WEST COLUMN: Thillet is latest to bag at albatross at Zaharias

Published 9:47 am Thursday, December 17, 2015

Although no aces were authored, several shots from long distance found their way into the cup during the past week at Babe Zaharias. Billy Thillet of Sour Lake pulled off the most noteworthy of those, joining the ultra elite Albatross Club by sinking his second shot on the 463-yard, par 5, 3rd hole.
The rare double eagle, accomplished from 208 yards with a 3 wood, was a first for Thillet and the fourth this year at The Babe. Witnesses were Cap Hollier, Rick Pritchett and Lee Bertrand . . . Three other players — David Evans, Harry Green and Larry Vicknair — scored eagle 2s on par 4s by holing out from the fairway, with Evans and Green both striking at the 4th hole. Evans, from Port Arthur, sank a wedge from 75 yards, a shot that helped him match his best ever round of 66. His nines were 31-35. Looking on were David Colten, Drake Romero and Buddy Sepeda . . .
Nederlander Green used a gap wedge from 70 yards for his deuce on No. 4. Witnesses were Thad Borne, Tom Lawton and Mark Roccaforte . . .
Vicknair, meanwhile, got his eagle on the par 4, 14th, with a bump and run 7 iron from 60 yards. The shot helped his team of Mark Petry, Joe Vanderweg, Robert Lynch and Bob West win the back in the Super Saturday Game at minus 3. . . .
Former Beaumont Kelly star Anthony Broussard will be part of what is now a six-person contingent of golfers with Southeast Texas ties at the upper levels of professional golf for the 2016 PGA Tour and Web.com Tour seasons. Broussard finished T34, after rounds of 71-69-70-73 (283) in the final stage of the Web.com Tour Q school at Palm Beach Gardens. That earned him full status at least until the Web.com’s second reshuffle of players. He’ll be joining West Orange’s Michael Arnaud on the Web.com Tour .. .
PN-G junior Karlei Hemler added to her ever-expanding trophy case last weekend by winning her age group in a Beltway 8 Junior Tour event at Wildflower Golf Club
in Temple. Hemler, who tied the tournament into an unofficial recruiting visit to Mary Hardin Baylor, shot a 74 and won by eight strokes. She will be playing again this weekend in a USSSA tourney at Grey Plantation in Lake Charles . . .
The team of Harrell Guidry, Bob Moore, Jim Cooper and Dwain Morrison won the Babe Zaharias DogFight with 24 points. Second with 21 points was the foursome
of Jim Mercer, Ron Mistrot, Art Miller and Bud Alfred. Closest to the pin
winners were Gary Anderson (No. 2), Guidry (No. 7), Alan Suire (No. 12) and
West (No. 15) . . .
The Thursday Senior Game at The Babe was played in a handicapped, individual stoke play format. Adam Noel won First Flight with a 69, edging Ed Holley by one stroke. In Second Flight, Green won with a 70, beating Hollier, Charles Leard and Bob Barnes by two shots. Bob Moore took Third Flight with a 72, which was one better than the 73s fired by Jim Cooper and Paul Bourgeois. Closest to the pin winners were Leard (No. 2), Ed Hetzel (No. 7), Joe Gongora (No. 12) and Hollier (No. 15) . . .
The Friday Game at Zaharias was played in a best two-ball format. On the front, the team of Gary Whitfill, Bobby Wactor, Gene Hardy, Charles Perez and Bud Auffurth won with minus 3. The foursome of Paul Flores, Green, Vicknair and Pete Reobroi took the back in minus 3 . . .
The Super Saturday Game at The Babe was also contested in a best two ball format. The front nine was won a minus 3 by the team of Noel, Gene Jones, Jay Hampson and Bobby Kimball. The back, as mentioned in relation to Vicknair’s earle, was won by the West team.
Golf news should be e-mailed to rdwest@usa.net

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About Gabriel Pruett

Gabriel Pruett has worked with both the Port Arthur News and Orange Leader since 2000. A majority of the time has been spent covering all aspects of Southeast Texas high school sports. Pruett's claim to fame is...being able to write his own biographical information for this website.

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