CHIP SHOTS: Bobby Minaldi of Nederland celebrated his first ever hole in one last week at Bayou Din. Minaldi scored his ace by sinking a 5-iron tee shot on the 153-yard, 7th hole on the Bayou Front. The shot was witnessed by Byron Richard, Jack Frank and Jerry Parker . . . The Port Neches-Groves golf team continued its winning ways last weekend in Lufkin by the narrowest of margins. With Braden Bailey’s 36-hole total of 155 (81-74) leading the way at Crown Colony, the Indians nipped host Lufkin and A&M Consolidated by one stroke with a 646. Bailey finished in a four-way tie for third. Other PN-G scores included a 160 (78-82) by Jarrod Brown, a 169 (79-90) by Tyler Rawson and a 170 by Lonnie LaBove (86-84). Brandon Soileau, playing in the No. 5 spot, shot 168 (80-88). Longview Pine Tree’s Bryce Alley took medalist honors with a 144 (71-73) . . . Michael Glover fired a 72, to top Jeff Rountree by three shots and Tyler Ford by six to win Boys 16-18 in The First Tee of the Golden Triangle/Southern Texas PGA Fall Finish event at Bayou Din. Seth Morgan posted an 83 to win Boys 14-15 by eight strokes over Trinton Tubbs and Michael Krautz. Shelbi Vincent won Girls 16-18 with a 80, Railie Guidry took first in Girls 14-15 with a 103 and Josh Elmore bested Peyton Weems by seven shots to win Boys 12-13. In the 9-hole division, Jack Burke was a three-shot winner over Hunter Christman with a 41 and Micah Depew’s 31 edged William Vanpelt by two in the Boys 7-9, 6-hole division. The final event in the Fall Finish Series is set for Dec. 15 at Babe Zaharias . . . Orange native Scott Sterling narrowly missed authoring one of the best stories at the PGA Tour School which wrapped up Monday in La Quinta, Calif. Sterling, trying to earn a playing card two months shy of his 41st birthday, came up an agonizing two strokes short of the necessary finish in the top 25 in the 108-hole marathon. He closed with bogey free rounds of 67-68 for a six-round score of 417 that left him tied for 32nd. Lamar ex Dawie Van Der Walt tied for 73rd at 422 . . .  There was a tie for first in the Babe Zaharias DogFight between the team of Rick Pritchett, Adam Noel, Roger Baumer and Dwain Morrison (17&5) and the tam of Steve Picou, Jim Cooper, Steve Wisenbaker and Jobie Irvine (17&4). Third at 16&4 was the team of Larry Papilla, Roland Burris, Daniel McKee and Doug Weeks. Closest to the hole winners were Buddy Sepeda (No. 2), Bill Hanley (No. 7), Weeks (No. 12) and Jobie Irvine (No. 15) . . . The Senior Game at The Babe was played in a 2-ball format. On the front the team of Earl Richard, Larry Foster, Andrew Bedair and Joe Benoit won with even par. Even also won the back for the team of Harrell Guidry, Bob Moore, Dickie Robinson, Tom Hatcher and Paul Bourgeois . . . Closest to the pin winners were Bill Hanley (No. 2), Dillard Darbonne (No. 7), Jim Jordan (No. 12) and Mike Lansford (No. 15) . . . The team of Ron LaFleur, Darbonne, Charlie Hoffman and Glen Marino finished minus 3 to win the front in the Super Saturday Game at the Babe. On the back, Jim Jordan, Gene Jones, Gerald Huebel and Harold Wilkinson won with minus 5 . . . Rufus Mier finished plus 3 to win the Monday Seniors at Belle Oaks. Raymond Rice was second at  plus 2 and Ron Somerville third at plus 1. Closest to the pin winners were Barry Jackson (No. 8) and Frank Oakley (No. 15) . . . Mier also won the Friday Seniors at Belle Oaks, finishing plus 4. Glen Leblanc and Rice tied for second at plus 3. LeBlanc (No. 8) and Gene Jones (No. 15) were closest to the pin winners . . . The Senior 50 Plus Game at The Patch saw both nines end in a two-way tie. On the front, the team of Dennis Walsh, R.C. Russell, Ron Theriot and Don Storey and the foursome of Paul Young, R.J. Simon, Larry Thompson and Joe Castleman finished minus 5. On the back, the Walsh team and the team of Jimmy Fetters, Gerald Huebel, Cap Hollier, Charles Scott and Benny Epperson both finished minus 9.

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