MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / July 17, 1999

LAPLACE – Jeffrey James said the interview he did Tuesday was one of the first he has done.

With the way he has been playing lately, it probably will not be his last.

The LaPlace native shot a three-under par 141 to capture the Louisiana Scratch Tour event held at The Oaks this past weekend in Pass Christian, Miss.

James, at age 19, became the youngest golfer to win the event, shooting rounds of 75 and 66 to win by two strokes over Cliff Clanton. LaPlace’sScott Martin shot a 78-74-152 to tie for 13th.

The six-under par 66 was a tour record.

“I didn’t make the mental mistakes the second day,” James said of the nine-stroke improvement.

James started the second round ninth, six strokes back of the leader, before firing a 33 on the front nine. James then chipped in for birdies onboth the 12 and 13 holes.

“That helped settle me down a little bit,” James said.

James said he didn’t know how he stood in the field going down the stretch but said that it probably helped him not knowing.

“I was just trying to hit it in the middle of the green,” James said of his thoughts on the final hole. “I had a feeling going to 18 that I was in thelead.”James said his driver was the key on the short, tight course but that pretty much everything was working.

James, a 1998 graduate of St. Charles Catholic and the high school staterunner-up in 1997, said he has been played just about everyday this summer and the tournament last weekend was his eighth of the season. Inhis first season on the tour, James also has a top five finish and four top 10s. He said the 141 was his lowest score of the year.As for his plans for the rest of the summer, James said he is “planning to play the rest of the Scratch Tour and see what happens from there.” James has a tour event next weekend at Santa Maria in Baton Rouge followed by the club championship at Belle Terre, his home course, the following week. James is also planning to play in the qualifier for the U.S.Amateur at the University Club in Baton Rouge at the beginning of August.

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