Grey Rock Golf Course seems to suit Alex Ellis. The current Firecracker Open Champion recently won the U.S. Open Qualifier at Grey Rock by shooting 67 and he posted the same number Saturday to take a two shot lead in the Austin Open. Ellis, shown below with the Firecracker Open Trophy, carded six birdies and one bogey to post 32-35=67 on Saturday. He birdied 2, 6, 7, 9, 15, 17 with his only bogey coming at the lengthly par 3 16th. Ellis, along with Straton Nolen, Matt Henson will head to Houston on Monday for the sectional U.S. Open qualifier.
View the full field scores and tee times at this link or by downloading the free GolfAustin.Org IPhone or Android application at the appropropriate app store. Scores will appear in real time as they are posted.
The Austin Open will award prizes in the overall division, a professional division and an amateur division. Cash prizes will go the the professionals and merchandise will be awarded to the amateurs.
Players and fans enjoyed watching the leaderboard while having lunch in the Grey Rock Pavilion and discussing the day's play with friends.
In the Overall Standings, Ellis leads with 67, followed by Matt Henson at -3, Jeff Howard and C. Moreland at -2, D. Davis, Scott Roudebush, and Brian Marini at -1.
In the Professional Standings Matt Henson leads with 69, Jeff Howard and C. Moreland are at 70, D. Davis, Scott Roudebush, and Brian Marini are at 71, with D. Everett, J. Willingham, Jay Reynolds, and C. King at even par 72.
In the Amateur Standings, Alex Ellis is at 67, Austin Sholtis is at 73, Stephan Schmiedling, Jack Cersosimo, E. Perez are at 74, and Matt Johnson, Gene Black, Michael Goldwater and Peach Reynolds at 75.
The golf course began the day with the greens fairly receptive but as the sun shone and the wind blew the greens firmed up and presented challenges to the players. Overall the course played fair and rewarded good shots while punishing those that strayed from the fairways. Play begins at 7:30 Sunday with tee times on both #1 and #10 with play concluding around noon. Follow the action at GolfAustin.Org.
