Texas Senior Four Ball: Final Results
The team of Jim Hays and Mike Rice played impressive golf over the first two days of the Texas Senior Four Ball, but after rounds of 71 and 66 they still found themselves one shot away from the lead.
Hays, of Prosper, and Rice, from Houston, made their move early in the final round at The Honors Golf Club and did not leave anything to chance. After birdies at the second and third, which gave the team the lead, Rice made a crucial par save on the par 3 fourth hole to stay out front. Their final round of 4-under-par 68 was good enough for a two-shot victory over two-day leaders Bill Caveness and Tom Doughtie in the Senior Division.
Caveness, of Dallas, and Doughtie, of Amarillo, held the lead after each of the first two rounds, but were unable to bring home the title. The team fired the low gross round of the championship with a 65 on Day One, but could not break 70 in either of the last two rounds.
Caveness and Doughtie closed with a one-under 71 to finish in a tie for second with Peter Dahlberg and Dee Johnston who had the low gross round of the day (66). With excellent conditions and strong play, a total of fourteen teams in the Senior Division were able to break par in the final round, and nine teams managed the same feat for the week.
In the Super Senior Division, only one team was able to break par all three days and in doing so cruised to a nine-shot victory.
Mansfield’s Art Hull and Forth Worth’s David Hull opened with rounds of 70 and 69 and then, saving the best for last, finished with a five-under 67, the low Super Senior round of the week.
The team of Frank Luke and Carey Schulten entered the final round just one shot off the lead, but a 75 dropped them into a tie for second place with Don Grider and Don Neff, who capped off their championship with a two-under 70.
There was a three-way tie heading into the final round in the Net Division, but in the end it was the Dallas team of Eddie Bock and Bill Thomas who managed to distance themselves from the rest of the field.
After an opening round 73, Bock and Thomas caught fire shooting 64 in each of the last two rounds. With a total of fifteen under par, Bock and Thomas cruised to a three shot victory. The teams of Bill Perley and Randy Sharber and Mike Meadows and Donald Scaccia, the other co-leaders, closed with identical five-under 67s to finish tied for second.
--Courtesy TGA