Ragin' Cajun Golfers come within one shot of automatic NCAA bid

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Day 1 of SunBelt Golf Tournament

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - University of Louisiana golf coach Bob Bass turned into a prophet Monday.

Bass said prior to the start of the Sun Belt Conference Golf Championships that if his Ragin' Cajun team could get balanced scoring, it had a chance to do well.

The Cajuns got four balanced scores on Monday, and because of that they lead the league meet after the first of three rounds at the PGA Village course.

The Cajuns had a team 289 score, one over par over the 6,968-yard par-72 course, and holds a three-stroke lead over defending champion New Mexico State (292). Middle Tennessee is in third place at 294.

Senior Steven Pena and freshman Justin Lowe each shot one-under 71 in the opening round, while junior Peter Badawy shot a one-over 73 and junior Glyn Bateman was at two-over 74 in the squad's most consistent scoring of the spring season. All four are in the individual top 20 entering today's 8 a.m. second round.

"It's about time," Bass said after the round. "We did something we hadn't done all year, and that's get four guys playing well all at the same time. I knew we were capable of doing that, it was just a matter of doing it."

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Day 2 of SunBelt Golf Tournament

On Wednesday Louisiana will look to win its first Sun Belt Conference championship since 1997

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Peter Badawy shot a two-under-par 70 to finish in a four-way tie for first overall, while Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns have a one-stroke lead after two rounds here Tuesday at the Aéropostale Sun Belt Conference Golf Championship. Badawy shot the Cajuns' only sub-par round of the day and is currently one-under-par for the tournament.

Louisiana-Lafayette shot a second-round 297, holding a one-stroke lead with 586. South Alabama, which was seven strokes behind the Cajuns after the first round, shot a second-round low 291 to move to within one shot of the tournament-leading Cajuns.

New Orleans is seven strokes off the lead in third place with a 593, followed by Denver in fourth with 596 and Middle Tennessee in fifth with 598.

Justin Lowe shot a two-over-par 74 and is tied for fifth overall with a one-over-par 145. Steven Pena is tied for 11th overall with a three-over-par 147. Glyn Bateman is tied for 19th overall with a seven-over-par 151, while Michael Smith is tied for 46th overall after a eight-over-par 80 in the second round.

"We are still playing well as team," Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Bob Bass said. "Peter played excellent for us and helped us stay in first place.

"South Alabama came on strong today, but we have to remain focused in order to achieve of our goal and I think we accomplished that today. Now, we have to go out tomorrow and play like we have the past two days."

Arkansas-Little Rock's Patrick Sullivan, Middle Tennessee' Kenny Green and Denver's James Love are tied for the lead with Badawy at one-under-par. Badawy and Sullivan were the only golfers in the foursome to card sub-par rounds on Tuesday.

South Alabama's Colin Speirs, who is tied for fifth overall, carded the lowest score for the round with a three-under-par 69.

The Golf Channel will be in attendance and will air Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Golf Championship highlights on its weekly college golf show - Golf Central - on Wednesday. The show will be offered on www.sunbeltsports.tv and be available from April 28 until April 30. Fans will also be able to see a tournament recap via webcast on XoS.

The 2005 Aéropostale Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Championship will conclude Wednesday with the third and final round beginning at 8 a.m. (EST) on the North Course at the PGA Village.

LOUISIANA SI

[DaddyCajun]

Just wondering if the Cajun Golf team won the Sun Belt Golf Championship? Does anyone know?


Daddy Cajun

[gorcajun]

KATC reported at 6 that USA won by 1 stroke over the Cajuns

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Day 3 of SunBelt Golf Tournament

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - It came down to one shot, and South Alabama's Johnny Caldwell provided it in the day's last threesome.

Caldwell hit a 9-iron within three feet for a birdie on the 18th hole, and that was good enough to give USA a narrow one-stroke win over Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns here Wednesday in the Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Championships.

The Cajuns, who had led the tournament by one stroke entering Wednesday's 18 holes, carded a team total of 292, four-over-par, in the final round to finish at 878. USA, which was one stroke back, had a 290 Wednesday and finished with an 877 score, earning the league's automatic NCAA Tournament berth by one shot.

"We're pretty crushed right now," said Cajun coach Bob Bass. "It's not like we played bad. We had the best three rounds we put together all year. But one shot ... that's one putt dropping in somewhere all week."

The Cajuns led by one shot with only the final group on the course, but Caldwell's second shot on the par-four 18th bounced on the front fringe and kept rolling right to the pin.

UL's Peter Badawy, playing in the final group, was short on the fringe in two, and his chip rolled 10 feet past before he lipped out the par putt.

"It was extremely fast where he was," Bass said. "It looked like his chip was going to stop about a foot from the hole and it kept releasing. He hit a good putt coming back ... it just spun out.

"When you play five guys for 54 holes, you can name a million shots that could have made a difference. It didn't come down to just that one hole."

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Caldwell sinks putt; USA wins

South Alabama's only hope to advance to the NCAA men's golf regionals was to win the Sun Belt Conference tournament Wednesday at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

It came down to the last group and even the last putt, but the Jaguars pulled out a dramatic one-stroke victory over Louisiana-Lafayette to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Freshman Johnny Caldwell was the Jags' hero as he rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt on the final hole to give USA the victory after Louisiana-Lafayette's Peter Badawy three-putted the final green for a bogey.

