BOB WEST ON GOLF — Orange County’s best high schoolers perform well at district tournaments
Published 12:20 am Saturday, April 1, 2023
- The Orangefield #1 team finished in the top spot, bringing home back-to-back district championships. The Orangefield #2 team finished in the third spot. Lincoln Parks won the first-place medalist. (Courtesy photo)
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In district tournaments involving Orange County schools, the Orangefield boys and Bridge City girls won team championships, the Vidor boys advanced to regional by placing second to champion Lumberton and LC-M’s Gavin Laffite and Cassie Grizzaffi were individual qualifiers.
Lincoln Parks fired a closing 72 to go with an opening 77 for a 36-hole score of 149 to grab medalist honors and pace Orangefield to its second consecutive District 22-3A title. He was backed by brother Xander Parks’ 160 (84-76), Reese Johnson’s 183 (95-88) and Ethan Gunter’s 195 (99-96) at Chambers County Golf Club.
Orangefield, with a two-day score of 685, won by a whopping 53 shots over Warren. The Bobcats No. 2 team placed third with 775.
Bridge City, with a team total of 853, bested runner-up Lumberton by 17 shots at Henry Homberg Golf Club in Beaumont. (Courtesy photo)
Overall medalist Ashley Hale, with a 86-91—177, paced Bridge City to the girls’ 19-4A championship. Other counting scores for the Lady Cardinals were Saylor Moreau 196 (95-101), Chloe Wedekind 238 (119-119) and Reece Molina 242 (125-117).
Bridge City, with a team total of 853, bested runner-up Lumberton by 17 shots at Henry Homberg Golf Club in Beaumont. Lumberton easily won the boys title with a 697, paced by medalist Will Nass’ 160 (80-80). Vidor was a distant second at 794.
Braden Tappe led the way for Vidor with a 181 (89-92). Also contributing were Dusty Davis 195 (101-94), Trenton Hudson 209 (103-106) and Zander Lindsay 108 (108-112).
LCM’s boys finished third at 805. Laffite led the way with a 189, followed by Maddox Manuel 196 (102-94), Lance Hodgkinson 204 (97-107) and Cohen Arney (216 (103-113).
Bridge City’s boys were farther back at 823. Tyler Fults posted the Cardinals low score of 196 (99-97), followed by Brayton Tregre’s 198 (98-100), Grant Hale’s 212 (104-108) and Brennan Jones’ 217 (115-102).
Scores for the LCM girls behind Grizzaffi’s 227 (115-112) were Kolbi Fountain (249 (149-120), Bella Ihle 262 (125-127) and Paige McKee 264 (135-129).
The boys regional is set for April 19-20, while the girls’ regional will be played April 17-18. Both are set for Margaritaville Golf Club near Lake Conroe.
CHIP SHOTS: Chris Stroud had a new caddie, albeit a temporary one, in last week’s Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic and it worked out pretty well. With wife Tiffany toting his clubs, Stroud posted a 5-under 283 to finish tied for 38th.
The pair got some TV time on the Golf Channel, but the arrangement won’t be permanent. It wasn’t the first time for Tiffany to caddie for Chris, as she toted his clubs in this same event a couple of years ago . . .
Lamar ex MJ Daffue continued his solid play in the Corales, placing T29 with a 7-under 289. Daffue served up the tournament highlight, sinking a hole-in-one from 170-yards during the event’s second round. His shot went in on the first hop . . .
Andrew Landry returns to action this week at the scene of his biggest golfing thrill – the Valero Texas Open. Landry scored his first PGA Tour victory at the Valero in 2018. The San Antonio stop, however, has not been a good one for him since.
He had to skip it twice with injuries and missed the cut the other two times. Daffue is also in the field. Stroud was the fifth alternate.
Another PNG ex, Braden Bailey, will be inside the ropes at the Valero but as a caddie, not a player. Bailey, who has caddied for good buddy Chandler Phillips in select Korn Ferry Tour events, will be on his bag in San Antonio after the former A&M star got a sponsor exemption . . .
Rusty Gloede and Art Turner teamed to win First Flight in the Nederland Heritage Festival two-person scramble at Babe Zaharias. Their 63 edged Keith Mullins-James Vercher by a stroke.
Preston White-Kirby Handley won Second Flight with a 64, clipping Harry Green-Jim Smith by a stroke. Jeff Rinehart-Stewart Ellis claimed Third Flight with a 64, nipping Ricky Barrow-Eric Shaw by one . . .
The team of Robert Gautreaux, Jim South, Raymond Darbonne and Dwayne Benoit nearly pulled off a sweep in the Monday Sernior 50 Plus 2 ball at Zaharias. They won the front with minus 2 and tied the team of Bob West, Larry Reece, Don MacNeil and Butch Cross on the back at minus 2.
Closest to the pin winners were Benoit (No. 2, 12-10), Caesar Chavez (No. 7, 4-7), Jim Cady (No. 12, 6-4) and Larry Lee (No. 6, 6-6) . . .
In the March 22 Dogfight, played in an all points count format, the team of Cady, Larry Johnson, Paul Duplantis and Glenn Knight won with 26 points. Placing second with 24 points was the foursome of Earl Richard, Darbonne, Rufus Reyes and Keith Marshall.
Closest to the pin winners were Cady (No. 2, 12-1), Charlie Perez (No. 7 (1-4), Richard (No. 12 (15-10) and Joe Gongora (No. 15, 5-0).
Golf news should be e-mailed to Bob West at rdwest@usa.
