Bucs second in regional, Purgahn ties for third place
The Barbe High girls golf team didn't get the regional title they wanted, but they kept their hopes for a state championship alive after placing second at the Division I, Region I tournament on Tuesday at Mallard Cove Golf Club.
'I think they will play better next week because they know what is on the line now,' Barbe coach Bob Corley said.
Blustery conditions led to no under-par rounds. Barbe finished with a 160, eight shots behind regional champion and defending state champion Benton.
Corley said his players did well against the windy conditions.
'This course usually plays pretty tough because the wind blows so much,' he said. 'They play on it some, but not a ton.
'If you get yourself in bad positions, your score can go up really quick. They didn't have any real big blowups. Couple of them had some doubles, but they held it together. They can play better. They just wanted a chance to play next week.'
Mattie Purgahn led the Bucs with a 78 to finish tied for third with Ruston's Kate Boersma. After bogies on Nos. 10 and 12, Purgahn finished her round with six consecutive pars.
Maggie Dressler and Cassidy Scroggins finished tied for fifth place with Tioga's Morgan Goudeau at 82.
Benton had the top two medalists in Abigail McWilliams, who had the low round of the day at 2-over 74, and Grace Goodwin (77).
The state tournament tees off Monday and Tuesday at Les Vieux Chenes in Lafayette.
Sam Houston's Emmi Marceaux and South Beauregard's Brielle Grant qualified for the state tournament as individuals. Grant shot a 91, while Marceaux finished with a 92.
Division II, Region I
Southwest Louisiana had a one-two finish at Frenchman's Bend in Sterlington.
Westlake won its second consecutive regional team title and beat runner-up St. Louis Catholic 172-180. St. Louis' Reese Crooks edged Westlake's Ali Evans for individual medalist honors by one stroke with a 9-over-par 81.
Boys
At Links on the Bayou in Alexandria on Monday, Sam Houston's Collin Dibbley qualified for state by winning a playoff for the final individual spot in the Division I, Region I tournament. He shot a 1-under 71.
Girls
Division I, Region 1
At Mallard Golf Club
Team scoring
1, Benton, 152; 2, Barbe, 160; 3, Southside, 168; 4, Ruston, 176; 5, Tioga, 178; 6, South Beauregard, 193; 7, St. Thomas More, 197; , C.E. Byrd, 198; 9, Haughton, 221; 10, Airline, 234; 11, Natchitoches Central, 236; 12, Teurlings Catholic, 237; 13, Pineville, 247; 14, Acadiana Renaissance, 254.
Top 15 individual
1, Abigail McWilliams, Benton, 74; 2, Grace Goodwin, Benton, 77; 3, Mattie Purgahn, Barbe, 78; 3, Kate Boersma, Ruston, 78; 5, Maggie Dressler, Barbe, 82; 5, Cassidy Scroggins, Barbe, 82; 5, Morgan Goudeau, Tioga, 82; 8, Rhyan Marcellissen, Southside, 84; 8, Caroline Endsley, Southside, 84; 10, Brielle Grant, 91; 11, Tymber Joubert, St. Thomas More, 92; 11, Emmi Marceaux, Sam Houston, 92; 13, Laila Badger, David Thibodaux, 93, 14, Grace Cooper, C.E. Byrd, 94; 15, Maci Sanders, Tioga, 96.
Division II, Region 1
at Frenchman's Bend GC in Sterlington
Team scoring
1, Westlake, 172; 2, St. Louis Catholic, 180; 3, Loyola Prep, 181; 4, St. Mary's, 191; 5, St. Frederick, 203; 6, Many, 212; 7, Elton, 215; 8, Anacoco, 236; 9, Calvary Baptist, 238; 10, Basile, 239; 11, Glenbrook, 247; 12, Hicks, 258; 13, Castor, 266.
Individual leaders
1, Reese Crooks, St. Louis Catholic, 81; 2, Ali Evans, Westlake, 82; 3, Kathryn Jackson, Loyola Prep, 86; 4, Isabel Taylor, Beau Chene, 87; 5t, Audrey Perry, St. Frederick, 90; 5t, Emma Penfield, Many, 90; 5t, Elle Rodriguez, Westlake 91; 8, Lily Osbon, Evangel, 91; 9, Charlotte Campbell, Loyola Prep, 95; 9, Lacey Boyd, St. Mary's, 95; 11, Lilly Boyd, St. Mary's, 96; 12, Rowyn Thomas, Lacasssine, 97;13, Alyson Gagliano, St. Louis Catholic, 99.
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Forbes
5 days ago
- Forbes
Is This The Greatest Day In Golf Travel?
