OOLTEWAH, TN (May 26, 2017) - Keith Holmes of Macon, GA scored 37 Stableford points to grab the first-round lead at the Lupton Senior Invitational at The Honors Course.
The leaderboard is tightly bunched behind Holmes. Ken Phillips and Mitch Hufstetler are one point behind with 36 points, and three players--Adam Kugler, Alan Thielemann and Preston Edmondson--are two back at 35.
Chris Hall, Jack Hall and Randy Yoder are tied for seventh with 34 points, and five more players including Paul Simson registered 33 points.
In the Super Senior Division, Robert Hess scored 35 points to lead by one over four players: Bob Howe, Don Kuehn, Larry Clark and Neil Spitalny.
The Lupton Senior is one of the very few major tournaments to adopt the Modified Stableford format. In the Modified Stableford, one point is awarded for a bogey, two for a par, three for a birdie, and so on. The beauty of the format, especially at such a difficult and penal course like The Honors, is that there is no difference between a double, triple, quad or higher score. Any score above a bogey earns zero points, and the player can simply pick up if he doesn't earn any points on a hole.