Texas Four-Ball Second Round Suspended by Darkness
BOERNE—Thunderstorms and lightning caused a four-hour delay during the second round of the 2016 Texas Four-Ball Championship at Cordillera Ranch. The inclement weather also shortened the two-man team championship to 36 holes.
The Texas Golf Association crowned a pair of champions in the Super and Super Senior Divisions, which were able to complete their second rounds. The Championship Division, however, was unable to finish the second round as darkness suspended play at 8:12 p.m.
Play resumes Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
Richard Koenig and Aaron Billings from Horseshoe Bay won the Senior Division title with a two-day score of 10-under-par 134. The Senior Division is played by amateurs aged 55 years and older. Koenig and Billings held off two Houston teams by a single shot. Jonathan Shipley and John Dowdall, as well as Bob Kearney and Gary Durbin, finished at 9-under 135.
“It was a very, very tough field and we knew it,” said Koenig, who holed out from the fairway for an eagle on the 17th hole. “We knew we had to play really well.”
In the Super Senior Division (65 years and older), Bob Hullender from San Antonio and Mike Arnold from Windcrest won for the third time. The duo also won in 2013 and 2014. This year, they finished with a 36-hole score of 7-under 137 to clip Sam Boyd from Horseshoe Bay and Ken Redfern from Austin by one stroke.
“The first three holes after the delay were tough, but we had to scramble for some pars,” Hullender said. “Once we kind of got back into the game we ended up making three birdies in a row.”
Indeed, Hullender and Arnold took turns rolling in birdies on the back nine. Hullender made birdies on the 14th and 16th holes; Arnold got his on the 15th.
Of the Championship Division teams that were able to post second round scores, Midland’s Andrew Wyatt and Andrew Hall share clubhouse leader status with Danny Simmerman from Shavano Park and J.J. Wall from San Antonio. Both teams sit at 7-under 137.
Before the storms rolled in midday on Saturday, Conroe’s Cory Wells struck some thunder of his own. On the 582-yard par-5 fifth hole, Wells made a double-eagle when he holed out from almost 250 yards.
“I had 244 (to the) flag and hit the hardest hybrid I could,” Wells said. “It was dead on line the whole way. I didn’t see it go in, but I knew I hit a good shot. I got up to the green, looked in the bunker and looked all around. Then I checked the cup and there it was.”
The shot moved Wells and his partner Clayton Jeffirs from Humble to 4-under on the day. They finished the second round with a score of 4-under 68.
The Championship Division’s second round resumes Sunday at 8:30 a.m.