Brian Manzella: Talent Scout.

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Brian Manzella

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Back in the late 80's and early 90's, I ran the LSU Summer Golf Camp—the Southern Junior Golf Academy.

No, I didn't collect the money or pay the help, I did ALL the real teaching, set the format, and ran the kids into next week every night on the basketball court.

I also taught a lot of LSU players at the time, including Toms and Finney, and every now and then, I'd do some scouting.

Britt Harrison, the coach back then, asked one summer day, if I could go scout a young man he wanted to look at, but didn't have the time.

I drove a half hour across the Mississippi River bridge, to Bayou Barrierre just outside New Orleans. I was suposed to watch the kid play 18 holes, but I got their on about hole 3 and left after #9.

I had seen enough.

I told Britt, "If he can't play for you, he could just turn pro and play the PGA Tour right now."

Britt signed him, and he went on to a stellar career.

He won his first PGA TOUR Event yesterday.

;)
 
JThompson

JThompson

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Congrats Mr. Bateman!

Brian. . . I think you have been everywhere. You are the kind of guy I could sit down and drink a cold one with and never get bored.

Maybe a Brian Bateman swing analysis is coming soon?
 
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Mr. Greenie

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Great to see Brian get his first win yesterday. I was yelling at the tv for him, even though he is a Former Tiger:) . He could be one of the best drivers of the ball that I have seen play. Mr. Manzlla, little correction on your story. If I remember correctly, didn't Brian sign with Coach Holder and OSU before transferring to LSU?
P.S. Ray Charles could have told Britt that Mr. Bateman, while playing junior golf, had enough game to play at the next level. :)
 
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Jim Kobylinski

Super Moderator
JThompson said:
Congrats Mr. Bateman!

Brian. . . I think you have been everywhere. You are the kind of guy I could sit down and drink a cold one with and never get bored.

Maybe a Brian Bateman swing analysis is coming soon?
Click to expand...

LOL you have no idea what'd you be getting into, sometimes when i call Brian to answer 1 question we end up chatting for 45 minutes!
 
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Brian Manzella

Administrator
Hmmm....

Mr. Greenie said:
Great to see Brian get his first win yesterday. I was yelling at the tv for him, even though he is a Former Tiger:) . He could be one of the best drivers of the ball that I have seen play. Mr. Manzlla, little correction on your story. If I remember correctly, didn't Brian sign with Coach Holder and OSU before transferring to LSU?
P.S. Ray Charles could have told Britt that Mr. Bateman, while playing junior golf, had enough game to play at the next level. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the 1st post, Greenie.

I didn't remember that Bateman went to Oklahoma State first. All I remember was how hot it was at "Bayou Bury-air" (the way Jimmy Self Sr. said it).

It WAS a total waste of time to watch him, and yup, ole Ray could have HEARD he could play.

Funny, you got the story right, but "accidentally" spelled my name wrong. ;)
 
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Mr. Greenie

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Please excuse the typo, Mr. MANZELLA. I got the chance to play with Brian while I was in Monroe practicing for an upcoming tournament. I was enjoying the best summer of my young playing career and Brian just finished up his playing time at LSU. Being a few years younger and not really following college golf much, I had heard of Brian Bateman but really did not know just how good he was. I was running my mouth on the range with some buddies, as I had the tendency to do back then and low and behold found myself caught up in their “big game”. All I remember is making five birdies on the front nine and being TWO down. I wound up shooting 67 and losing more money than I thought was humanly possible at the time. Lets just say that “good ole dad” was not the happiest person in the world when I told him that he had to put some money in his seventeen year olds checking account. Boy, I learned a couple good lessons that day.
P.S. This site is AWESOME... I have spent so much time on this website the last week that my wife thinks that I have found a girlfriend. You make so much sense, I think that I have found something better .. Keep up the good work!!!!
 
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LilDonV

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I know that in those days, Brian worked with Tommy Marrty out at Santa Maria.
Brian, whatever happened to Tommy, and do you remember what kind of teacher he was?
 
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scandres

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The only thing I find strange is that it took Brian this long to win. He always ranked as one of the most talented players without a win in my book.

He's a product of one of the best teachers I've ever been around, Johnny Meyers.

This is probably from Nov a couple of years ago-

PGATOUR.com: What's the best advice you ever got about the game?

Bateman: My teacher, Johnny Meyers, told me always to respect the game. He gave me my first lesson and he just passed away a month ago. He tried to instill the importance of integrity in the game at a young age.
 
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