News

North Takes One Point Lead Heading Into Sunday

The 2013 Texas Shootout got underway at Northwood Club in
Dallas on Saturday. The annual event brings together the top 8 mid-amateurs,
and top 4 senior amateurs from each of the north and south regions of the
state. The Ryder Cup style event features four-ball and foursome matches on
Saturday, followed by singles matches on Sunday. There are three points
available in each match, one for the front-nine, one for the back-nine, and one
for the overall match. Carey Schulten is the captain of the North team, with
Loren Singletary as the captain of the South team.

The players arrived early on Saturday in preparation for a
long 36-hole day. The morning four-ball matches started at 8:00am with the
mid-amateurs playing first, followed by the seniors. Both teams came ready to
play and kept the matches very close all morning long. The first two four-ball
matches of the day split the points evenly at 1 ½ points per team. In the third match, Brandon Scott and 2013
Texas Amateur Champion Doug Manor of the North team won 2 ½ points against John
Perez and John Hunter of the South team. The South team seniors proved very
strong in the morning matches earning two of the three possible points in each
of their matches. At the end of the four-ball session, the two teams sat tied
at 9 points each.

The afternoon foursome matches were more of the same as most
all of the matches never reached more than a 1up status throughout the round.
In this difficult alternate shot format, the South team of Clay Hodge and Brian
Noonan jumped out of the gate early claiming 2 ½ points in the first match of
the afternoon giving the South team an early lead. The South mid-amateurs
continued the momentum as several points were captured on the final hole
enlarging their afternoon lead. With just two senior matches left on course it
seemed as though the South team would once again take a lead heading into
Sunday’s single matches. The North Seniors determined not to let this history
repeat itself struck gold on the back nine as both north teams captured the
back nine as well as the overall point catapulting the North team to a one shot
lead heading into the final day. As it stands the North team sits at 19 ½
points to the South’s 18 ½. Singles matches are scheduled to begin at 8:00am
Sunday morning at Northwood Club.