After entering the second round tied for the lead with five other golfers, Jack Larkin Sr. of Atlanta, Ga., has separated and leads the field by one shot at the 2024 Jones Cup Senior Invitational at Sea Island Golf Club in Saint Simons Island, Ga.
Larkin is 2-under for the tournament after two consecutive rounds of 1-under 69. Larkin has recorded four birdies, two bogeys, and 30 pars throughout the tournament.
Chris Hall of Acworth, Ga., is in solo second place at 1-under, and Jack Hall of Savannah, Ga., is in solo third place at even par.
Dave Bunker of Canada and Joe Palmer of Norwalk, Ia., are T4 at 1-over. Dennis Martin of Los Angeles, Calif., Matt Sughrue of Arlington, Va., and Gary Robinson of Myrtle Beach, S.C., are T6 at 2-over. Six golfers are T9 at 3-over and five shots back of Larkin.
Larkin Sr. had a great 2023, winning the 2023 Georgia Senior Championship and making the match-play portion of the U.S. Senior Amateur. He also finished in solo second place at the 2023 Lupton Senior Invitational, second place at the Chanticleer Senior Invitational, and T6 at the Jones Cup Senior. He finished in the final 32 of the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur.
The 2023 Jones Cup Senior champion Bob Royak of Alpharetta, Ga., is 3-over and T9. Royak is the highest-ranked player in the field, currently No. 2 in the AmateurGolf.com Senior Rankings. Royak has shot rounds of 72-71.
The Jones Cup Senior boasts one of the best senior fields in the country year in and year out, with nine of the top 10 golfers in the AmateurGolf.com Senior Rankings in the field this week.
The Jones Cup was born from the A.W. Jones family and its commitment to amateur golf. The Jones family has owned and operated the Cloister Hotel and Sea Island Golf Club since 1928. The Sea Island Golf Club has hosted six USGA championships and will be the site of the 2004 U.S. Mid-Amateur in October. The Jones Cup Senior Invitational is yet another extension of the family’s strong involvement in amateur golf.
This 54-hole individual senior stroke play event inaugurated in 2012 is contested at Ocean Forest Golf Club. The Rees Jones design opened in 1995 and has hosted the 1998 Georgia State Amateur Championship, the 1999 Southern Amateur Championship, and the 2001 Walker Cup Match.