BOB WEST ON GOLF: Junior tours tee off in June
Published 7:23 pm Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Area junior golfers will have plenty of tournament options during the months of June and July.
Once again there will be two tours in operation — the long-running STPGA Junior Tour and the Golden Triangle Beltway Junior Tour which will be in its third year of operation.
Both tours are offering nine events to junior golfers of all ages. Since there is only one date conflict, a player could participate in 17 tournaments.
There are opportunities to play all the courses in the Golden Triangle, as well as nearby Louisiana layouts Gray Plantation in Lake Charles and The National in Westlake.
The complete schedule of both tours can be found else in this section.
Jerry Honza, who was the executive director of the First Tee of the Golden Triangle until it folded, and Babe Zaharias pro Mitch Duncan head up the STPGA Tour. Honza can be reached at 409 719-3949, while Duncan’s contact number is 409 722-8286.
A one-time annual fee of $80 is required in order to participate.
Membership includes:
• STPGA Tee Gift
• USGA rule book or PGA Rules of Golf summary book
• STPGA bag tag
• Online statistical analysis and scoring
• For players 12 years and older, a GHIN handicap index provided by the Texas Golf Association
The STPGA Tour Junior Golf Program was formed on the principle to introduce and provide youth in Southeast Texas to learn, play and compete while playing golf. The program is open to juniors ages 6 to 18.
It offers 5-hole, 9-hole and 18-hole tournaments in a combination of three different tours locally, as well as additional opportunities in Houston, Austin and San Antonio.
Players can sign up by going to the website www.stpgajuniorgolf.com.
As for the Golden Triangle Beltway Junior Tour, it’s in the third year of operation. The Beltway Tour was founded in the Houston area by high school golf coaches and now offers competition in 10 different areas across the state. It also has a college division.
Anyone seeking more details about the options offered on the Beltway Tour can go to www.beltwayjuniortour.com, All questions about the Golden Triangle Tour should be directed to Keyes.
One feature of the tour are 9-hole and 18-hole brackets that offer juniors the choice to play in a Gold Division (varsity) or Silver Division (JV). By paying a $50 fee, players can compete in any of the Beltway tours statewide.
CHIP SHOTS
Andrew Landry had his best week on the Web.com Tour since winning on its second stop back in March. Landry, who had finished tied for 60th, T42 and T60 in his last three starts, tied for fifth in the rain shortened BWM Pro-Am in South Carolina.
The Port Neches-Groves ex, who was paired with Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers during one round of the tourney, shot 68-65-66 for a 54-hole total of 199. During his second round 65, Landry reeled off six consecutive birdies. It was the longest birdie streak on the Web.com Tour this year.
Landry pocketed $20,000, which moved him to third place on the Web.com money list with $154,254 in earnings. The Web.com Tour is idle until the June 1-4 Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh, N.C. …
Chris Stroud caught the bad weather side of draw in the Byron Nelson Classic, shot a first-day 76 and wound up missing the cut by three strokes after a Friday 69. Encouraging for Stroud was the fact he reeled off four consecutive birdies during one stretch of his second round.
Because of a T13 finish in the 2016 Dean and Deluca Invitational at Colonial CC in Fort Worth, the PNG ex has a spot in the field for that event this week. Colonial has historically brought out the best in Stroud.
Dating back to 2012, he has finished T13, T7, T14, missed cut in 2015 and T13 last year. Over the famed course know as Hogan’s Allen, he’s posted scores in the 60s in 12 of his last 18 rounds. Included have been 64s in 2014 and 2016. …
It’s Super Bowl week in college golf for Braden Bailey and No. 5 ranked Baylor. Starting Friday at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois, Braden and the Bears will try to win the school’s first national championship in golf.
Under the NCAA format, 30 schools will play 54 holes of medal play through Sunday. At that point, the low 15 teams and low 9 individuals not on those teams play 18 more holes on Monday to determine a medalist, as well as the eight schools that advance to match play Tuesday and Wednesday.
Baylor will be counting on Bailey to get back to his strong early season form. Although he fired a 64 in last week’s regional at Stanford that tied the second low round in school history, Bailey surrounded them it with a 76 and 74. Neither of those scores counted toward the team’s four-man total.
The Bears, who at one time were ranked No. 1 in the nation, still tied Stanford for the championship of the regional. Being a tad off form for the last four tournaments, however, has dropped Bailey’s scoring average from first to third on his team.
As a freshman last year, he had the low season scoring average, tied for fifth at the NCAA regional and was 36th in the NCAA championship.
Baylor is paired with No. 7 Stanford and No. 2 LSU, which means Bailey will likely be in a threesome with No. 2 ranked individual Sam Burns of LSU and No. 3 Maverick McNealy of Stanford.
Braden, after being ranked as high as No. 27 earlier in the season, is now No. 48 among college players. If the Bears advance to Monday, then to match play, Bailey will likely get some TV time.
The Golf Channel is offering extensive NCAA coverage Monday through Wednesday. …
The Tuesday Twister two-ball at Babe Zaharias featured a two way tie on the front at minus-1 between the team of Kenny Robbins, Rick Pritchett, Dillard Darbonne and Tommy Duhon and the foursome of Harrell Guidry, Gerald Huebel, James Shipley and Ray Burch.
Teams captained by Guidry, Adam Noel and Bob West finished in a three-way tie on the front at even. …
In the Super Saturday Senior two-ball at Babe Zaharias, the team of Craig Geoffroy, Guidry, Gene Jones and Harry Green won the front with minus-5. On the back, the foursome of Noel, Shipley, Bim Morrow and Gene Hardy prevailed with minus-3.
Noel also captained the winning team on the front in Friday’s Senior two-ball.
His team, which included Paul Flores, Tom LeTourneau and James Trahan, shot minus-7. That was also the winning score on the back for the team of Benny Sharpe, Butch Pitman, Tony Trevino and Ed Hetzel.
The Thursday Senior 55 Plus Game at Zaharias was played in a Select Drive All Points Count Format. Winning with plus 31 was the foursome of Huebel, Rick Pritchett, Ben Thornton and Stedman Tahaney. Second at plus 28 was the team of Cap Hollier, Harold Wilkinson, Jobie Irvine and Charlie Leard.
Closest to the hole winners were Don MacNeil (No. 2, No. 15), Joe Gongora (No. 7) and Larry Reece (No. 12).
The Wednesday Babe Zaharias DogFight was won with 20 points by the team of Noel, Ronnie LaSalle, Paul Duplantis and an assigned ghost player. Teams captained by Robbins and Gary Whitfill tied for second at 18 points.
Closest to the pin winners were Hollier (No. 2, No. 12), Jay Hampson (No. 7) and Gongora (No. 15).
•
Golf news should be mailed to rdwest@usa.net