State Champion Golfers Peak at the Right Time

Posted May 3, 2017 / Last updated October 16, 2017

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Holmes 16

Junior golfer J.T. Holmes had the lowest round of the Jesuit squad on Day 1 shooting a 71. He also tied for fourth in overall individual scores with a two round total of 146. Here, J.T. places the chip shot within inches of the hole on 16.

In sports, timing is everything. And no better script of timing could be written than the 2017 state championship run for the Jesuit golf team. The squad clinched the LHSAA state championship this week among eight Division 1 teams at Carencro’s Farm d’Allie.

View the Photo Gallery of the 2017 State Tournament

Shooting a 320 at the district tournament and a 300 at the regional tournament, all eyes were on the Jays as they approached Monday’s first round to see if they could shave off a few strokes to take control of the state tournament. And they did, by six strokes!

Lambert approach eleven

Senior Nolan Lambert maintained consistent play all the way through the tournament. Here he squeezes in a difficult approach shot on 11.

Juniors J.T. Holmes and Grayson Glorioso had brilliant first rounds, shooting 71 and 73 respectively. The team really came together as the other three golfers – sophomore Britton Khalaf, junior Jake Kuebel, and senior Nolan Lambert – all shot 75.

At 294, the team had a four stroke lead over Catholic High heading into Day 2. On Tuesday’s front nine, there was a bogey here or there, but all in all, the Blue Jays kept their composure and maintained even scoring near par or just over.

As they made the turn to the back nine, a few more bogeys started to appear on Jesuit score cards as the second day tournament fatigue began to set in. The good news though was that the fatigue affected all the schools in the tournament. Much can also be said for the team’s composure, as the few bad shots didn’t see any golfer blow up on the round into the 80s. The players just remained focused on the next shot ahead.

Kuebel and Lambert had the best scores for day two at 74, and the other three golfers were just a stroke or two behind. At 299, Jesuit had the best score of all the teams for the second round and even improved their lead to eight strokes from the first day.

Blue Jays Spirit was alive and well as golf team members welcomed their teammates back on the 18th hole. After the tournament the team celebrated their well-deserved state championship, Jesuit’s first state title since the 2009 – 2010 back-to-back victories.

Here is a summary of the scores at the state tournament:

Team 1st Day 2nd Day Total
Jesuit 294 299 593
Catholic High (BR) 298 303 601
C.E. Byrd 301 306 607
West Monroe 311 301 612
Sulphur 308 305 613
St. Paul’s 308 314 622
Brother Martin 314 313 627
Barbe 319 310 629

Here are scores for the five Blue Jay golfers on the par 72 Farm d’Allie course:

Golfer 1st Day 2nd Day Total
J.T. Holmes 71 75 146
Grayson Glorioso 73 76 149
Jake Kuebel 75 74 149
Nolan Lambert 75 74 149
Britton Khalaf 75 77 152

After the tournament, Coach Owen Seiler said, “The boys worked really hard for this all year long. I’m really proud of all our players on the golf team in that we were able to achieve our goals and play our best golf when it mattered most. This was a great year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what next year holds for us.”

Golf-State_20170502_Farm-dAllie_169

The 2016-2017 state champion varsity golf team

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