Yes, you can play three famous Bitish Open courses, all classic links, in one great day. Casual runners aspire to complete a marathon. Recreational cyclists often undertake a 'Century,' or 100-mile ride, for charity. But to up the ante in their sport, golfers typically just look to play a better, more historic, more famous course, rather than go longer or bigger. But now, thanks to the Hagen 54, they can do both—in one long, great day. In fact, playing three Open Championship (aka British Open) venues without an overnight break may just be the greatest day in golf travel. Last Thursday, one week after the world's best golfers teed it up in the Open at Royal Portrush, we saw the debut of the Hagen 54, a one-of-a-kind golf event that has been over a century in the making. The 'Father of professional golf,' Walter Hagen was the Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods of his time, before Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, and is credited with being the one to grow the game in America and really put golf on the map. His 11 Majors titles remains third only to those other two guys, and he amassed 44 PGA Tour wins and was Ryder Cup captain a record six times. There is always going to be debate about who is the sport's GOAT, but Hagen is always in the discussion, and with a doubt, one of the very, very best and highest profile golfers to ever live. British Open venue Royal Cinque Ports is a real deal seaside links—and one of the Top 100 Courses in ... More the World. As he recounted in his memoir, The Walter Hagen Story, his preparation for the 1920 Open was anything but routine. 'Anyone who knows the coastal links in Kent, south-east of London, will remember there are three links, adjoining each other. Deal, the first, Sandwich directly east, known as the Royal St. George's, then a little south of Sandwich and east lies Prince's links. While we were in London for the 1920 British Open, Jim Barnes and I started one morning to play the three links as if they were one. After playing eleven holes on the Deal course, we hopped a fence over to Sandwich and played ten holes there, crossed to Prince's links and completed all the holes there, coming back to the original starting place. We finished the remainder of the holes on the Sandwich and Deal layouts, ending up on the eighteenth at Deal. Scores? I've forgotten. We weren't trying to break any records. We were just lucky to go that far. We did it for fun.' Many courses in the UK go by both their place name and formal name, such as Sandwich/Royal St. George's, Hoylake/Royal Liverpool, and what he calls Deal is more widely known as Royal Cinque Ports. Right next door is the 27-hole links of Princes Golf Club, another historic British Open venue. History? Royal St. George's was the first course outside Scotland to host the Open, in 1894, and since then, 15 times. Royal Cinque Ports has done it twice (ironically, two other scheduled events were moved to its neighbor, Royal St George's, due to abnormally high tide flooding, so the history should be 13 and 4). Princes Golf Club (Hagen got it wrong, no apostrophe) has held the Open once, but considering there have only been 14 courses used for golf's oldest Major, and several of those have been removed from consideration (usually for logistic reasons such as limited room for hospitality or road infrastructure), it's still a really, really big deal. By comparison, the much younger US Open has been held on 52 different courses. Princes hosted the 1932 Open in which American great Gene Sarazen debuted his new invention, the sand wedge, for the first time, another turning point in the history of the game. Given the scary pot bunkers and sandy scrapes that make links golf so special, the tool came in very handy, and Sarazen set a new Open record of 283 here. A big bunker next to the final green, with walls so steep they need railroad ties to hold it up, is now memorialized as the famous Sarazen bunker, and in the Fifties the course was expanded to its current 27-hole size, so you can play here a couple of days in arow with a different mix of holes. How often do you get to play your 49th hole of the day? Royal St. Georges is currently ranked 20th in the world by Golf Digest, and Royal Cinque Ports 79th, and both are also in Golf Magazine's Top 100. But having played Royal Cinque Ports twice, as well as many others on the list, it is short-changed, and I guarantee you it is better than many (at least 10) courses ranked higher. So, in the footsteps of Hagen, this walking-only event plays all 54-holes of all three Open Championship courses, which happen to sit conveniently next to one another, in a single day, in the original order Hagen played them, hopscotching between courses (you no longer have to jump the fence, there's a gate). I partook of this fun, even though I had never walked more than 36 (many times) or played more than 45 (with cart). The long walk (around 21 miles and 43,500 steps) was easier than anticipated as it's fairly flat, but the fun factor was greater than I could have expected. There was a great opening reception, great closing dinner, food and drink stops all throughout the three layouts, and a feel-good attitude that can be hard to find in the sometimes stuffy world of old school historic golf clubs. Skip the Hedgehog, the Hagen 54 mascot, on draft Guinness alongside champagne at the opening ... More reception. Fun, friendliness and good humor ruled the day, and the organizers (the three clubs working together to boost local tourism) nailed every detail. They even created a special logo for the event, a Hedgehog named Skip, derived from the Old English for Hagen's nickname, the Haig, which means