Six Winners have earned their spot to compete in the final Team Championship Qualifier

Louisiana / East Texas Tour

Cypress Bend, La -


Six Winners have earned a spot to compete in the final qualification event on the road to the National Team Championship. The final leg of qualification will be held August 9th and 10th at Mansfield National Golf Club in Mansfield, Texas. Sixteen of the top golfers in their flights from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma will come together in a final showdown to decide who will make up the final 12 and go on to represent the South Central Region at the National Team Championship event in Orlando, Florida.

Congratulation goes out to each of the flight winners for securing their spot for the final round of qualification. I want to thank everyone for participating in this event.

Good Luck to our finalists!!! Let’s bring home the “CUP”


The Course: Cypress Bend Resort – Many, Louisiana

The weather could not have been better for this event. The temperature was in the 70’s with very little wind and almost no chance of rain. The course created some interesting challenges for all competitors and it became very apparent to many of us, this course is not about hitting the ball a long way. This course is tight and requires the ability to either keep it in the correct spot or to take your punishment and do everything possible to get the ball in the hole. Getting the ball in the hole was challenging due to greens that were slower and bumpier than we like to see at our events.

When you are trying to score on this course, the risk reward shots have to be evaluated very carefully. Often times the Team Championship is about making good decisions based on the situation at hand. Last year’s Team Championship event was not played on the longest course in the country but one that required careful evaluation of the right play, knowing when to go for it and when to layup. Cypress Bend is a lot like this and provided a great challenge. Unfortunately, we did not get to experience this course when the playing conditions of the greens were at their best.

The pace of play at this event was longer than we have been experiencing due in part to outside play. The first group finished in 4:45 and the last group finished in 5:50. I appreciate everyone’s attention to pace of play and want to remind everyone to make sure you keep up with the group in front of you. It is up to everyone competing to do their part at keeping things moving.

The Weather: Mostly sunny with a high temperature of 73 degrees.

The Tournament:

Championship Flight: Top 3: - Frank Wallace (76), David McElveen (77), John Jeffrey (77).

Frank Wallace (76) of Lufkin, Tx captured his second tour victory of the season by narrowly defeating, David McElveen (77) of Lufkin, Tx and John Jeffrey (77) of Groves, Tx. We had to go to the scorecard to decide second place between McElveen and Jeffrey and in the end, second place was decided with McElveen posting the low score on the back nine.



Palmer Flight: Top three - Robert Corbello (80), Thomas Tatum (81), Bobby Annison (82).

Robert Corbello of Vidor, Tx (80) captured first place in the Palmer flight and advances to the final round of qualification for the National Team Championship. Thomas Tatum (81) captures second place and posted the low nine of the flight with a 37 on the front nine. Bobby Annison (80) of Denham Springs, La rounded out the top three.

Hogan Flight: Top 3: - Kevin Turner (79), Dale Johnson (82), Donald Moore (85).

Kevin Turner (79) of Vidor, Tx took top honors in the Hogan flight capturing first place and securing his spot in the final round of qualification for the National Team Championship. Dale Johnson (82) of Lufkin, Tx continues to shoot good numbers with his steady play as he captures yet another second place trophy. Don Moore (85) of Texarkana, Tx rounded out the top three and added another piece of hardware to his collection.

Sarazen Flight: Top 3: - Walter White (91), Joe Hodges (94), Paul Whitehead (94).

Walter White of West Monroe, La takes top honors in the Sarazen flight and secures his spot in the final round of eliminations on the road to the National Team Championship. One of our newest members, Paul Whitehead (94) of Nederland, Tx and Joe Hodges of Bossier City, La battled it out for second place with Joe Hodges winning the scorecard playoff over Paul Whitehead.

Jones Flight: Top 3: - Michael East (89), Randy Adcock (91), Mike Haney (94).

Michael East of Lufkin, Tx wins his first event of the season by shooting (89) in the Jones flight and secures his spot to move onto the final qualifier for the National Team Championship. Right behind Michael East, Randy Adcock of Vidor, Tx (91) captures 2nd place honors and Mike Haney of Lufkin, Tx (94) rounds out the top 3.

Snead Flight: Top 3: - Bruce Biddy (86), Leonard Peterson (87), William Crossland (94)

Bruce Biddy of Hooks, Tx takes home top honors in the Snead flight by shooting a very respectable (87) and is now qualified for the final round of eliminations for the Team Championship. Bruce has been steadily bringing his scores down this year and what better time than during this event. Bruce had to feel some heat as second and third place were right behind him. Leonard Peterson of Lufkin, Tx shot his best round of the season (87) which narrowly misses the bid to move onto the next round of eliminations. Right behind Leonard, and another representative from Lufkin, Tx was William Crossland. William created a little stir with the crowd watching on 18 as he holed out from the fairway to make a crowd pleasing 3 and securing his 3rd place spot in the tournament.

In addition to the flight winners, the following players won the skills challenges:

Closest to the pin ($100 each)
Danny Whitt (Guest), #4
Kevin Turner, #8
Donnis Hunter, #13
Don Bogue, #17

Skins Winners ($133 each)
Kevin Turner (won with a 4), #7
Kevin Turner (won with a 2), #8
David McElveen (won with a 3), #14