Wayne Wright Comes from Behind to Win North Senior Amateur
Fort Worth, TX – Wayne Wright comes from behind to win the 2017 North Senior Amateur at Ridglea Country Club’s Championship Course. Bryan Winnett takes the Super Senior Title in a two hole playoff.
Wayne Wright of Aledo was one of eleven players to start the day at least three shots back of Barry Brown’s two-under-par first round lead. Wright knew he needed to post a solid score to take the title after his one-over-par, 73 in the first round. He did just that with his three-under performance.
Wright, a Ridglea Country Club member, started the day with three straight pars before he saw his first birdie drop on the 570 yard par five, fourth. A bogey on the sixth was answered with a birdie on the eighth for outward nine of one-under-par.
Playing in the group behind Wright was Mike Peck of Irving and 2016 North Senior Amateur Champion Dave Davis of Saginaw.
Peck, like Wright, turned at one-under-par which led the field headed into the last nine holes.
Peck birdied the eleventh hole at same time in which Wright birdied the par four, twelfth. Peck though didn’t have such luck and recorded a double-bogey on the same hole to fall now one back of Wright.
Davis was one back as he made the turn and with a bogey on the eleventh, he was suddenly three back after Wright’s birdie. Unfortunately, for Davis he didn’t recorded any red numbers till late on the back nine with birdies on the sixteenth and eighteenth hole.
Peck followed up his double-bogey with a birdie on the thirteenth but couldn’t get another red number on the card for the rest of round.
Wright stepped up to the last not knowing where he stood among his fellow competitors but knowing that a closing birdie would get him close to the top of the leaderboard. He hit a perfect drive down the middle on the 515 yard par five, with only about 250 yards remaining. Wright hit a booming three wood to 10 yards short of the green. His pitch shot landed perfectly on top of the ridge protecting the hole and trickled to within a two feet of the hole. Wright knocked in the putt and secured the title of North Senior Amateur Champion.
First Round leader Barry Brown of McKinney finished tied for fifteenth.
In the Super Senior Division, Al Joe Hunt of Whitney, carded five straight birdies on holes eight through twelve to get him into a playoff with first round leader Bryan Winnett of Fort Worth. Winnett’s birdie on the eighth, his seventeenth, secured the chance to convert his first round lead into a victory.
In the playoff, the pair traded pars on the par four, twelfth. They stepped up to the par three, thirteenth when Hunt put his tee shot on the upper tier of the green that featured a front left hole location. Nearly holing his almost 35 foot putt, Hunt needed eight feet for par and a halve with Winnett. The putt slide by and Winnett had won the Super Senior Title.
The Texas Golf Association would like to thank the membership, professional staff and especially the grounds staff of Ridglea Country Club. The course took on some water from storms preceding the tournament and the staff had the course in immaculate shape.
The North Regional Series will take a break as Qualifying begins for the 108th Texas Amateur. The next regional championship will be the North Amateur at Timarron Country Club on August 4th -6th. For more information regarding the North Senior Amateur, please click here.