SULPHUR — Chris Vallette knew what he was doing when he pulled driver out of his bag on the tee box of the 36th and final hole of play of the Sulphur city golf tournament Sunday afternoon at Frasch Park.

The title was in his grasp and he wasn’t going to make any deviation from his norm.

“I always hit driver on this hole and I wasn’t going to change now,” he said after the tournament, one that he won by a shot over both Lawrence David and Matt Nicholas.

Belting the driver on the hard dogleg left par four, 395-yard, 18th hole, Vallette cleared the tall pines on the left, had his ball hit in the middle of the fairway and come to rest just outside the short grass on the right.

He bumped a runner underneath hanging limbs and three putted for the victory for a 75 on the day which put his 36-hole score at one-over, 143 while both first day leader David and Nicholas, who was trying to win his third Lake Area city title in a single season, turned in three over par 144s.

It was a day in which all three held the lead at one time. David, after his first day five-under par 68, kicked off the round with a birdie on the first hole but by the end of the front-nine the five-time champion was a shot behind Nicholas. Vallette trailed by four shots.

Birdies on Nos. 8, 9 and 10 had given Nicholas a three-shot lead but he gave it up after a triple-bogey on the par three 15th. It put David back in the lead and he held it until Vallette birdied 14 and 15.

Heading to the 16th tee box, Vallette was even with David and two up on Nicholas. He end the hole leading both by two shots.

The 36-year-old Vallette, who played college baseball at Lamar and didn’t begin playing golf regularly until he was in his 20s, admitted to feeling pressure when he took a two-shot lead on No. 16.

“(I’ve) never been in that situation before,” he said.

When he pulled the driver out on No. 18, his thought was all or nothing. Once he got his ball on the green at 18, the title still wasn’t his. His low punch shot had rolled just off the green on the backside and his putt ran past the hole.

He was on in three and Nicholas, with a solid iron shot following his tee shot, was only 10 feet away for birdie and a playoff chance on the line. Nicholas’ putt stopped only inches away and Vallette knew he could win with two putts.

Placing fourth in the tournament with a 145 was Todd Broussard who shot the day’s best score on Sunday, an even par 71 that featured a four birdie front nine of 33.

High school golfers Logan Kuehn and Andrew Worley finished fifth and sixth, Kuehn shooting 73-75—148 and Worley 74-75—149.

Rounding out the top 10 were Benny Holcombe, Byron Martin, Neill Osbourne and Thad Gaspard.(Rick Hickman/American Press)