Around the Green

Two Teams Share Lead Heading into Final Round at Texas Four-Ball

HORSESHOE BAY – Fort Worth’s Colby Amparan and Gary Ezmerlian share the lead at 12-under par with Derek Abel of Dallas and Chris Wheeler of Addison after the second round of play at Horseshoe Bay Resort’s Apple Rock Course.

Amparan and Ezmerlian carded a 6-under 66 for the second consecutive round. Abel and Wheeler fired off a second round 8-under 64 to put themselves in great position heading into Sunday’s final round.

“It’s been ham and egg. Especially yesterday,” Ezmerlian said. “Today I struggled on the first nine holes and Colby played great. And then I played pretty good on the last nine holes.”

Amparan and Ezmerlian, who have played in this event together five times before, bring a plethora of experience playing together in partnership golf.

“We just play a lot of partnership golf together in general,” Amparan said. “We know when to help each other. We know when to leave each other alone. We know when each other is frustrated and if they need space so that helps a lot.”

Abel and Wheeler are lifelong friends that have competed in four-ball events across the country over the past few years.

“For us we’ve played together a lot in these four-ball events,” said Abel. “Everything from the U.S. Four-Ball to these state four-balls. We kind of feed off each other and balance each other pretty well.”

The duo flexed their experience again on Saturday as Wheeler carded five birdies of his own and Abel tallied four.

Round one leaders Aaron Hickman and Rob Couture sit in solo third after a round of 2-under 70 on Friday. They sit at 11-under overall and just one shot back of the co-leaders.

“It was a bit of a struggle today,” said Hickman. “We didn’t get off to a good start and didn’t finish very well. It was a battle out there.”

Three teams are tied for fourth at 10-under par for the championship. Andrew Grice and Wesley Hansen of Austin, Gant Bills of Dallas and Scott Maurer of Plano, and Kris Devlin of Austin and Trey Todd of Abilene all carded 7-under 65’s to move up the leaderboard on Friday. All three teams will begin the final round two shots behind the co-leaders.

Following play on Saturday, the Championship Division was cut to the top 27 teams for Sunday’s final round.

In the Senior Division, two teams also share the top spot on the leaderboard 10-under-par heading into Sunday. The teams of Scott Smith and William Shock as well as Ron Finnerty and Tommy Tucker both fired 4-under-par 68s. They’ll head into Saturday’s second round with a two-stroke advantage over two teams tied for third. Don Gafner and Jim Quinn carded a 1-under 71 while Steve Love and Mike Peck toured the course with a 6-under 66.

Sitting tied for fifth at 8-under par for the tournament is Andrew Hydorn and Bill Jackson as well as Lee Sandlin and Hollis Sullivan.

The Senior Division was cut to the top 10 teams following the second round.

In the Super Senior Division, John Grace and Bill Holstead fired a 6-under par 66 to take a one stroke lead heading into Sunday’s final round. The team of Aaron Billings and Richard Koenig sit just behind in solo second after a second round 8-under 64.

Sitting six shots back in third place is Lelan Chiles and Tom Takes at 9-under-par for the tournament.

Following the second round, the Super Senior Division was cut to the top six teams and ties.

Through the years, the Horseshoe Bay Resort has hosted the Texas Amateur, Texas Father-Son, and the Texas Junior Amateur. It’s the third time the resort has been the site for the Texas Four-Ball (2007 & 2013).

The final round of the Texas Four-Ball begins Sunday at 7:45 a.m. at Horseshoe Bay Resort’s Apple Rock Course. For more information on this championship, click here.