close third at 163 and Westminster fourth at 187.

Ross Robichaux led STM with an even-par 36, while Kyle Camp and Ali Lucas — the only female golfer in this year’s league play — each had a two-over 38 for Notre Dame.

League play resumes on Monday, March 22, with Acadiana, Catholic-New Iberia, Comeaux and Westminster playing a four-team match at Spanish Trail.

LAFAYETTE HIGH (154) — Layne Sims 35, Brady Sturm 37, Matt O’Friel 41, George Rees 41.

ST. THOMAS MORE (157) — Ross Robichaux 36, Eustis Corrigan 40, Kent Broussard 40, Dillon Angelle 41, Colby Berberich 42.

NOTRE DAME (163) — Kyle Camp 38, Ali Lucas 38, John David Nickel 43, Wil Mahaffey 44, Louis Mayuex 44.

WESTMINSTER (187) — Chris Laborde 43, Quinton Pitre 45, Joe Kowalski 47, Nick Lange 52.

Rebels top Acadiana, two others at The Farm d’Allie

Teurlings Catholic got balanced scoring for the second straight event and posted an easy 15-stroke win over a four-team field Wednesday in Acadiana Area High School Golf League action at The Farm d’Allie.

The Rebels got an even-par 36 score from Austin Richard and a two-over 38 from Michael Hollier on the way to a team 157 score. Acadiana High was second at 172 boosted by A. J. Gaudin’s one-over 37 score, while Opelousas Catholic finished at 192 and Rayne at 201.

It was the second straight win for Teurlings, which also took a win at Squirrel Run on Tuesday. No report was received from Wednesday’s other four-team event at Acadian Hills where Lafayette, Notre Dame, St. Thomas MOre and Westminster were in action.

SCORES

TEURLINGS CATHOLIC (157) — Austin Richard 36, Michael Hollier 38, Christian Hurst 41, Stphen Hardey 42, Dakota Simon 43.

ACADIANA (172) — A. J. Gaudin 37, Tyler Menard 43, Adam Hobbs 45, Bach Holbert 47, Spencer Landry 59.

OPELOUSAS CATHOLIC (192) — Ben Vidrine 44, Patrick Kidder 47, Ryan Hackett 49, Ben Finchum 52, Jason Howard 53.

RAYNE (201) — Cory Johnson 41, Landyn Thibodeaux 49, Caleb Bruce 50, Chaz LeBlanc 61.

Rebels get balanced scoring to win at Squirrel Run

Led by solid 39 scores from Michael Hollier, Stephen Hardey and Dakota Simon, Teurlings Catholic took an easy win in this week’s Acadiana Area High School Golf League action held Tuesday, March 16, at Squirrel Run.

Austin Richard added a 41 for the Rebels for a team score of 158, easily ahead of Catholic-New Iberia with a 229 and Comeaux with a 232. Thomas Dartez led Catholic High with a 55 and Tanner Whitley paced Comeaux with a 52.

The Acadiana Area league returns to action on Wednesday, March 17, with two events. Acadian high, Opelousas Catholic, Rayne and Teurlings Catholic will compete at The Farm d’Allie, and Lafayette High, Notre Dame, St. Thomas More and Westminster will compete at Acadian Hills.

SCORES

TEURLINGS CATHOLIC (158) — Michael Hollier 39, Stephen Hardey 39, Dakota Simon 39, Austin Richard 41, Christian Hurst 42.

CATHOLIC-NEW IBERIA (229) — Thomas Dartez 55, Andrew Walker 56, Ian Bordes 57, Angelo Drago 61.

COMEAUX (232) — Tanner Whitley 52, Andrew Lawrence 59, Dylan Lopez 59, Michael Foti 62, Austin LeBlanc 63.