GOLF

Jeff Berry repeats as Shreveport City Am champion

Shawn C. White
Special to The Times

Jeff Berry won back-to-back Shreveport City Amateur Championships with a 1 up win over Patrick Blunt on Saturday morning at Querbes Park Golf Course.

Berry is the first to achieve back-to-back titles since Taylor Netherton accomplished it in 2010 and 2011. In fact, Berry reached the championship matchup by beating Netherton in the semifinals on Friday afternoon.

 “The main thing about match play is staying patient and try not to make mistakes,” Berry said. “That’s what I strived to do all week, was not make any mistakes and make sure that I had full control of the match for all 18 holes. Just staying patient and taking it hole by hole.”  

The semifinalists for the tournament did have to be patient as the original end date for the tournament was supposed to be last Sunday on Father’s Day but a rain delay pushed the semifinals to during the week and championship to this weekend.  

Blunt, the 2016 City Am champion, reached the finals with a 1 up win over nine-time champion Eddie Lyons earlier in the week.  Lyons also holds his own streak of five consecutive titles from 1992-1996.  

Berry and Blunt never got too far from each other in the competition.  

Berry always had the upper hand or was tied. Blunt tied the competition with about a 10-foot birdie on the eighth hole.  

The two golfers traded pars until the 11th hole. Berry buried a 25-yard chip shot for eagle to win the hole.  

The momentum swung towards Berry.  

“That shot gave me a lot of confidence and momentum.  After nine it was back to back, probably made four or five birdies on the front. I hit a little short on the 11th hole, a par 5, about 20-25 yards. Hit a nice little flop shot and it got a nice little kick to the left and it went into the side door of the hole. That one felt nice.”

 Blunt stayed even with Berry the remainder of the match including overcoming two out-of-bounds shots on the 17th and the 18th hole that both resulted in a tied hole.  

Berry commended his competitor for the finals.

“Patrick (Blunt) is a great player,'' Berry said. "We had a great match. I knew going into today that it was going to be tough. I knew it was going to be close because we went in with back-to-back birdies. I don’t know how many birdies we made today. It seemed like we made a lot. I just tried to take full control of the match and not give him any holes. I just tried to take advantage of his mistakes and make birdie holes.”  

Berry took the trophy home Saturday but the victory was for his caddie, his father Robert Berry.

“This is kind of a late birthday present which was a few days ago and Father’s Day was last weekend…so I told him this would be a good Father’s Day present.”  

The former Byrd graduate is now a graduate of ULM but still has a year of eligibility left in the NCAA.  He is going to attempt to get into the master’s program at Southeastern Louisiana.

He’s not looking at going professional but becoming a really good amateur. The next feat would be to reach for a three-peat at the City Amateur next year which has not occurred since 1994.