Kudos to the duo of T.J. Lingle-Braden Riley, Wildwood Golf Club pro Richard Cockrell and the 60 some volunteers who staged another terrific Old Glory Invitational this past weekend.

Lingle-Riley won Championship Flight for the third time in four years, edging David Jones-Chris Hare by one stroke with a 133 in a format that called for best ball on Saturday and scramble on Sunday.

Other flight winners were Port Neches-Groves golf coach Ricky Keyes and David Feldshau (130 in First Flight), Sean Strawther-Dustin Hanson (135 in Second) and Andrew Flores-Michael Holland (139 in Third).

Kent Batman-Paul Batman won Fourth Flight with a 143, George Jones-Rick Randal claimed Fifth with a 145 and J.T. Greak-Ronnie Keel took Sixth with a 164.

A golf course that is almost always in excellent shape, hard-to-match hospitality and as good a patriotic setting on Fourth of July weekend as you can find anywhere are an integral part of what makes this a truly special event.

Old Glory is one tournament my youngest son Grayson and I always have on our schedule.

Only downside of the weekend was that nobody won the $20,000 Masters hole-in-one package on No. 8. Cockrell said it will be up for grabs again in 2017.

CHIP SHOTS

Carl Thibodeaux of West Orange recorded the first July hole in one at Babe Zaharias when he sank his tee shot from 122 yards on the 15th hole last Friday. Thibodeaux used a 9-iron to record what was his second ace and first in 30 years. Joel Ardoin witnessed the shot. …

Braden Bailey posted another top-10 finish in a major amateur tourney last week, finishing tied for eighth at the Dogwood Invitational in Atlanta. That followed a T2 in Scottsdale and a T3 in Birmingham.

Bailey shot rounds of 70-69-71-66 for a 12-under 276. Bailey, however, had a bit of a downer in the 36-hole U.S. Amateur qualifer Tuesday at Mira Vista in Fort Worth. The Baylor sophomore-to-be shot rounds of 71-71 for a 2 over 142 that was good for a T4, but not good enough to make it back to

the world’s top amateur tourney. Andre Garcia, a redshirt freshman at New Mexico, and Turner Maclean, a freshman at TCU, grabbed the two available spots by shooting even-par 140s. UH sophomore Michael Perras was third at 141. …

PN-G grad Andrew Landry backed up his impressive U.S. Open showing with a T35 at the Barracuda Championship in Reno, but wound up dropping one spot to 185 in the FedEx Cup rankings. LU ex Shawn Stefani finished T66 in Reno and remained at No. 143.

Chris Stroud missed the cut in the unique Stableford format by one point and dropped to No. 133. Dawie van der Walt also missed the cut and is now at 169. Only five tournaments remain to improve FedEx position and avoid losing PGA Tour cards.

With this week’s scheduled Greenbrier having been cancelled due to flooding in West Virginia, next chance for the quartet with area ties is the July 14-17 Barbasol Championship on the Robert Trent

Jones Trail in Opelika, Ala. The Barbasol is played opposed the British Open. …

Cameron Barrett of Beaumont carded an 83 that was good for a one-stroke victory over another Beaumonter, Eric Wooten, in the Boys Gold Flight of the Golden Triangle Beltway Junior Tour. Preston Ricks of Lumberton won Boys Silver with an 82, Elizabeth Townsend of Kountze shot an 80 to score a

seven-stroke win in Girls Diamond and Skylar Smith of Sour Lake was the winner of Girls Platinum with a 110. …

The team of Adam Noel, Rick Pritchett, Troy Touchet and Gene Hardy carded a best two-ball of minus 5 to win front nine competition in the Monday Senior 50 Plus Game at Babe Zaharias. On the back, the Noel team tied with the foursome of Paul Flores, Bobby Wactor, Mark Petry and Mike Hollier at minus-4. …

The Super Saturday two-ball game at The Babe saw the front end in a tie at minus-9 between the team of Mike Lansford, Harrell Guidry, Don MacNeil and Richard McClelland and the foursome of Ed Holley, Noel, Touchet and Wes McGuire. On the back, the team of Craig Fontenot, Cap Hollier, James Shipley and Petry won with minus-7. …

The Friday two-ball game at Zaharias saw the team of Pritchett, Cap Hollier Dwayne Morvant and Mike Hollier win the front with minus 7. Minus-8 won the back for Earl Richard, Noel, Walter Colvin and Billy Thillet. …

The Thursday Senior Game at The Babe was played in a three-ball, select drive format. Pritchett, Gary Hanan, Petry and Carl Certa won the front with minus-5. On the back, the foursome of Kenny Robbins, Raymond Darbonne, Roger Baumer and Jess McPhillips prevailed with minus-2. Closest to the pin winners were Pritchett (No. 2), Jim Cooper (No. 7), Joe Gongora (No. 12, No. 15). …

Fifteen points won for the team of Richard, MacNeil, Petry and Paul Duplantis in the Babe Zaharias

DogFight. Closest to the pin winners were Ray Gallier (No. 2) and Richard (No. 15). …

Non-STPGA members will be welcome for next week’s 36-hole YMBL Junior at Bayou Din. Entry fee for the Tuesday-Wednesday tourney is $60 for high school age players. There are nine-hole events both days for pre-teens at $25 per day. There is also a special nine-hole tourney on Tuesday for teens

unable to play 36 holes. Entry fee is $25. STPGA members can register online at www.stpgajuniorgolf.com. Non-members should email jhonz@pga.com.

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