Louisiana Four-Ball winners Seth Dufrene and Justin Lowe
(LGA Photo)

It took 23 hours and 13 minutes to complete the first round of play at English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans. Play was suspended at 1:50 PM on Saturday and resumed at 8:30 AM on Sunday. Five pairing groups were able to finish their first round on Saturday, so the second round was started at 8:30 AM as well. The final group to finish on Sunday put the flagstick in the hole on #18 at 5:50 PM.

Nobody performed better under those difficult circumstances than Seth Dufrene of Luling and Justin Lowe of Alexandria. Dufrene and Lowe fired a first round 64 and a second round 67 to finish with a 36-hole total of 13-under par 131 and win the 2017 LGA Four-Ball Championship. Dufrene and Lowe carded one eagle, thirteen birdies, twenty pars, and two bogeys en route to the one shot victory.

Connor and Parker Johnson of Baton Rouge finished tied for second place along with Alex Burt of Ruston and Clinton Shepard of Baton Rouge. The runners-up finished with a total of 12-under par 132.

Dufrene, 29, played college golf for The University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Lowe, 31, is a former LGA Junior Amateur Champion, having won that event in 2003. They played brilliantly as a team all weekend and as mentioned above were able to trade birdies at opportune times, even mixing in the crucial eagle on the par 5 15th hole in the first round. The 15th hole is English Turn’s signature hole, and it boasts an island green that can cause havoc on occasion. It’s a true risk/reward hole and was playing 540 yards on Saturday when Lowe reached the green in two and made his eagle putt.

There was a tie for 4th place at 11-under par between: Cody Seal of New Orleans / Patrick Osborne of Metairie and Kyle Dickerson of Jefferson / Brandon Ellis of Metairie. The shot of the day in the first round went to Brad Piediscalzo of Covington who holed out for an eagle to with a 52-degree wedge from 110 yards at the par 4 16th hole.

The Jack Nicklaus designed English Turn played to a par 72 at approximately 6,693 yards on Sunday. The grounds crew, led by Superintendent Jon Juhas, did a fantastic job getting the golf course in Championship condition. The greens were smooth, rolling at a 10.5 on the stimpmeter, and the fairways were lush. The grounds crew worked late on Saturday night to pump water out of the bunkers and push the sand up following the torrential downpour on Saturday afternoon. The golf course drew rave reviews from this field of top amateurs in the state.

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