MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / August 30, 1999

RESERVE – Remember those essays about “What I did this Summer” you had to write in school? For Brett Bergeron of LaPlace, his could be about becoming the best player of the Gulf States PGA Junior Tour.

Bergeron, a member of the Riverside golf team, received the tour’s 1999 Tommy Moore Player of the Year Award this week. The award goes to theplayer in the boys’ 14-17 age group who accumulates the most points throughout the year. The award is named after the late Tommy Moore,former director of instruction at English Turn Golf & Country Club and a former PGA Tour player.

“I definitely think it’s an honor to win it,” Bergeron said.

Bergeron outdistanced the field, finishing with 63.67 points. He finishedfirst overall at the Alex Invitational and won his age division at the Maxfli Jr. PGA Champion-ship and Shreveport Junior Open. Bergeron also placed second in his age division and third overall at the Players’ Championship and was second in the Canton Classic.

Mac Lee of Ridgeland, Miss., was second with 51.66 points. Sean Knox ofBossier City had 50.25 points to finish third. Destrehan’s Ryan Dishongh was 29th with 8.83 points while Reserve’sSteve Luminais was 34th with 6.37 points. Phillip Kelly of LaPlace was 12th in the boys 12-13 age division with 11 points. Shreveport’s Jared Mayfield was the division’s player of the year,finishing with 55.75 points. Katie Kane of Baton Rouge won the girls’ 14-17 age division award with 74 points. The awards will be presented at the Thanksgiving Classic inNovember.

Bergeron, 15, said he did not expect to win the award at the beginning of the year because a 16 or 17-year-old usually gets it.

“I really set out a goal to come out in the top five,” Bergeron said. “As Istarted to accumulate points, I started thinking about it and I wanted to do well over the last couple of tournaments to get it.”Bergeron said at each tournament the point totals are posted and that he figured going into the final tournament, the Players’ Champion-ships, he needed about 10 points to clinch the award.

“I knew if I had a good tournament that nobody could come up and beat my score,” Bergeron said.

Bergeron went out and shot a 78-76-154 to place third overall and second in his age division to wrap up the award.

“I’m definitely pleased with the way I played this summer,” Bergeron said.

“I wasn’t expecting to do this well in points. I played well at thebeginning of the summer and I kept improving and the points started moving up.”Bergeron will now take a break from tournament action until the prep golf season starts up again in the spring. Riverside advanced to the statetournament last season and Bergeron looks for the team to do even better this year.

“I’m looking forward to the golf season,” Bergeron said, adding he may play on the American Junior Golf Association Tour, the biggest junior tour in the country, next spring. “We had a real young team last year and weshould be a stronger team this year. Our goal is to win state.”

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