Michel leads the way into Cotton States quarterfinals
Kyle Michel (Border Mail photo)
MONROE, La. (July 27, 2018) – The field is down to eight men at the W.E. Cole Cotton States after the first two rounds of match play at Bayou DeSiard Country Club.
Not surprisingly, the same players who fared well in stroke play fared well in match play, making it through to the quarterfinals. Kyle Michel, who took the No. 1 seed after finishing in a tie for low score with Grayson Jones, claimed two of the biggest margins of victory. Michel, of Australia, dusted Louisiana native Charlie Flynn, 7 and 5, in the Round of 32. He followed that with a 4-and-3 victory over Collin Clark in the next round.
On Saturday, Michel will draw Luke Long, who won his matches against Chad Sewell, 5 and 4, and Triston Elston, 3 and 2.
Co-medalist Brody Blackmon, meanwhile, exited after the first half of the day. Blackmon defeated Nick Costello in the morning only to fall to Grayson Jones in the afternoon. Jones, the Oklahoma native, defeated Doug Dupont, 6 and 5, in the morning before defeating Blackmon, 2 up.
Blake Collyer, another Australian, skated into the quarterfinals by the closest margin. It took him 20 holes to defeat Peyton Wilhoit in the Round of 16. Charlie Miller, on the other hand, had the shortest afternoon after a 7-and-6 routing of Kyle Robinson.
The three remaining quarterfinalists include Sean Wilcox, Drew Jones and Paul Gonzalez.
ABOUT THE Cotton States Invitational
Originally played in 1949 as the Bayou
DeSiard Labor Day Golf Tournament, the
tournament's
name was changed to the Cotton States
Invitational in 1951 by the club's young head
professional, W. E. "Winnie" Cole. He felt that the
name better reflected the main states that the
tournament's players originated from (and a move
to
mid-summer made the name a necessity later
anyway). Little did Cole know that 27 years later, in
1978, the event would be renamed again, forever to
be known as the W. E. Cole Cotton States
Invitational Golf Tournament.
Past champions of this highly competitive, yet
festive
tournament include Don January and Hal Sutton. Gil
Morgan, David
Toms and many other PGA Tour players have also
competed. The tournament field field is limited to 96
amateur
participants
having a verified USGA Handicap Index not
exceeding 0.0. A 36-hole stroke play qualifier
determines the low 32 players for match play.
View Complete Tournament Information