Noah McWilliams’ charge in the final round of the Louisiana Amateur Championship Sunday came up just short.
Down by four strokes, the former Benton star shot a 5-under 67 at Bayou Oaks at City Park in New Orleans and finished the 72-hole tournament at 18-under par.
That left him one stroke short of Sulphur’s Landen East and Baton Rouge’s Connor Cassano, a former Loyola College Prep star.
East, the third-round leader, shot a 70. Cassano shot a 67.
Cassano took the title on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff.
McWilliams finished tied for third with Baton Rouge’s Lawrence Allan, who also shot a 67.
McWilliams, who just completed his sophomore season at LSU, shot a bogey-free round. He had two birdies on the front nine and three on the back. A birdie on the par-5 18th got him within one.
Cassano got into the playoff with a birdie on the 18th.
East started the day with a three-stroke lead over Cassano. He made the turn at 2-over for the day after bogeying Nos. 4 and 9. But he made five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine starting at No. 11 to regain the lead. He also made a bogey in that stretch.