FORT WORTH, Texas (Sept. 27, 2014) — Three
players are tied for the lead with one
round to play in the 77th State Senior Amateur
at historic Shady Oaks Country Club.
Mike Booker (pictured) from The Woodlands,
Rob Kilby from McAllen and Ken Coutant from
Dallas on Saturday each posted 1-over-par 143s
for two days’ work at the 54-hole
Texas Golf Association major championship.
Together they hold a one-shot lead over
Lee Sandlin from Dallas.
Tied for fifth place and just two shots behind the
leaders are Jerry Hudgins from
Tyler and Hollis Sullivan, a Shady Oaks member
and TGA Board Member. Fourteen
players are within four shots of the lead.
Booker, the 2012 Senior Player of the Year,
made five birdies to offset as many
bogeys on his way to an even-par second round
of 71. The 59-year-old president and
founder of Financial Synergies Asset
Management in Houston said he hit the ball
better than on Friday, when he shot 1-over 72.
“Every time I play this course, I get a little more
comfortable,” said Booker, who
finished 10th in last year’s State Senior Amateur
and third in 2012. “Everyone talks
about how the greens are the defense here—and
they’re right—but it’s also a very
good course tee to green. It’s a great driving
course, and you have to position
yourself to have a chance. I just think some
people underestimate how superb this
course is tee to green. It’s a fantastic
course.”
Kilby started on the 10th hole Saturday and
proceeded to make three bogeys before
turning to the front nine. He said his back
loosened up halfway through the round,
and his scorecard reflected it. He made birdies
on the second, eighth and ninth holes
to get back to even-par for the day.
“I kept the ball in good places for the most part
on the front nine,” Kilby said.
“Everyone says the front nine is harder, but it
just sets up better to my eye than the
back nine.”
Kilby, 59, owns a McAllen-based commercial real
estate company that leases office
space to the State of Texas. A veteran of TGA
championships, Kilby won the 2011
State Senior Amateur at Bent Tree Country Club,
which happens to be the host site
of the 2015 Texas Amateur.
“I’m not in that field yet, but I’m working on it,”
said Kilby, who also finished as
runner-up at the 2013 Mid-Am Match Play
Championship.
Coutant wasn’t thrilled with his second round 73,
but paired with his 1-under 70 from
the first round, it was good enough to share the
lead with Booker and Kilby. A
lifetime amateur, the 55-year-old CPA made a
30-foot birdie on the sixth hole to
jumpstart his day.
“Then I hit into three feet on No. 9, but I missed
the putt,” said Coutant, who plays
out of Sherrill Park Golf Course and finished
sixth North Region Senior Amateur this
year. “That sort of put some doubt in my mind. I
had three three-putts on the back
nine. I need to putt better.”
Alone in fourth place and just a single shot back
is Sandlin, who has posted 74-70 so
far. A member of Royal Oaks Country Club in
Dallas, Sandlin shot the only under-par
score from the morning wave of players in the
second round. He put on a course
management clinic, hitting 17 fairways and 15
greens.
“The big difference today was I kept the ball
under the hole,” Sandlin said. “I played
very efficient golf.”
Sandlin, 60, is the president of Rep Comp
International, a Dallas-based sales
company that services the telecommunications
industry. Two weeks prior to the
State Senior Amateur, he advanced to the Round
of 16 at the U.S. Senior Amateur at
Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach,
Calif.
It was his first USGA appearance.
“Playing in a USGA event was always a dream of
mine,” he said.
Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1958,
tree-lined Shady Oaks was built by
famed Fort Worth benefactor Marvin Leonard.
Leonard also built Colonial Country
Club, one of the longstanding venues on the PGA
Tour schedule.
Shady Oaks was the home club to nine-time
major championship winner Ben Hogan,
the iconic ball-striker from Fort Worth who
passed away in 1997. The newly
remodeled clubhouse at Shady Oaks houses
several shrines to Hogan, including his
double locker, kept behind glass in the same
pristine condition as it was the last
time he visited the club.
The surprisingly hilly course has been in perfect
condition for the State Senior
Amateur. A par-71 layout, it measured 6,780
yards for the Senior Division and
produced a second round scoring average of
76.71. Forty-nine Senior Division
players made the 36-hole cut at 11-over 153 and
will return to Shady Oaks on
Sunday for the final round.
In the Super Senior Division, Aledo’s Jody
Vasquez shot a second round 3-over 74 to
take the lead at 7-over 149 for 36 holes. He
made three birdies on the front nine,
but four bogeys and a double bogey kept him out
of red numbers for the day.
Vasquez holds a one-shot lead over Ray Iler
from Harlingen and Chip Stewart from
Dallas. Iler and Stewart totaled 8-over 150 for
two days; Mansfield’s Harold Speer is
two shots behind Vasquez at 9-over 151.
The Super Seniors played Shady Oaks from
6,435 yards. The second round Super
Seniors scoring average was 80.17. Twenty-six
Super Seniors made the 36-hole cut
at 19-over 161.
View results for Texas Senior Amateur
ABOUT THE
Texas Senior Amateur
The State Senior Amateur is the second oldest
event of all the TGA tournaments, having first
been played in 1937.
Eligibility: Entries are open to male amateur golfers
with a
GHIN Handicap Index of 6.4 or less and who are 55
years
of age or older as of the tournament start date (first
round
of tournament play). All players will be competing in
one
division from the same tees and yardage.
Format/Field Size: Play will be contested over 54
holes of
stroke play. All players will be competing in one
division
from the same tees and yardage. The field is limited
to
144 players. At the completion of the 36 holes the
field will
be cut to the low 54 players and ties.
View Complete Tournament Information