The big team event on the national stage this year is the President’s Cup, pitting the United States against an International team composed of the highest ranked foreign players not from Europe. It will be played in late September at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.
In Southeast Texas, meanwhile, the major team competition is the Aquila Cup, which was recently contested between players representing Idylwild Golf Club and Babe Zaharias. It’s the brainchild of former Zaharias head pro Ed Campbell and his successor, Mitch Duncan.
The format started with two-man best ball matches at Zaharias on day one. Day two featured alternate shot matches at Idylwild. On day three, the teams played 12 singles matches at Zaharias.
Zaharias won best ball 3 1/2 to 2 1/2, while Idylwild rolled in alternate shot 5 1/2 to 1/2. Needing 8 points in singles matches, Zaharias could get only seven, allowing Idylwild to win 13-11.
It was a thriller to the very last hole, however, with the outcome not decided until Idylwild’s Tanner Lowe edged Zaharias’ Hunter Huff one up in the final match.
Four different matches — Brandon Soileau (BZ) over Lee Comeaux, Joe Vallot (Idyl) over Alec Bruney, Duncan (BZ) over David Bell and Lowe over Huffman were won 1 up.
Three more matches — Jerry Boudreaux (BZ) over Matt Dinkle, Shane Chesson (BZ) over Ward Lowe and Lonnie Labove (BZ) over Scott King ended 2&1. Other results had John Maltsberger (Idyl) 4&3 over Todd Stark, Derek Mireles (Idyl) over Joey Parks 4&2, David Jones (Idyl) 6&5 over Josh Labove, Seth Cockran (BZ) over Todd Osborne 5&4 and Trey Fournier (BZ) over Garret Granger (3&2).
CHIP SHOTS
All in all, Bruce Lietzke would rather have been at Idylwild Golf Club handing out trophies to winners in the junior golf tournament bearing his name Tuesday afternoon.
On the other handful, he was thankful to be wrapping up radiation and chemo treatment following surgery for a malignant brain tumor.
“I wish I could have been down there,” Lietzke said from Dallas. “I plan to be there for the tournament next year. But I am thankful to have responded to treatment as well as I have. My final treatments are Wednesday, then there is another MRI and I get a month off.”
In Lietzke’s absence, the tournament had a nice turnout, ran smoothly and was not impacted by weather. The big winner was Nick Beausoleil of Liberty who shot 151 (75-76) to capture Boys 15-18 by three shots over Brendan Marley of Nederland and Jack Burke of Orange.
Other flight winners were Micah Depew of Kountze (85-80-165) in Boys 13-14, Grant Doggett of Beach City (88-91-179) in Boys 11-12 and Kelly Dunn of Lake Jackson (91-92-183) in Girls 15-18.
The Junior Linkster and Little Linkster portions were played as two separate nine-hole tournaments on Monday and Tuesday. Six different players won their age groups both days.
Lincoln Parks of Orange won Boys 9-10 modified outright one day with a 37 and tied Trevor Chesson of Hamshire the other day with another 37. Xander Parks of Orange swept Boys 11-12 nine-hole red outright with by shooting 38 on both Monday and Tuesday.
Erin Eaves of Beaumont won Co-Ed 6-8 5 holes outright with a 33 and tied Reece Williams of Beaumont with a 34. Foster Cecka of Port Neches swept Co-Ed 6-8 nine-hole modified with a 45 and a 38.
Anna Cardenas of Beaumont prevailed both days in Girls 11-12 nine-hole red with a 54 and a 53. Ella Calder of Sour Lake won Girls 9-10 5 hole modified with 39s both days. …
Andrew Landry had to settle for a 40th-place tie and a check for $2,438 after shooting weekend rounds of 71-70 at the Air Capital Classic in Wichita.
The PNG ex was poised to rake in another big check after opening with rounds of 66-66, but faded on the weekend.
Landry, who will be playing in the Lincoln Land Shootout in Springfield, Ill., this week, remains No. 3 on the Web.com money list with $215,291 in official earnings. …
Three years removed from tying Ken Duke for first place in the Travelers Championship, then losing in a playoff, Chris Stroud couldn’t get a sponsor’s exemption into this year’s Travelers. So it looks like he won’t play on the PGA Tour again until the July 6-9 Greenbriar at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. …
Congratulations to the Groves Knights of Columbus for a hefty donation to the Fetters Center for Mentally and Physically Challenged Adults. The check from the recent 10th annual Fetters Golf Tourney at Babe Zaharias was $9,100. …
In the Monday Senior 50 Plus Two-Ball Game at Zaharias, the team of Russ Gloede, Jim Mercer, Ed Hetzel and Paul Duplantis won the front in minus 6. On the back, the foursome of Gary Whitfill, Don MacNeil, Larry Foster and Charles Perez prevailed with minus 4. …
The Saturday Super Senior Two-Ball at The Babe saw a tie at minus 4 on the front between the team of Javier Torres, Thad Borne, Cole Lee and Charlie Leard and the fivesome of Dwain Anderson, Bim Morrow, Jeff Hoffman, Jay Hampson and Pete Reobroi.
On the back the Anderson team tied with the foursome of Price Youngs, Bill Hanley, Harrell Guidry and Wes McGuire at minus 3. …
Minus 8 was the winning number in the Friday Senior two-ball at Zaharias for the team of Whitfill, Larry Reece, MacNeil and Leard. The fivesome of Steve Picou, Gary Hanan, Wes McDonald, Gene Hardy and Reobri won the back in minus 6. …
Format for the Thursday Senior 55 Plus Game was Select Drive All Points Count. Finishing first with 26 points was the team of Gloede, Robert Lynch, Art Miller, Paul Duplantis. Second with 24 points was the foursome of Adam Noel, Bill Jones, James Trahan and Bob Barnes.
Closest to the pin winners were Jim Huebel (No. 2), Billy Foret (No. 7), Earl Richard (No. 12) and Rick Pritchett (No. 15).
The Wednesday Babe Zaharias DogFight was won with 19 points by the team of Ed Holley, Larry Johnson, Dillard Darbonne and Dave Sturgall. Second with 17 points was the team of Pritchett, Richard, Foster and Larry Rogers.
Closest to the pin winners were Jimmy Thompson (No. 2), Bob West (No. 7), Sturgall (No. 12) and Cap Hollier (No. 15).
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