juniorspin
McKenzie, Manne take top
honors at Louisiana Cup
by Ian Auzenne
Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Heat and
humidity swamped the competitors at
the Mizuno USSSA Louisiana Cup
on Monday and Tuesday. Ninety-five-
degree high temperatures and heat
indexes in the triple digits beat down on
the participants playing at the Country
Club of Louisiana as they played one
of the toughest courses in the state.
Tanner McKenzie led the Boys
15-18 Division from start to finish.
McKenzie, of Franklinton, won the
senior division title by shooting 162.
Tyler Louviere, of New Iberia, shot
172 to finish in second place. Luke
Hightower, of Sulphur, shot 178 to
finish in third place.
Alston Manne raced to a
commanding lead in the first round and
never looked back. Manne, of Baton
Rouge, entered the final round with a
seven-stroke lead en route to the victory
in the Boys 12-14 group. Manne shot
153 to win the intermediate division
title. Anthony Lopresto, of New Iberia,
finished in second place with a total of
167, overtaking Zachary Robertson in
the final round. Robertson, of Lake
Charles, took third place with a score
of 169.
Henson Sharpe, of Hattiesburg,
Mississippi, took top honors in the
Boys 9-11 division with a total of 92
over the two-round, 18-hole event.
Sharpe entered the second round with
a one-hole lead over Drew Daigle and
pulled away from the field in the final
day. Daigle, of Brusly, maintained his
second-place position, shooting 98
10
to take runner-up honors. Nicholas
Fischer, of Baton Rouge, finished in a
distant third place with a total of 114.
Kylie O’Brien, of Zachary, took
top honors in the Girls 15-18 division
by shooting a 200. LauraD’Amico, of
Lafayette, shot a 208 to take second
place.
Sophia Macias, of Denham Springs,
won the title in the Girls 9-11 division,
shooting a 101 over the 18-hole event.
The Mizuno Louisiana USSSA
Junior Golf Tour is gearing up for two
of its major annual tournaments. The
Cajun Classic regional tournament is
set for July 17 and 18 at Oakbourne
Country Club in Lafayette. One
week later, the best junior golfers
in the United States will converge
on Le Triomphe Country Club in
Broussard for the Mizuno USSSA
National
Championships.
That
National Championships will feature
USSSA’s state and regional champions
competing against each other on
a PGA-sanctioned course. That
tournament will also be a final tune-
up for some senior members of the
tour before embarking on their college
careers.