Tennessee Senior: Spitalny, Thomas share opening-round lead
Neil Spitalny
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Tenn. — Neil Spitalny of Chattanooga and John Thomas of Knoxville share the first-round lead of the Tennessee Senior Amateur Championship after each shot a 1-under par 69 at Lookout Mountain Golf Club Wednesday.
Spitalny just returned from playing in British Senior Amateur Championship, finishing in a tie for fourth, and was very comfortable in the 20 mph wind that players faced all day. Last year's champion Danny Green of Jackson posted a 3-over par 73 and sits in a tie for 8th.
In the Tennessee Super Senior Amateur Championship, Mike Nixon of Nashville posted a 1-over par 71 to lead after 18 holes of play.
Round two will begin Thursday with the final round beginning Friday.
The inaugural State Senior Amateur Championship was played in 1965 at the original Colonial Country Club in Memphis. Curtis Person, a Colonial member, shot 211 to easily outdistance Earl Pate by seven strokes. When Chattanooga’s Lew Oehmig won five straight championships from 1969 to 1973, the tournament was discontinued. It was revived in 1980 and Oehmig won two more for a record seven. It was 1993 before Tennessee came into compliance with USGA rules by limiting senior play by amateur men to 55 and older. In 2008 the Super Senior division was added for players 65 and over.
View results for Tennessee Senior Amateur
ABOUT THE Tennessee Senior Amateur
54 hole stroke play championship. A cut of the low
30
Senior scores and ties will be made
following the 2nd round. A cut of the low 15 Super
Sr
scores and ties will be made following
the 2nd round. Applications are open to amateurs
who
possess an active USGA/GHIN
Handicap Index of 10.0 or less from a TGA member
club or course.
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