Local Golf: Chip Shots – Clyde Lemaire, Ben Thibeaux, David Church, Matt Sonnier, Andrew Noto & More

July 23, 2009 Dan McDonald, The Daily Advertiser

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With the renovation at Les Vieux Chenes still in progress, LVC pro Todd Robertson announced this week that this year’s City Championships will not be held. The event has been historically scheduled for Labor Day weekend, but the availability of only two municipal courses on what will be a busy golf weekend brought about the cancellation.

"Since it’s probable we won’t be up and ready to go for Labor Day," Robertson said, "we had to make this decision."

Robertson said that all construction is complete and all greens and tees at LVC have been fully planted, and the only holdup for the course’s reopening is for the grass to grow in. Weather over the next two months will determine when the course will open for play.

JUNIOR WINNER

A. J. Gaudin turned in a one-over-par 73 to win overall top honors at the 31st annual Mickey Hebert Junior Golf Classic, held Monday at Hebert Municipal.

Gaudin used solid ball striking and timely putting to win the title, after tying with Layne Sims in regulation and winning on the second-hole of a sudden-death playoff with a 20-foot birdie putt.

Other winners by age group were Connor Romero in age 6, Cameron Delhomme in age 7, Cody Morgan in age 8, Drew Reaux in age 9, Ethan Bearb and Evan Smith in age 10, Mason Cornay in age 11, James Richard in age 12, Lauren Aillet in age 13, Jacob Matthieu in age 14, Trevor Dugas in age 15, Gaudin in age 16 and Sims in age 17.

The annual event was again hosted by the Acadiana Golf Society, and was open to all area youths at no charge. Food, drink, T-shirts, visors and other items were also given to all participants free of charge courtesy of sponsors Acadiana Bottling Company, the Chitimacha Louisiana Open and district attorney Mike Harson. AGS junior chairman Clyde "Chi Chi" Lemaire said the event was once again a huge success.

LOCALS DO WELL

Robert Shelton and Ben Thibeaux of Lafayette shared the first-round lead and eventually finished tied for third in last weekend’s Louisiana Golf Association State Four-Ball Championship at TPC Louisiana in New Orleans.

Shelton, former State Amateur champ and runner-up in last summer’s Senior Amateur to fellow Lafayette player John Davis, and Thibeaux opened with a nine-under 63 last Saturday to tie for the lead with two other teams, including eventual winners Garrett Westbrook and Blake Kelley. Shelton and Thibeaux shot three-under 69 on Sunday and finished at 132, tied for third with two other teams.

Brett Ashmore of Lafayette and Mike Emerson of Youngsville tied for 34th at one-under 143, Craig LeLeux of New Iberia and Kenley Jones of Avery Island tied for 37th at even-par 144, Chris Kremheller of Lafayette was part of a team tying for 45th at 148, and Dwayne and Buie Brown of Lafayette tied for 52nd at 152 as the other local competitors.

Next up for the LGA is the state Mid-Amateur, for players age 25 and over, to be played locally at Oakbourne on Aug. 7-9. Registrations are still open for the LGA’s final two 2009 events, the Senior Amateur Aug. 20-22 at Lake Charles Country Club and the Senior Four-Ball Sept. 26-27 at Southern Trace in Shreveport.

STATE PROS: At least two dozen Louisiana pros will take part in the Golf Cars of Louisiana/Club Car La. PGA Championships Monday-Tuesday at Le Triomphe. The field will include David Church and Matt Sonnier of the host LeTriomphe club and Les Vieux Chenes pro Todd Robertson, who also serves as president of the Louisiana PGA pros this year.

Church already has three first-place finishes in PGA Gulf States Section events this year including winning the section’s Stroke Play series event at The Island in Plaquemine two weeks ago with a five-under-par 67, and he ranks third in the chapter’s Player of the Year points standings.

NOTO IN PUBLINKS: UL Lafayette golfer Andrew Noto lost out in the opening round of the match-play division of the 84th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championships last week, but still became the first Cajun golfer to reach the match-play portion in recent years.

