PING Golf may want to make Don Mac Neil of Groves the face of a new advertising campaign for instant results delivered by its G400 irons.

Mac Neil, 76, was recently fitted for a complete set of G400s — woods, irons and hybrids -— by Babe Zaharias pro Mitch Duncan. After hitting balls on the range with the new sticks for the first time on Friday, he took them to the course Saturday.

Lo and behold, Mac Neil’s final shot of the round was a hole in one, struck with his new G400 8-iron. The jaw-dropping shot came on the 15th hole — Mac Neil’s 18th of the day — from 120 yards.

Witnesses were Bim Morrow, Don Duplan and Thad Borne.

Mac Neil, whose thick Boston accent and goofy golfing observations make him stick out like a triple bogey on an even-par scorecard, modestly proclaimed the shot to be just about perfect.

“The wind was blowing very hard from the left,” he said. “I, of course, allowed for it, the ball landed left of the flag and kicked to the right. When it started rolling, I knew it was going to be close. But it looked like it stopped maybe an inch short.

“Turns out it was leaning against the flag. A gust of wind straightened the flag and the ball disappeared.”

Mac Neil was not sure whether it was his eighth or ninth ace.

“I have made so many they sort of run together,” he said with a chuckle.

CHIP SHOTS

If Mac Neil had the shot of the day Saturday at Zaharias, Nederland High School junior Brendan Marley authored the round of the day.

Playing in winds that were a steady 25 miles per hour, and often gusting above 30, Marley shot a 77 from the blue tees to win Boys 16-18 by five shots over Brody Jeanes of Sour Lake in the final stop of the Texas-Louisiana Junior Winter Tour.

“In that wind, 77 was really impressive,” said tour director Jerry Honza.

Marley’s victory was one of five for area players and helped Texas finish with an 18-11 edge in flights won during the four-tournament competition.

Other Texas winners were Mackenzie Sears of Silsbee (99 in Girls 16-18), Xander Parks of Orange (77 in Boys 12-13), Lincoln Parks of Orange (37 in Co-Rec 10-11, 9 holes) and Erin Eaves of Beaumont (32 in Co-Red 7-9, 6 holes).

Louisiana winners were Daniel Benoit of Westlake (95 in Boys 14-15) and Isabella Callaba of Lake Charles, a one-stroke victor over Annabel Cardenas of Beaumont with a 98 in Girls 12-13 …

Marley also fired a solid round on Thursday, shooting a 75 to help Nederland to a second place finish in the West Brook Invitational at Bayou Din. Kelly won the tournament with a 294, with Nederland at 316 and West Brook at 325.

Other Nederland scores included a 79 by Daniel Cormier and 81s by Tyler Wallie and Conner Kemp. Jadon Bell’s 86 did not count toward the team total.

LCM’s Jack Burke was tourney medalist with an even-par 71. Tyler Gonzales and Jonathan Miller of Kelly tied for second with 72. All of Kelly’s top four were at 75 or better …

PNG ex Chris Stroud finished tied for 33rd at the Honda Classic after a closing 71 for a five-over total of 285. Stroud won $29,954 and moved up to No. 110 in FedEx Cup points. With a limited field for the World Golf Championship event in Mexico City, Stroud will be off this week.

The Honda Classic wasn’t nearly as good for Andrew Landry, the other PNG ex on the PGA Tour. Landry, after rounds of 71-75, missed his fourth consecutive cut and fifth in six starts in 2018. Thanks to that second-place finish in the CareerBuilder challenge, he is still high in FedEx points at No. 25 …

Nederland ex Felicia Sauceda, a senior at Lamar, matched the Cardinals’ low score of 77 Tuesday in the final round of the Islander Classic at Corpus Christi Country Club. Sauceda finished tied for 28 overall among 61 players with a 54-hole total of 240.

Lamar came in sixth in team standings with a score of 933. St. Mary’s won with a 913, followed by Sam Houston State at 917. Hannah Alberto of Sam Houston was medalist with even-par 216.

Other Lamar scores included 77-226 by Eva Martinez, 79-231 by Elodie Chaplet and 82-241 by Olivia LeRoux.

The team of Borne, Morrow, Mac Neil and Duplan won the front at even par in the Saturday Senior 2-ball game at Zaharias. On the back, the foursome of Paul Flores, Gene Jones, Craig Castille and Pete Reobroi placed first with plus 2 …

In the Friday Senior 2-ball at Zaharias, the team of Russ Gloede, Adam Noel, Harrell Guidry and John Veillion prevailed with minus 6. Even won the back for Wes McGuire, Mike Tibbets and Charlie Leard …

Format for the Thursday Senior Game was stroke play was low net. Guidry was the overall winner with a 65. Rick Pritchett was second at 66 and Don Flood third at 70.

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