McNeese was due and did receive national recognition from the professional golf world last week.

The reason was the play of Robert MacIntyre on the European tour and Carlos Ortiz on the PGA tour.

MacIntyre is a former Cowboy player while Ortiz has McNeese graduate Justin Poynter as his coach.

Both players have won tournaments on their respective tours and the two were in the running for championships last week, MacIntyre in the Dubai Desert Classic and Ortiz in the Farmer's Insurance Open.

Heading into the final day the two were in second place in their standings.  MacIntyre finished third in his event and Ortiz ran into a little trouble and placed 29^th in the PGA tourney.

That third place finish by MacIntyre moved him into the No. 44 spot on the list of the world's top ranked golfers and edged him closer to becoming the first former McNeese player to ever compete in the Masters. The top 50 players ranked in the world the week prior to the Masters will get an invite.

Ortiz is already in the event due to his winning last year's Houston Open.

Playing in the Masters will give MacIntyre an appearance in each of the four events considered the PGA's Grand Slam – the Masters, the PGA, The Open and the U.S. Open.

He placed 56^th in last year's U.S. Open and 66^th in the PGA and finished sixth in The Open in 2019.

Already this year on the European tour MacIntyre, who played for the Cowboys in 2014 and 2015, has a 16^th place finish and a third place finish in tournaments.

He's one of only five former McNeese golfers who have played on the PGA and/or the European tours.  Others have been Derek Lamely, Tim Graham, Ty Armstrong and Adrien Mork.

Lamely, who played for McNeese in 1990 and 2000, is the only former Cowboy to ever claim victory on the PGA tour, winning the Puerto Rico Open in 2010.  He also had a victory on the Nationwide tour (now the Korn Ferry), beating Ricky Fowler in a playoff,  and  he played in both the U.S. Open and the PGA championships in 2010, missing the cut in both.   He resides in Fort Myers, FL, and continues to play in professional events having won over 1.9 million dollars on the course.

Graham, one of but two players to ever win three straight Southland conference titles and a four time team MVP and lead scorer, only played one full year and in 18 tournaments on the PGA tour.  He has regained his amateur standing and is a real estate developer in Southern California.

Armstrong played for the Cowboys in 1980 and 1981 and as a professional competed in 51 tournaments on the PGA tour and six years on the Nationwide tour with $248,500 in winnings.  A Minnesota State Open champion in 2004 he resides in Minnetonka, MN where he is a teaching professional and also serves as the golf coach for the Eden Prairie School District.

 Mork, who led the Cowboys in scoring and was named the team MVP four straight years from 2001 to 2004, played in Europe on the European, Challenge and Alps tours with five victories (three in the Challenge tour and two in the Alps).  He also was the first golfer to ever post a 59 score in a professional tournament in Europe.   A native of France, Mork is now the associate head golf coach at TCU.

One other note about the former Cowboys, Graham and Armstrong both earned their cards on the PGA tour when qualifying tournaments were held and both were the top scoring individual in the tournament their respective years.