BATON ROUGE — LSU senior-to-be Chris Wells birdied three of his last four holes en route to firing a 2-under par 70 in Sunday’s final round to finish in a tie for fourth place at the 87th Louisiana Golf Association Amateur Championship at the Country Club of Louisiana.
Wells, a native of Mobile, Ala., posted three under-par rounds for the tournament and finished with a four-round total of 8-under 280, five shots behind tournament champion Jason Kuperman of Shreveport. His 5-under 67 in the third round was the lowest of the day and put the All-SEC performer in position for the win heading into the final round.
“I’m very happy with how I hit the ball all weekend,” Wells said. “I hit it really well tee-to-green, but I wish I could have made more putts. I actually changed putters about a week ago, and I didn’t make as many putts as I probably should have. But I’m very happy with how I played.”
Although he has played numerous rounds at the CCLA in his collegiate career, Wells said he never allowed himself to focus on what he would shoot in each round or how he would finish the tournament as he prepared for his first appearance in the championship.
“I really don’t think about that too much before a tournament for a lot of reasons,” Wells said. “The conditions on the course are always changing and you never really know how it’s going to be set up for each round. I just try to focus on what I can control ? how I’m hitting the ball and things like that. That can lead to success as much as anything.”
Sophomore Brent Struthers also made the cut to finish the tournament in sole possession of 14th place at 1-over 289. The Baton Rouge native and University High alum carded six birdies in the final round, including four in his first six holes, for a personal-best 3-under 69 on Sunday.
Wells travels to Birmingham, Ala., on June 16 to compete in the Greystone Invitational at Greystone Golf and Country Club, a tournament sponsored by Golfweek and the Alabama Golf Association. He follows that with a trip to Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in Choctaw, Miss., on July 31 in an attempt to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Championship for the second straight year.