LGA photo

Barsamian, a member of the LSU golf team, survived a day of attrition as the wind continued to be a factor, as it has all week, with club selection. He started the day one shot off the lead shared by Stewart and Andrew Noto of Luling.

The last nine holes turned into match play between Barsamian and Stewart after both shot one-over par 37 on the front. A birdie by Barsamian on the par-five 10th brought them dead even, they then both birdied the short par-four 11th before Stewart hit his drive out-of-bounds on #12. Barsamian’s par there put him two shots clear with six holes to play. After both bogeyed the difficult par-three 13th, they traded pars until the long-hitting Stewart put his drive on the back right of the green on the par-four 16th, and two-putted for the birdie that got him back to within one shot. After routine pars on #17, Barsamian hit his second shot to 15 feet on #18, with Stewart hitting his approach just inside the eventual winner. After Barsamian ran his putt two feet past the hole, Stewart burned the lip for birdie to tie. Barsamian then tapped his par putt in to take the title by one.

Clinton Shepard of West Monroe hit the shot of the tournament on Sunday, making a hole-in-one on the 185-yard 13th hole. Playing dead into the wind, he hit a 5-iron that never left the hole. He finished the day with an even par 72 and tied for ninth with a 72-hole total of four-over 292. Rounding out the top ten were: T3. Robby Going of Lake Charles (71/289), Robby McWilliams of Bossier City (73/289), and Cory Vincent of Sulphur (72/289); T6. Dustin Petit of Luling (70/290) and Tommy Brennan of Covington (71/290); 8. Third-round co-leader Andrew Noto of Luling (77/291); T9. Ken Looper of Mandeville (68/292), Simmi Masson of Lake Charles (69/292), Clinton Shepard of West Monroe (72/292), and Mark Brockhurst of Lafayette (73/292).

Other under par scores on Sunday included: Robert Plucienski of Slidell (67), Doug Quienalty of Lake Charles (68), Andrew Loupe of Baton Rouge (69), Eddie Brescher of Pontchatoula (70), Travis Coxe of Baton Rouge (70), 2006 Champion Jason Kuperman of Shreveport (71), Eddy Koracevic of Monroe (71), Cody Santone of Haughton (71), and John Carr of Shreveport (71). Gray Plantation, host to this year’s Championship, played to a par of 72 at approximately 7,100 yards for the championship.

“Gray Plantation’s course superintendent, Scott Ledet, and his staff had the course in wonderful condition. We are indebted to Gray Plantation, its ownership and membership for allowing us to conduct our Amateur Championship at their facility,” said LGA Executive Director Carr McCalla. “Gray Plantation always has been one of our more popular venues and this year was no exception.”

The field was cut to the low 60 scorers and ties after Friday’s round. This year’s cut came at ten-over par 154 with 70 players striking it well enough to stay around for the final 36 holes on Saturday and Sunday. The top 40 finishers in the event will be exempt into the field for the 2009 LGA Amateur Championship at the David Toms’ designed Carter Plantation just outside Hammond.

--Courtesy LGA