LAKE CHARLES — Sunday proved to be another windy day at Gray Plantation Golf Course, but LSU junior Jarrod Barsamian outlasted the rest of the field in the final round to be crowned champion of the 89th Louisiana Golf Association Amateur Championship.
Barsamian, who was one shot out of the lead heading into the final round, fired an even-par 72 on Sunday to win by a one shot over Bo Stewart of Lake Charles with a 72-hole total of 1-under 287.
The native of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., put himself in a position to win with rounds of 2-over 74, 2-under 70 and 1-under 71 to open the weekend. Stewart finished one shot back after posting a 2-over 74 in the final round for a four-day total of even-par 288.
Barsamian continued LSU’s dominance in the annual event as he is the sixth Tiger in eight years to win the LGA Amateur Championship, joining the likes of Alan Morgan (2001), John Humphries (2003), Garrett Prather (2004), Aaron Smith (2005) and Chris Wells (2007) as recent LSU golfers have been crowned champion in recent years.
The back nine turned into match play between Barsamian and Stewart after both posted a 1-over score of 37 on the front nine.
Barsamian opened the back nine with a birdie on the par-five 10th hole to match Stewart at 1-under for the championship. Both golfers then made birdie on the short par-four 11th hole before Stewart hit his drive out-of-bounds on No. 12.
Barsamian capitalized by making par to take a two-shot lead with only six holes to play. After both made bogey on the difficult par-three 13th, both traded pars until the long-hitting Stewart put his drive on the back right part of the green on the par-four 16th hole and two-putted for birdie to drop to within one shot of Barsamian on the leaderboard.
After making routine pars on No. 17, both Barsamian and Stewart hit their second shots to within 15 feet of the cup on the par-four 18th. After Barsamian ran his putt two feet past the hole, Stewart burned the lip of the cup for his bid to tie the score. Barsamian then tapped in his par putt to claim victory by a single stroke after 72 holes of competition.
While Barsamian was en route to winning the LGA Amateur, his teammate was locked in a battle to take home the title in the Texas Golf Association Amateur Championship.
Freshman John Peterson took second place at the prestigious championship after firing a 3-under 285 in 72 holes at Houston Country Club in Houston, Texas. He was two shots back of champion Kelly Kraft of Denton, Texas, with rounds of 1-over 73, even-par 72, 1-under 71 and 3-under 69.