Noto lost to fifth-seeded Gene Webster, Jr., of San Bernardino, Calif., in the round of 64, after earning one of the 64 available slots by shooting seven-over 149 in the opening two rounds of medal play. That score tied him for 56th in the 156-player field and put him into the match-play segment.

Two other UL players and one other local player advanced through regional qualifying to claim a spot in the national field. Cajun teammates Kyle Pritchard of San Antonio, Texas (78-73), and Thomas Petts of Canada (75-76) finished one stroke out of a potential playoff for a match-play position and finished tied for 77th at 151, while Abbeville’s Marc Noel – also a former Cajun player – followed an opening 82 with a two-over 73 on Tuesday and finished tied for 104th at 155. They were the only Louisiana players to qualify for the national tournament.

"Going through the qualifying for this tournament, and then playing well there, will do nothing but help those guys," said UL coach Theo Sliman. "It’s really going to help their confidence as we go into the fall."

THIS WEEKEND: Spots remain available for The Wetlands’ inaugural Summer Four-Ball this Saturday-Sunday. The tournament will be flighted by combined handicap total and will have scratch (combined handicaps 10-under), open (combined handicaps 11-over), senior (age 60-69) and super senior (age 70-over) divisions with handicaps not to exceed nine strokes between players.

Entry fee is $150 per player and entries are due today, with play scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. More information and entry forms are available at the course or by calling 291-7151.

VIEUX CHENES SENIORS: Despite their home course still being closed, the Vieux Chenes Men’s Senior Golf Association had a full group for its monthly tournament for July at Hebert Municipal.

The team of Rodney Alleman, Bill Parrott, Gerald Reaux, Horace Guidry and R.C. Sealy carded a winning 63 score. The next event for the group is set for Aug. 13, also at Hebert.

ANGELLE AGAIN: Arnaudville and Teurlings Catholic’s Kelsey Angelle tied for top honors last week at the Arrowhead Junior Tour’s Oak Wing Junior Classic in Alexandria.

Angelle shot a 72-71-143 score, one-under-par, and tied with Chris Willis of Alexandria in the boys 15-19 division before losing on the first hole of a sudden death playoff. Eustis Corrigan and Austin Richard, both of Lafayette, tied for 12th at 156.

Broussard’s Hannah Schorr finished third in the girls’ 15-19 division with a 78-77-155 score, while Cody Weber (89-77-166) and Skye Mejia of Lafayette (84-88-172) finished ninth and 12th respectively in the boys 12-14 division.

ACADIANA PRO-AM: The team of Mark Popp, Randy O’Brien, Larry Viator and Jerry Albert teamed for a plus-13 score to win the July stop on the Regions Bank Acadiana Pro-Am Tour held at Indian Hills in Opelousas.

The foursome of Curley Romero, David Thille, Allen Jones and Larry Hackett and the pairing of Chad Massie, Buddy Hackett, Les Champagne and Neil Milner both finished at plus-10 to finish second and third. Bobby Delaunay (71) was low amateur, David Thille (�8) was low "A", Les Champagne (�8) was low "B", Melvin Oubre (�7) was low "C" and Paul Theriot (�2) won the points honor.

FCA-TOURLIFE: Former Cajun and Atlanta Braves pitcher Jose Alvarez will join fellow UL alumni Raymond Richard and Phil Stillwell to host the second Fellowship of Christian Athletes-TourLife tournament on Monday, Aug. 31, at The Wetlands.

The four-person scramble tournament has a noon check-in and a 1 p.m. shotgun start, and entry fee is $1,000 per team with proceeds going to TourLife, a division of the FCA Golf Ministry. The event also includes a free junior clinic one day earlier on Sunday, Aug. 30 for youths age 8-14. Registration forms are available at local courses or from Tina Creel at 278-9679, and information is available by e-mail at jalvarez@fca.org or by fax at (337) 988-1360.