Around the Green

Darkness Suspends Second Round of Texas Mid-Amateur

 
BEE CAVE—The second round of the 2016 Texas Mid-Amateur Championship was suspended due to darkness at 7:26 p.m. on Saturday. Play will resume Sunday at 7:30 a.m. at Spanish Oaks Golf Club. The final round of the 54-hole, stroke-play championship will commence following the conclusion of the second round.
 
Colby Harwell from San Antonio holds the clubhouse lead at 3-under-par 139. He finished early on Saturday and posted a 1-under 70 that featured five birdies, including three in a row on his 10th, 11th and 12th holes. Harwell, part of Texas’ victorious 2014 U.S. State Team Championship squad, shot a 2-under 69 in Friday’s opening round.
 
“All of the sudden I found my bread-and-butter shot,” said Harwell, winner of the 2013 and ’16 Carlton Woods Invitational and 2013 Crane Cup. “I like to work the ball right to left, and I found that again. I’m comfortable over the ball and I can take a cut without worrying about the right side of the course.”
 
Still on the course when darkness halted play, C.J. Brock from Richardson holds the overall lead at 4-under par. The long-hitting lefthander has four holes remaining in his second round. Brock, the leader after the first round, made a birdie on the par-3 14th and elected not to tee off on No. 15 as dusk settled in at Spanish Oaks.
 
Also yet to complete his second round is Brian Noonan from Austin. He’s tied with Harwell at 3-under par. Christopher Wheeler from Addison and Kevin Doskocil from Fort Worth finished their second rounds and share fourth place at 1-under 141. Wheeler shot an even-par round of 71 on Saturday; Doskocil signed for a 1-over 72.
 
All three players tied for sixth place were able to complete their second rounds. Rick Sulzer from Carrollton, J.J. Wall from San Antonio and Josh Irving from Dallas currently sit at even-par 142. For up-to-date scoring, click here.
 
Once the second round concludes, the field will be cut to the low 54 scores, including ties. As of the suspension of play, 57 players were at 12-over 154; however, several of those players have yet to finish the second round.
 
During the afternoon wave of Saturday’s second round, lightning in the area created a dangerous situation and caused play to be suspended at 4:44 p.m. It was a brief halt, and play resumed at 5:33 p.m.
 
Stephen Paterson from Austin shot the day’s low round, a sizzling 5-under 66 that saw him hit all 18 greens in regulation. It was quite a bounce-back effort from the 40-year-old computer engineer. He shot 10-over 81 in the first round.
 
“I just wasn’t trying to push it too much today,” said Patterson, who finished ninth at the 2006 Texas Amateur and 14th in 2014 and ’15. “I didn’t hit it that bad yesterday. I just haven’t had enough competitive rounds on this course.”
 
Kip Guidry from Missouri City made the tournament’s second hole-in-one when he aced the 125-yard, par-3 14th hole on Saturday.
 
“It landed four feet right of the hole, spun left and disappeared,” said the 50-year-old Guidry, who had his 81-year-old father Kirby caddying for him.
 
Guidry shot a second round 78. Harwell aced the same home in Friday’s first round.
 
The 2016 Texas Mid-Amateur is the year’s final major championship and is open to make amateurs with GHIN Handicap Indexes of 8.4 or less, have reached the age of 25 by Sept. 23 and are current Texas residents. The TGA received a record 581 applications for this year’s event. The total eclipsed the previous record of 558 for last year’s championship at Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas.
 
For more information on the Texas Mid-Amateur Championship, click here.