Greg Sonnier's Monster Round Culminates in Eight Place Finish

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BROUSSARD - Friday evening, Greg Sonnier wasn't even sure he'd be playing in the Chitimacha Louisiana Open on the weekend. At one point just after noon Saturday, Sonnier's name was on top of the leaderboard at the $500,000 Nationwide Tour event. Sonnier, one of the sponsor's exemptions into the tournament, posted the low round of the day in Saturday's third round at Le Triomphe, returning to a familiar track and posting a 9-under-par 62 that vaulted him among the tournament leaders. "Once I made the cut, it was a lot less pressure," Sonnier said after his seven-birdie, one-eagle, no-bogey round. "I was able to hit solid shots and make the putts you need to make to go bogey-free. It's always a thrill to do that." Sonnier's first tournament thrill came at approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday, when he was sitting at 1-under par for the tournament after 70-71 opening rounds and figuring he was headed back to his Lake Charles home. "I was thinking about how I was going to get my locker cleaned out," he said. "I was sitting at Theo's (friend and fellow pro Theo Sliman), and my wife and I were trying to decide if we were going to go eat or if we were heading home." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

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BROUSSARD - Greg Sonnier more than reached his original goal at this weekend's Chitimacha Louisiana Open. The Lake Charles resident and former collegiate standout at UL had never made a cut in a Nation-wide Tour event. He accomplished that on Friday, narrowly getting in on the cut line, and said his goal was to finish in the top 25, which would insure him a spot in next week's Nation-wide event. His stunning nine-under 62 on Saturday and a follow-up one-under 70 on Sunday left him tied for eighth in the field at 11-under 273, earning him $14,000 - easily his biggest-ever pro check. "I'm hoping I can build on this," Sonnier said Sunday. "Every year there are one or two guys that get out here (on the Nationwide Tour) through an exemption and play well enough to stay out here. That's what I'm hoping for this year." Sonnier got a spot in the Louisiana Open as a sponsor's exemption, and made that pick look good with the tournament's low round Saturday on his 30th birthday. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com