Texas Senior Amateur: Larsen Hangs On
Texas Senior Champion
SAN ANTONIO, TX (August 20, 2006)--Chris Larsen of Houston held off a hard charging Fred Clark of Kingwood to win his first TGA State title, claiming the 2006 State Senior Amateur Championship at historic San Antonio Country Club. Starting the day with a seven shot lead, Larsen had several players making a run at him. A five shot lead with six holes to play turned into a one shot lead going to the final hole, where Larsen made a tough two putt par to secure the win. Clark had the low round of the tournament in Sunday’s finale with a four under par 68 to finish in second by one shot.
Defending Champion Mike Rice of Houston, who won both the Senior and Super Senior titles a year ago, won the Super Senior (65+) division, and finished tied for sixth overall.
“This is a thrill,” Larsen said after accepting the champion’s trophy. “To have just turned 55 last year and be playing in only my second Texas State Senior – and win – its just a thrill for me.”
Larsen had opened up a seven shot lead going into the final round with a 36 hole total of five under par 139, but several players made a charge at the leader. Jerry Hudgins, last year’s runner-up, was three under after six holes and Larsen was one over par through the same stretch, meaning his lead was down to two. Hudgins, who was paired with Clark and Rice in the next to last group, made bogey on holes 13 and 16 to fall out of contention. Clark was the one who got hot on the back side with birdies at 15 and 16 while Larsen bogeyed the same two holes as Hudgins (13 & 16). Larsen steadied himself with routine pars on the final two holes, and Clark’s birdie attempt at the 18th slid just past the hole.
Hudgins ended up with a one under par 71 in the final round for a third place finish. Tom McGraw (69) of Montgomery and Larry Trowell (70) of The Colony tied for fourth, four shots behind. Rice breezed to the Super Senior title with a final round of even par 72. Jim Raines of San Antonio was second, 10 shots behind Rice, with Don Addington of Dallas finishing third another shot back.
For complete coverage of the Texas Senior Amateur, visit the TGA website at www.txga.org.
Click here
for complete results from the Texas Senior Amateur.
The Texas Senior Amateur is an amateurgolf.com
Texas Amateur Rankings points event.
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