Team Louisiana takes 2017 Mackel Cup
The Louisiana PGA Team overtook the Mississippi PGA Team in this year ’ s Mackel Cup . Team Louisiana won the Mackel Cup for the third year in a row . The late Frank Mackel who was known as the “ godfather of golf ” in New Orleans inspired the event . Metairie Country Club and New Orleans Country Club hosted the event on Jan . 8-9 .
The Gulf States PGA Louisiana and Mississippi Chapter Player of the Year Points Standings determined players on each team . New to 2017 was the addition of the top Senior and Apprentice / Assistant from each respective Chapter .
The teams participated in Four-ball matches during the first day , followed by singles matches on the final day of competition . One point was awarded for winning each nine as well as the top overall score , with a possible total of three points per day per match .
Day one , at Metairie Country Club , was fought in cold temperatures and ended with a Team Louisiana 12-9 lead . Day two , at New Orleans Country Club , Team Louisiana continued with dominant play winning the singles matches 28-14 . In the end , Team Louisiana would win with a final score of 40-23 .
Craig Campo served as the Captain of the Louisiana Team , which consisted of Cliff Bailey , Dustin Baker , Tyler Kuhn , Greg Sonnier , Reg Adams , Emlyn Aubrey ,
Blaine Patin , Jake Narro , Grant Landry , Clay Weems , Robert Murphy , Obie Agbasi , Drew Goff , and Phil Schmitt .
Tim Basel served as the Captain of the Mississippi Team , which consisted of Blake Hatfield , David Lee , Olly Thomson , Leigh Brannan , Marshall Saxon , Jerry Covich , Reed Hughes , Buck Matheny , Kevin Kelly , Matt Brunetz , Paul Reid , Joseph Hanko , Chip Sullivan , and Kyle Ramey .
The Gulf States Section PGA thanked David Marchand and Metairie Country Club as well as J . T . Crawford and New Orleans Country Club for hosting this year ’ s event . The Section also thanked Jeff Morici of Under Armour , Eddie Welch and Cameron Duff of Titleist for their continued support of the event . In addition , the Section thanked Mike Rodrigue and the ACME Oyster House for hosting the players ’ party . The Section recognized Ronnie Benandi , a longtime associate of Frank Mackel , for serving as honorary starter .