Strong field set for La. Open golf

Published 4:45 am Monday, March 18, 2019

BROUSSARD — With its early-season positioning on the schedule, and in its normal position among the first U.S.-based events on the Web.com Tour, the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by MISTRAS has always drawn one of the strongest fields among the Tour’s year-long schedule.

This year is no different when one of the oldest events on the Web.com Tour returns to Acadiana and brings high-level professional golf to Le Triomphe Country Club.

Three former Chitimacha Louisiana Open champions are in the field, including one of only two two-time winners in tournament history. Casey Wittenberg, whose family has deep roots in Louisiana, won the event in 2012 and 2017 and set tournament scoring records both years. Fabian Gomez (2010) and lefthander Edward Loar (2013) have also won at Le Triomphe in the last decade.

In addition, four of the previous five winners on the Web.com Tour this year are in the field including former PGA Tour member Mark Hubbard who won the Tour’s most recent event, the Suncoast Classic in Florida. Zecheng “Marty” Dou won the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, Rafael Campos captured the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic and Michael Gilgic won the Panama Championship during the Tour’s “international” segment in January and February.

This year, though, the Louisiana Open field also includes two players who are instantly recognizable among even casual sports fans.

Former Masters champion Mike Weir, unquestionably the most successful golfer in Canadian history with eight wins on the PGA Tour, will make his first appearance in Acadiana as a part of this year’s field. Weir, who won the 2003 Masters and has earned more than $22 million on the PGA Tour, is playing several Web.com Tour events as part of an eligibility category that allows former PGA Tour members age 48-49 to prepare for the PGA Champions Tour (age 50 and over).

The other golf icon has played in the Louisiana Open four previous times, but all those events came early in his career before Boo Weekley burst onto the national and international golf scene. A three-time PGA Tour champion and a star on the 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup team, Weekley is one of the most outgoing and most liked players in professional golf, and the 45-year old is working his way back from medical issues that included elbow surgery in 2017 and a cancer scare last year.

“When you have name recognition, it always brings more interest to the tournament,” said Chitimacha Louisiana Open executive director Danny Jones. “One of the most popular events we had was when John Daly played here in 2013, and Larry Mize (1987 Masters champion) was a wonderful addition to the field the year he played here.

“But Mike Weir is a recent Masters winner, he won the first Masters I ever went to, and Boo Weekley is a fan favorite everywhere he goes. People have that lasting image of him riding his club down the tee box at the Ryder Cup. 

“We are thrilled to have them in the field, and hopefully that lets people know the caliber of golf that’s playing here this week.”

Weir and Weekley will join the three previous champions and this year’s four earlier winners on Tour in a field of 144 players that begin competition on Thursday and aim for the $550,000 purse including $99,000 to whoever is crowned as the 28th champion of the Tour’s sixth stop on its 27-tournament 2019 schedule.

Practice rounds are set for Monday following the Lourdes Legacy Tournament Monday morning, and continue Tuesday. The United Rentals Pro-Am and the Orbit Energy-The Grouse Room Pro-Am are at 8 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday, all open to the public at no charge.

Championship competition begins Thursday over the 7,061-yard par-71 Le Triomphe layout with the finals scheduled for Sunday. The weekend will also include a “College Day” on Saturday with fans encouraged to join participating pros in wearing their college colors, and “Pink Day” on Sunday when fans are encouraged to wear pink to promote breast cancer awareness.

The Tour has already awarded more than $3 million in prize money in its first five stops, but Jones said this week’s event will bring one of the strongest fields of the season to Acadiana.