hedgehog. Every participant was given Skip logo gear, and they even had custom brewed Skip beers, lager and IPA, out on coolers along the course. I cannot speak for the other groups but our foursome debated the proposition of a beer consumption/lost ball ratio as a secondary challenge to simply finishing. At the opening ceremony one of the officiants stated that this was the only opportunity to play three Open venues in a single day without a helicopter, but I would posit that even unrestrained funding would make that difficult, especially since weather in the UK often grounds choppers, and most of the rother spots where three Open venues are in close proximity are also the most difficult tee times in golf to obtain. The chance of getting three coordinated tee times at three Open courses, playing each in the perfect time and then getting to the next is close to zero. Here you simply step out a gate. So that's the deal, or Deal. You get to play three exceptional links courses that are all pilgrimage worthy, and three of the 14 Open venues, in one day, with camaraderie, fun and lots of food and drink included. Obviously, being able to walk three rounds is a pre-requisite but it's not as hard as it sounds, and push carts (trolleys) are provided, with the option for caddies. The toughest logistics are that there just is not that much lodging in the region, and absolutely the marquee choice is the Lodge at Princes Golf Club, which is the only full-service golf resort in the area, with rooms for about 70-plus people (it's where Collin Morikawa stayed when he won the 2021 Open at Royal St. Georges). They also have great food (do not miss the exceptional sausage rolls), great hospitality and you can walk out the door and onto the course. I went a day early and played a preview/practice round on Princes, a great links course, and especially with 27-holes it is relatively easy to book in for extra golf before or after the big day. The Lodge at Princes Golf Club There are also some Spartan dorm style rooms in the Royal St. Georges clubhouse, but many people stay in a hotel or pub room in nearby Sandwich, an extremely well-preserved medieval town. Deal is a bit larger than Sandwich and just a couple of miles further. If you have time you can also try to get back out on St. Georges, Cinq Ports or nearby Rye, another acclaimed links. The inaugural event was such a success that a few groups immediately re-upped for 2026, as bookings opened just after we finished. It will undoubtedly sell out, so if you are interested I would not waste a lot of time, though there is always 2027 and beyond. The 2026 fee is £995 per person for the golf, two dinners, breakfast, and all the extras, like shirts and gifts, and food and drinks during the round. If you were playing the three courses on your own, it would cost at least £885 for greens fees, so it's a bit of a bargain. Caddies are available at your discretion, and lodging is extra. Collin Morikawa celebrates after winning the most recent Open played here, the 149th at Royal St ... More George's in 2021. (Photo by Warren Little/R&A/R&A via Getty Images) Sandwich is linked by high-speed rail to London in just over an hour, and connects via the Heathrow Express, though it's tough with clubs and luggage. Coming from Gatwick is physically closer but there are more flights to Heathrow, a 2-hour drive with no traffic. Most people book private van transfers. If you want to build out a bigger golf trip, it's entirely possible to combine with the many great courses of Liverpool, including another three Open venues and several Ryder Cup hosts, which I recently wrote about here at Forbes, or the great heathland courses outside London, such as Walton Heath and Sunningdale. But the big day is the main event, and as Hagen said, 'We were just lucky to go that far. We did it for fun.'
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Yahoo
'Absolute, true mastery': Scottie Scheffler goes low, takes British Open lead to weekend
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Forget about all the pre-championship talk that Scottie Scheffler still needs to learn how to play links. On Friday, the world No. 1 golfer could have taught a Master Class, reeling off eight birdies to shoot 7-under 64 at Royal Portrush Golf Club and grab a one-stroke lead over Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick at the midway point of the 153rd British Open. 'Tiger Woodsdid this, Jack Nicklaus did this, and I think it's a testament to the truest mastery, the absolute height of the game, and it's so rare that you see someone take this game to a level where there is no past, there is no future, they're just completely in the moment,' Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee said. 'What we've seen the last two days is absolute, true mastery.' After shooting 68 on Thursday despite hitting only three fairways, Scheffler found the short grass more often and his putter, which had been more foe than friend on slower greens than he is used to last week in Scotland, heated up. He ranks second in Strokes Gained: putting this week. It added up to his 19th career 36-hole lead or co-lead on Tour and fourth this season. Scheffler, who won the PGA Championship for his third career major in May, is poised to win a third leg of the career Grand Slam. Not even a wild weather day could slow him down as he improved to a 36-hole total of 10-under-par 132. 'It was super sunny when we were on the driving range, I'm out there in short sleeves, it's warm out. Then we get to the 1st hole, it's still sunny. Then all of a sudden, you look around and it's super dark and it starts pouring rain,' he said. 'You're like, boy, I wonder how long this is going to last.' Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open champ, would like his run of good form to continue for at least two more days. He opened with rounds of 67 and 66 as he attempts to become the first Englishman since Nick Faldo 33 years ago to win the British Open. Fitzpatrick will be paired alongside Scheffler in the final group on Saturday but said the pressure will be on Scheffler. 'He's going to have the expectation to go out and dominate. He's an exceptional player. He's World No. 1, and we're seeing Tiger-like stuff. I think the pressure is for him to win the golf tournament,' Fitzpatrick said. 'For me obviously I hope I'm going to have some more home support than him, but it's an exciting position for me to be in given where I was earlier this year.' Scheffler and Fitzpatrick have company from Brian Harman (65) and Haotong Li (67), who are two back. Harman won the 2023 British Open and looks to have regained the form that allowed him to cruise to the title two years ago. 'One of my favorite traits about Brian is when people count him out and don't believe he can do something, it almost motivates him more to be that bulldog,' Golf Channel's Johnson Wagner said. 'He's a gritty guy, he's a little undersized so people always underestimate him like they did at [the 2023 Open] and he just slammed the door on them. I wouldn't count Brian out just yet.' Further down the leaderboard is a party of five at 5 under, including Dane Rasmus Hojgaard, Englishman Tyrrell Hatton (the top LIV contender), Scotland's Robert MacIntyre and Americans Harris English and Chris Gotterup. Hojgaard's twin brother, Nicolai, and Tony Finau are a shot further back at 4 under and T-10. Among those lurking at 3 under include Northern Ireland's own Rory McIlroy and U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley. 'I'm excited for that opportunity,' McIlroy said. 'I didn't have this opportunity six years ago, so to play an extra two days in this atmosphere in front of these crowds, I'm very excited for that. I feel like my game's definitely good enough to make a run.' Bryson DeChambeau rallied to make the cut on the number with a 65 on Friday. Seventy golfers advanced to the weekend with a 36-hole total of 1-over 143 or better. Among those sent packing were Collin Morikawa, who for the first time in his career failed to record a top 10 at a major; Patrick Cantlay, who missed his third cut in a row at a major; LIV's Joaquin Niemann and Australian Adam Scott. The Claret Jug and the honor to be called Champion Golfer of the Year still is very much up for grabs but it won't be easy to chase down world No. 1. 'It would not surprise me at all if he leaves everyone in the rearview mirror,' Chamblee said. This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Open Championship: Scottie Scheffler shoots 64, takes 36-hole lead
Vogue
17-07-2025
- Vogue
More Women Are Booking Golf Trips—and the Travel Industry Is Taking Note
Golf's image has traditionally been skewed one way: an older man in a collared shirt and khakis, clubs in hand, ready for an afternoon on the green. But that's changing. Since 2019, female golfers have seen a 41% increase, according to the National Golf Foundation—and women now make up 28% of on-course golfers, the highest on record. This increase has the travel industry taking note. 'Female participation at Monarch Beach Golf Links has seen a notable increase, particularly in lessons and group events,' says Jackie K. Riegle, PGA, director of player development and marketing at Monarch Beach Golf Links, who personally leads many of the sessions and coaches at the resort. 'This growth is fueled by a broader movement toward inclusivity in golf and a rising demand for social and wellness-focused experiences among women. Riegle isn't alone in observing this rise. From California to Fiji, courses and resorts are seeing more women teeing off—not just as casual weekend players, but as intentional travelers building getaways around the sport. For Kelsey Ogletree, founder of Pitchcraft and lifelong golfer, golf isn't just a sport—it's a foundational part of her identity. Introduced to the game by her father at age three, Ogletree played competitively in high school and college, and now incorporates golf into many of her vacations. 'We regularly planned vacations around golf destinations,' she says of trips with her husband. 'Scottsdale and Tucson were favorites, and we also enjoy playing in Mexico—El Camaleon in Mayakoba, which hosts PGA [Professional Golfers' Association] Tour, LIV, and LPGA [Ladies Professional Golf Association] tournaments, is one of our favorites.' This summer, Ogletree, now eight months pregnant, is planning a golf trip to McLemore in Georgia before the arrival of her second child. ('Yes, I'm still swinging at eight-plus months pregnant!') Her approach to golf travel? It's less about shooting under par, and more about balancing experience. 'We like to golf for a day or two, but not every day of our trip.' She notes that mixing in things like nice meals at new restaurants, lounging by the pool or beach, or exploring the town is essential—it's not just about golf. That lifestyle-centric attitude reflects a broader shift in how women are approaching the sport. Taylor Olson, founder of women's golf fashion brand Draw & Fade, sees this trend as both exciting and overdue. 'Just two years ago, my mom and I were asked to leave an outdoor area of the 'men's grill' at a club,' Olson recalls, making note that there were no other similar spaces for women players. 'We still live in the age of 'men's grills' and that contributes to the intimidation factor that I think deters so many women from playing the game.'
