Around the Green

John Dowdall Leads Texas Senior Amateur

KINGWOOD – John Dowdall holds onto his lead at Texas Senior Amateur following a 1-under-par 71 Saturday at Deerwood Club. Fulshear’s Dowdall holds a two-shot lead over Craig Hulbert from Magnolia headed into Sunday.
 
The second round was suspended due to darkness at 7:12 p.m. with 18 groups left to complete their round. Play will resume Sunday morning, with the Final Round scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m.  
 
Due to inclement weather suspensions in Friday’s first round, play was suspended late that evening due to darkness. Play resumed at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Kip Estep of Rockwall posted the lowest score of the wave with a round of 1-over 73.
 
Round 2 promptly began at 10 a.m. with tee times off No. 1 and No. 10 tees. Dowdall, the overnight clubhouse leader, was in the second group off to start Round 2. The former PGA Tour professional bogeyed the par-4 11th, his second hole of the day, but found his rhythm from Day 1 with birdies of the par-3 12th and par-4 14th.
 
“I birdied the very next hole after bogeying my second hole, so I had a good bounce-back,” Dowdall said. “Every time I made bogey I made a bounce-back birdie so that kept the round going pretty good.”
 
The 2007 South Texas Mid-Amateur Champion turned in 1-under 35, but bogeyed the par-4 second hole. But as he has shown throughout his first two rounds, he never wavered. Dowdall birdied the par-3 fourth. He displayed poise down the stretch as well. The former Northeast Louisiana University standout followed a bogey on the par-5 seventh with a beautiful tee shot from 159 yards on the par-3 eighth to birdie his third par-3 of the day.
 
“Wind kicked up a little bit and it played pretty tough,” Dowdall said. “But I’m very happy with how I hit the ball and I’m playing pretty solid right now.”
 
Dowdall’s ball-striking has been the key to his success. After 36-holes, he has only missed a handful of greens in regulation and has made five of his 10 birdies on par-3’s.
 
Hurlbert, with five holes left in Round 2, sits in solo-second. The 2010 Montana Mid-Amateur Champion quickly got his second round into red figures after a birdie on his third hole of the day, the par-3 12th. He followed with consecutive bogeys, but birdied the par-5 16th.
 
On the par-3 17th, Hurlbert showed his only signs of distraction with two short missed putts and made double-bogey. But that’s when he caught fire. Hurlbert birdied three of his next five holes to get to 1-under on his round and two shots off the lead at 4-under overall. Hurlbert will resume play Sunday morning on the par-5 fifth.
 
Gary Durbin of Houston is in solo third and six shots behind Dowdall at even par. The 2012 Greater Houston Men’s Senior Amateur Champion is through 12 holes in Round 2 and will resume play on the par-3 fourth.
 
Following completion of Round 2, the field will be cut to low-54 and ties for Sunday’s Final Round. The Final Round will be a shotgun start at 11:00 a.m.
 
Deerwood Club is playing host to its fifth TGA Major Championship. This year, the club joined an exclusive list of clubs in Texas to have hosted all four TGA Men’s Major Championships. Deerwood played host to the 1986 and 1999 Texas Amateurs, 1989 Texas Mid-Amateur, 2014 Texas Four-Ball and rounds out the distinction with the 2019 Texas Senior Amateur.
 
For more information on the Texas Senior Amateur, click here. For Full Leaderboard, click here.