"It was a pretty exciting finish," said Caldwell, who fired 70-215 to finish third individually. "I hit a good tee shot on the last hole and actually hit it too far into the left rough.

"The ball wasn't going to spin coming out of the rough and the greens were firm so I hit a 9-iron (from 163 yards). I hit it to the middle of the green and hoped it would feed down to the hole and that's just what it did."

Just before Caldwell's approach, Badawy pulled his shot 40 feet from the pin in the left fringe with the Ragin' Cajuns clinging to a one-stroke lead.

Badawy ran his first putt eight feet past the hole and missed the comeback putt for par, meaning Caldwell's birdie putt suddenly had the conference title and a trip to the NCAAs riding on it.

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Thursday, April 21, 2005
By GARETH CLARY
Sports Reporter

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PORT ST. LUCIE-South Alabama freshman golfer Johnny Caldwell birdied the 18th hole, giving the Jaguars a decisive one-shot victory over Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns here Wednesday in the final round of the Aéropostale Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Championship at the PGA Village.

Freshman Justin Lowe carded his second one-under-par 71 round of the tournament, finishing fourth with an even-par 216 for the tournament. Lowe carded the Cajuns' only sub-par final round on Wednesday.

Peter Badawy, who entered the final round with tied with a two-stroke lead, finished tied for fifth with a one-over-par 217. Senior Steven Pena finished tied for 13th with a six-over-par 222, followed by Glyn Bateman who finished tied for 18th overall with a nine-over-par 225. Michael Smith, who had a tough first two rounds, bounced back to shoot a one-over-par 73 in the third round to finish tied for 41st with a 18-over-par 234.

For their efforts, Lowe, Badawy and Pena were named to the All-Sun Belt team.

"We played solid all week and we just came up one shot short," Louisiana head coach Bob Bass said. "I am very proud of the way these guys came together and played as a team."

Denver finished third overall, 14 strokes behind the Cajuns with 892. New Orleans finished fourth with 894, followed by Middle Tennessee in fifth at 896.

Arkansas-Little Rock's Patrick Sullivan, who entered the final round in a four-way tie for first, was the men's individual champion after shooting a three-under-par 69 final round. Sullivan finished with a four-under-par 212. Denver's Charlie Soule finished second - two shots back - with a two-under-par 214. Caldwell finished third with a one-under-par 215.

South Alabama head coach Ben Hannan was named the Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Coach of the Year.

Louisiana, South Alabama and Denver each placed three golfers on the All-Sun Belt team.

2005 ALL-SUN BELT MEN'S GOLF
Peter Badawy, Louisiana
Danny Bowen, New Mexico State
Ben Briscoe, South Alabama
Johnny Caldwell, South Alabama
Jimmy Cunningham, Denver
James Love, Denver
Justin Lowe, Louisiana
Kenji Maruyama, New Orleans
Steven Pena, Louisiana
Charlie Soule, Denver
Colin Speirs, South Alabama
Patrick Sullivan, Arkansas-Little Rock
MEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR: Ben Hannan, South Alabama

FINAL RESULTS - 2005 AÉROPOSTALE SUN BELT CONFERENCE MEN'S GOLF

CHAMPIONSHIP

   Fin.   Top 20 Teams             Scores

         1   South Alabama, U. of     296  291  290    877

         2   Louisiana-Lafayette      289  297  292    878

         3   Denver, U. of            299  297  296    892

         4   New Orleans, U. of       295  298  301    894

         5   Middle Tennessee St.     294  304  298    896

         6   New Mexico State U.      292  317  289    898

         7   North Texas, U. of       307  303  298    908

         8   Western Kentucky U.      305  306  298    909

         9   Arkansas-Little Rock     298  309  304    911

        10   Arkansas State U.        302  306  310    918



   Fin.    Top 20 Players         School       Scores

      1    Patrick Sullivan       Ar.-L.Rock    72   71   69   212

      2    Charlie Soule          Denver        72   74   68   214

      3    Johnny Caldwell        So Alabama    71   74   70   215

      4    Justin Lowe            LA-Lafayet    71   74   71   216

      5    Peter Badawy           LA-Lafayet    73   70   74   217

           Colin Speirs           So Alabama    76   69   72   217

      7    Kenny Green            M. Tenn St    71   72   77   220

           Robert Goff            N. Mex. St    67   81   72   220

           Josh Lampley           So Alabama    70   76   74   220

     10    Brent Long             W Kentucky    74   77   70   221

           Adam Collins           N. Orleans    73   73   75   221

           Aaron Moreno           N. Orleans    72   76   73   221

     13    Steven Pena            LA-Lafayet    71   76   75   222

           Nick Bailes            M. Tenn St    73   76   73   222

     15    James Love             Denver        69   74   80   223

     16    Anthony Broussard      N. Texas      73   74   77   224

           Jason Lindgren         N. Texas      78   73   73   224

     18    Sam Smith              W Kentucky    76   75   74   225

           Glyn Bateman           LA-Lafayet    74   77   74   225

     20    Danny Bowen            N. Mex. St    76   78   72   226

           Ben Briscoe            So Alabama    80   72   74   226

           Andrew Ross            Ark. St.      73   78   75   226

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