Ivan Lawson
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — When Ivan Lawson from
Cypress came off the golf
course midday Saturday after his second round
at the 78th Texas Senior
Amateur, he said he felt lucky to shoot 2-over-
par 73. He had no idea how
much his fortune would change over the next
several hours.
At the time Lawson posted his score – which put
him at 1-over 143 for the
championship – he was tied for second place.
But he was a distant five shots
behind the first round leader, Mac McGee, who
opened Friday with a 4-under
67. As Lawson finished, McGee had yet to start
his second round at historic
Oak Hills Country Club. When McGee got on the
difficult, shot maker’s course
in the afternoon, he proceeded to struggle from
the start.
By the time McGee made the turn, in fact, he
was 6-over for the day and 2-
over for the championship. It was an unexpected
slide from McGee, winner of
the 2012 Senior Porter Cup and 2013 Tower
Invitational.
Regardless, the turn of events moved Lawson
into the lead of the 54-hole
individual stroke play championship. He’ll start
Sunday’s final round with a
one-shot lead over 2014 TGA Senior Player of
the Year Mike Booker from the
Woodlands.
“My goal this week was to play my best and
make the cut,” said Lawson, a
65-year-old Competency Manager for an oil and
gas services company. “I
didn’t imagine I’d be in the lead, especially with
the great players here this
week. Guys like Bob Kearney and Mike Booker,
I’ve played with them in
Houston. They’re usually winning golf
tournaments.”
Now Lawson has his chance.
It is, however, a bit of rarified air. Lawson said
several years ago he took
four years off from competitive golf when his job
relocated him to Dubai. His
top finishes in TGA events are a T13 at the 2013
South Texas Senior
Amateur, a 23rd-place finish at the 2014 South
Texas Senior Am and a T26 in
2014 at the South Texas Four-Ball Championship
with partner Eric Alam.
“I just feel fortunate that I was able to get it in
with 73 today,” he said. “I’ve
been hitting the ball well, but the golf course
was set up tough today. The
holes were difficult to putt.”
As for the elephant in the room, what does
Lawson think about potentially
winning the second oldest men’s state
championship in Texas?
“I’m not even thinking about winning,” he said. “I
won’t be thinking about it
tomorrow, either. I’ll be thinking about hitting it
in the middle of the
fairway.”
That’s a mindset Booker can appreciate. The 60-
year-old Principal Owner of
an assets management firm in Houston has used
a similar outlook to win golf
tournaments for decades. The former All-
American and national champion at
the University of Houston won the 2014 Texas
Four-Ball Championship with
Mike Peck from Irving; Booker won the 2013
Mid-Amateur Match Play
Championship here at Oak Hills CC; he advanced
to the Sweet 16 at the 2013
U.S. Senior Amateur and has played in 11 other
USGA national
championships.
As for this week, Booker put together rounds of
71-73 and sits one shot
behind Lawson. He said he didn’t hit the ball
Saturday as well as he did
Friday. He started the second round with a
bogey on the first hole and
suffered two more on the day. He rallied,
however, with birdies on Nos. 14
and 15. From 245 yards out on the 527-yard,
par-5 15th, Booker knocked his
3-wood on the green and two-putted for birdie.
“I wasn’t quite as sharp today,” said Booker,
who also won the 2012 TGA
Senior Player of the Year award. “I made a
couple birdies to salvage it, but I
really didn’t play that well.”
The best round of the day came from someone
who knows almost the bumps
and subtle breaks of iconic Oak Hills CC as well
as anyone. Bruce Niles, a
member at the club since 2008, shot a 2-under
69 to jump up 30 spots the
leaderboard into third place at 4-over 146. Niles
made four birdies on an
extremely demanding course that features thick
round, century-old live oaks
that protect the narrow fairways and some of
the quickest Bermuda grass
greens in the state.
“The pace of the greens is faster than what
we’re used to seeing,” Niles said.
“But the course is in really good shape. It’s
tough, but it’s fair. If you hit a
good shot, you’re rewarded. If you don’t you’re
punished.”
Niles said he and his fellow members were
excited to showcase Oak Hills CC
to the best seniors in Texas. They’re equally
eager to play host to the 107th
Texas Amateur next summer.
“As a membership, we’re really proud of this
course,” Niles said. “We know it
could be one of the best in South Texas with a
little fine tuning.”
Rounding out the top five were Larry Nunez from
Austin and Lewis
Stephenson from Mansfield. They’re tied for
fourth place at 5-over 147.
Nunez shot 2-over 73 on Saturday; Stephenson
posted 3-over 74.
McGee, the first round leader, fell back with an
85.
“On this course, if you miss fairways and
greens, it’s going to be brutal,”
McGee said. “I really didn’t play that much worse
today. I just missed a few
more fairways.”
Fifty-nine players made the 36-hole cut at 15-
over 157.
This year’s Texas Senior Amateur is the sixth
TGA major championship
conducted at Oak Hills CC. In 1998, the last time
the club hosted the Texas
Senior Amateur, Texas Golf Hall of Famer Don
Addington won a record-
breaking sixth title. In addition to many other
championships, Oak Hills
hosted the first PGA Tour Championship in 1987
and the 2001 U.S. Junior
Amateur.
The final round of the 78th Texas Senior
Amateur begins Sunday at 8 a.m.
View results for Texas Senior Amateur
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