Mary Smith finally had enough.

She had listened to her husband Dennis and their sons talk golf for an hour and 20 minutes during a recent lunch.

"I had to get away from there," she said.

Such is life in the Smith household, and that's not changing in the near future if dad and the boys have any say-so in the matter.

Of course, very few families can claim as much success in the sport.

Last weekend, father Dennis and sons Matt and Michael all made the 60-man cut in the Louisiana Golf Association's State Amateur Championship, the state's premier amateur event. The three had all qualified to play in the limited-field event in the past, but they'd never all made the cut for the final two rounds.

LGA officials believed that the weekend event at the Country Club of Louisiana was the first in the 87-year history of the event to have three family members all make the cut.

"It was a pretty special weekend," Dennis Smith said. "We'd all been in the tournament three or four times, but for all of us to play the whole way ..."

The only better Father's Day present would have been if younger son Petey had also been in the field. Petey, who's signed a scholarship to join older brother Michael on the UL golf team, couldn't play in the State Amateur qualifying round due to final exams at St. Thomas More.

"He'll be there next year," Matt said.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com