ODESSA, Texas — After an eventful afternoon, a
slew of 69s populates the top of the
leaderboard at the 87th playing of the West
Texas Amateur. Mark Jones Jr. of Odessa
was the first to come in this morning with the 3-
under-par score to take the early
lead. He held the solo lead until late in the
afternoon when four more players equaled
his round. Those four players were 2014 North
Mid-Amateur Champion Lewis
Stephenson of Mansfield, 2014 Texas Mid-
Amateur Champion Terence Begnel of
Midland, Taylor Grant of Abilene, and Micah
Rodgers of Odessa.
Rodgers, the final player to tie the lead, is a
product of Odessa Permian High School
as well as Odessa College and calls the host site,
Odessa Country Club, his home
course. After getting off to a slow start, the now
UL-Monroe senior managed to shoot
5-under on his last fourteen holes to head into
Saturday with a tie for the one shot
lead.
Four players sit just behind the leaders at 2-
under, while seven more are only two
shots back at 1-under.
Another Odessa local and Odessa Country Club
member, Luke Groves, shares a two
shot lead in the Senior Division with Jim Quinn
of Arlington at 1-under-par 71. Both
Quinn and Groves had similar routine days with
three birdies and two bogeys
respectively. Sitting at solo third is Doug
Hopton-Jones of Mansfield, with four players
shortly behind at 2-over.
In the Super Senior Division, Houston’s Chris
Larsen holds the lead at 8-over, Sam
Boyd of Horseshoe Bay is alone at second with
9-over, and Dan Mask Sr. of Irving is
in third at 10-over.
The 87th West Texas Amateur is the sixth TGA
statewide championship to be held this
year, and is returning to Odessa Country Club
for the first time in over a decade.
Established in 1939 the club is home to two
courses: the Links Course and the Old
Course where this year’s championship is being
played. When played at full length, the
course can be stretched to 7,069 yards. Paired
with the West Texas winds, it certainly
lives up to the challenge.
