Jordan Sanders Shoots 61 At Muny-Leads Men’s City With 14 Under

Jordan Sanders shoots 61 at Lions Municipal in 2nd round of 2016 Men’s City Championship

Jordan Sanders stood on the 18th tee at Lions Municipal Golf Course in the second round of the men’s city championship needing a birdie to tie the course record at Lions.  He was 10 under par for the round.

In 2015, Jay Reynolds was in a similar situation.  He stood on Muny’s 18th tee at 9 under par.  Reynolds drove the green and made the putt to shoot 60 and break a long standing course record of 61, shared by Ben Crenshaw and Randi Petri.  Most people know about Ben Crenshaw but not as many know about Petri.  He was perhaps the best junior to ever come out of the Austin golfing scene.  Click here to learn more about Randy Petri.

Sanders, who played high school golf at Cedar Park High School, just finished his freshman year at Texas Tech and has transferred to North Texas State where he will be playing golf in his sophmore year. Read his Texas Tech Bio here.

Jordan Sanders Putt at Lions Municipal to tie course record of 60

Sanders blasted a tee shot long and straight and wound up about three feet off the front of the 18th green.  He was about 50 feet from the cup with a cross grain putt that would break six feet to the right.  His first putt was short by some ten feet.  So now he had another right breaker cross grain and slightly down grain to tie the course record.  He lipped out.

His two day total of 129, 14 under par is good for a four shot lead over Thomas Holtzman.  Holtzman played high school golf at Lake Travis High School but had some health issues that prevented him from reaching his potential.  He currently plays for St. Edwards University and has shot 65 at Morris Williams and 68 at Lions.  Read more about Thomas Holtzman at this link.

Jay Reynold’s with his trophy after his 2015 Men’s City Championship win

Jay Reynolds is the defending Champion of the Men’s City.  He started strong with a 66 at Morris Williams and followed up with 69 at Lions Municipal.  His two day total of eight under is six back of Sanders.  However, Reynolds has the firepower to post two low rounds and has played a lot of golf at Greyrock, the next course in the rotation.  He also leads the Austin Amateur Golf points ranking by a considerable margin and just won the Chester Cup.

Steve Paterson

There are lots of story lines in a tournament like the Austin Men’s City Championship.  For example, Steve Paterson shot 66 at Lions Municipal today to go with his first round 74 at Morris Williams.  The interesting thing about the round is that he made three eagles on par fives.  He made eagle at holes number 2, 8, and 12. He also birdied number 14 to post a total of seven under par for the four par fives.  Unfortunately he had five bogies in his round to 66.  Quite unusual.  But then that is the nature of Lions Municipal Golf Course.  Lots of scoring opportunities but trouble is not far away.  It’s not like Paterson is a dark horse.  He won last year’s Austin Amateur Golf points race and was named Austin’s Mid Amateur of the year.

I saw Bill Sill in the parking lot after the round.  He shot 70 at Lions and made the cut for the first time in the Men’s City Championship.  Congrats to Bill.  His story is one of many that play out in a championship like this that allows all the Austin golfers the chance to tee it up and see what the golfing gods bestow upon us.  It’s a glorious occasion.

Chris Shive leads the senior division at one under par.  He shot 73 at Morris Williams and 69 at Lions.  Click here to see the senior standings.

Forrest Miller leads the junior division at even par.  Click here to see the junior standings.

The cut for the final 36 holes was 11 over par.  The top 72 players will play Greyrock and Jimmy Clay in the final two rounds.

By the way, the courses were in great shape.  There is more grass on the fairways at Morris Williams than I have ever seen and the rough was deep and difficult.  The fairways at Lions and the greens were great.  Congrats the city staff for all the good work and thanks to mother nature for the spring rains.

Follow the third and fourth round action on the free GolfAustin App for I-phones and Android devices.  Scores are posted after each nine holes and after more frequently in the final round.  Go to the app store to acquire the app.

Results of the first two rounds are below.

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