Lafayette golfer in different role for 10th Louisiana Open appearance
BROUSSARD — Michael Smith will be playing in his 10th consecutive Chitimacha Louisiana Open Presented by NACHER when the field begins championship play Thursday, but he’s in a slightly different role this year.
The Lafayette native and former UL standout holds conditional status on the Web.com Tour this year, courtesy of reaching last year’s final stage of “Q-School” where he finished tied for 99th with a 71-72-68-70—281 score.
That status hasn’t gotten him into any of the first five events on the Web.com Tour this season, but he’s hoping to change that with a successful week over the 7,061-yard par-71 Le Triomphe Country Club course.
“I’m a member out there now, but I don’t have full status and haven’t gotten in anywhere yet,” Smith said. “Hopefully if I can play well this week, I’ll get into the reshuffle and hope to start playing some events.”
Smith missed last year’s cut in heartbreaking fashion after struggling in an opening-round 75. He came back in the Friday second round and blazed the difficult back nine to stand at six-under-par for the day coming to the 18th hole and needing only a par to make the cut for the weekend.
But his drive on the 18th found the water, and his penalty drop left him behind a small tree. He negotiated a shot to within 25 feet in almost total darkness, playing in the final group of the day, but burned the lip on the par putt.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s golf,” Smith said at the time after his five-under 66. “You keep on going and keep on playing. Pressure is only what you put on yourself. I’m just proud that I have this opportunity and looking to go out and represent myself and my community well, and if I do that I’m sure people will be proud of me, so I’m just going to play the best I can.”
Smith is in the field on a sponsor exemption, one of two restricted exemptions that go to players with some Tour status. He made the cut in both 2010 and 2015, and also made the cut in another Web.com event, the Air Capital Classic in 2013.
He also qualified for and played in the 2011 U.S. Open and made the cut at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in 2015 after making the field as a Monday qualifier.
He’s on familiar turf this week. Smith played at Le Triomphe on a regular basis during his career with the Ragin’ Cajuns, and says he’s played Le Triomphe more than any other course except for his home layout, the cross-town Oakbourne Country Club.
“Nothing surprises me out here,” he said Monday during a practice round. “I’ve played this course in every wind direction and condition. I’m just trying to get back adjusted to green speed. It’s nice when you can play a course and not have to do much homework. There’s not much to figure out, I just have to play well.”
Smith played in some winter Monday qualifiers but didn’t play a full tournament until last week’s Coke Dr Pepper Open on the Adams Pro Tour at Alexandria’s Oak Wing Golf Club, where he shot 69-70-72-67—278. That was also his first outing since a change of diet helped him lose 39 pounds in the last 12 weeks.
“That helped me get back into the swing of things,” he said. “My game seems to be pretty good right now. If you eat bad it makes a big difference. I feel way better, I’m hoping over the course of the year it’ll make a big difference. I haven’t gotten to the stage of adding muscle since I started late, I didn’t start until right after the final stage of Q-school in December, but I wanted to do this first and then add some muscle back. Now that golf’s started, it’s probably not a good time to go and get sore before a tournament.”
SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Smith and Lafayette’s Brian Rowell hold two of the four sponsor exemptions into this week’s 144-player field. Rowell, whose home sits just behind the tee box of the par-three eighth hole at Le Triomphe, is making his eighth Louisiana Open appearance with six of those coming in the last seven years.
Rowell made the cut in his first two Louisiana Open appearances, finishing tied for 21st in 2006 and tied for 48th in 2011. He has one of the tournament’s two unrestricted exemptions.
The other sponsor exemptions are Houston’s Ryan Baca, making his third appearance here and a top-40 finisher in 2014, and Wade Binfield of Charlottesville, Virginia, a regular on the MacKenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada for the past three years.
BURNS IN THE FIELD: Shreveport native and former LSU All-American Sam Burns, who has found success already on the PGA Tour even without Tour status this year, will be in the field for this week’s Louisiana Open.
Burns, the former Jack Nicklaus national Player of the Year, already has two top-12 finishes in three weeks on this year’s PGA Tour including a tie for eighth at the Honda Classic three weeks ago when he was paired with Tiger Woods in the Sunday final round.
He had a chance to earn full-time PGA Tour status last weekend with a high finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where he was playing on a sponsor exemption, and entered the final round in the top 20 before slipping to a final-round 77.
Burns is still close to earning PGA Tour status for the remainder of the season with one more solid finish, but was not eligible for the field in this week’s PGA Tour event in Dominica. So he’ll be playing in his home state, and making his fourth outing on the Web.com Tour this year. Burns finished tied for second in his last Web.com outing at the Club Colombia Championship in Bogota, where he shot 67-69-71-68—275 and pocketed $46,200.
UPCOMING: Player practice rounds are scheduled for Tuesday at Le Triomphe and the annual “Eat Lafayette” Taste of the South Party is at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Parc International in downtown Lafayette. The Jameson Irish Whiskey Pro-Am and The Grouse Room Pro-Am are Wednesday at 8 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. respectively, and championship play will begin at approximately 7:30 a.m. Thursday with pairings to be announced Tuesday.