BROUSSARD (KATC) – In 2007 Matt Gilcrest was a 12-year-old volunteer at the Louisiana Open. Fast forward and the 24-year-old from Texas made his first web.com Tour start at this year’s annual event.
“Now that I’m a conditional member, this is my first start. If I play well I can earn a full season. For it to be the start out here to get the ball rolling where it all started, incredible is an understatement,” he said Tuesday before taking some swings on the driving range.
Gilcrest came to like golf while his dad fed him french fries in a golf-cart during the pair’s bonding-time. He fell in love with the game in 2007 while volunteering as a scorer.
“That last year I volunteered they moved the tee-times on Sunday up because of weather,” he remembers. “I was a kid, I didn’t have a cell phone so I missed my group. There were only a few (groups) left when I got here and the guy who did the last group didn’t show up, so I did the scoring for the last group which was Skip Kendall and Jarrod Lyle.”
Kendall won that season and Matt was hooked.
Matt entered the weekend with plenty of round at Le Triomphe. He lived in Lafayette for several years as a kid where he played the course three-times a week. But he joked Tuesday that he hits the ball a little further these days.
To qualify for this year’s Louisiana Open Matt needed a sponsor wavier, which he got. After 25 holes he was one under par, chasing the two-under cut when things fell apart. Matt finished the tournament +11
