Recent Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame inductee Wes McNulty of White Hall and Chris Jenkins of Little Rock have been part of enough playoffs and runner-up finishes lately that they wanted to take the lead right from the start.
McNulty and Jenkins opened the Arkansas State Golf Association's centennial season with a 10-under 62 in the Men's Four-Ball, tying a tournament-record round Saturday on the Park Course at Hot Springs Country Club.
"We brother-and-lawed well," McNulty said. "No. 10 was the only one we were in trouble on. Chris was on top of his game."
The duo, winners of the 2004 tournament the last year it was at Rebsamen Park Golf Course in Little Rock and in '05 the first year it was at HSCC, stormed out to a two-stroke lead with 11 birdies, only a bogey on the par-3 10th keeping them from breaking the low mark for the event. Hall of Famers Stan and Louis Lee of Heber Springs, the former recently retired from competitive golf, also carded a final-round 62 while winning their last of six championships in 2006, getting two cracks at the then Majestic Course with the Arlington closed for renovation.
McNulty and Jenkins bounced back with birdies from 12 to 15 before McNulty sank a tricky birdie putt on 18. They lead following this year's opening round after last year's first-day, four-stroke deficit ended up being their final runner-up margin.
They only lead by a couple of strokes after two teams benefited from a hot grouping in the 8:40 a.m. time slot. Matt Watts, the current runner-up in the early player of the year standings recently moved from Stuttgart to Rogers, and Stuttgart friend Alex Maynard opened with 64 while the Little Rock duo of Joey Nichols and J.C. Halsell shot 65.
Halsell shot the day's lone eagle on the course recently rated No. 1 in the state by Golfweek magazine (the Arlington ranked No. 4).
Michael Chaney of Fayetteville and Chris Collins of Rogers, part of the 2012 four-team playoff along with McNulty and Jenkins that Seth Garner and Wesley Harris won two months before their Lakeside graduation, sit three strokes back after a 6-under 66. Kerry Lott of Dardanelle and Casey Yates of Fayetteville shot 67 for fifth place, two strokes beyond the rest of the field.
Defending champions Steven Dixon and Brett Granata of Springdale Country Club, grouped with Lott and Yates, also shot under par but find themselves eight back at 70. Brian Pope of Texarkana and Blake Young of Benton, tied for second with McNulty and Jenkins a year ago, opened with 71.
The four local golfers found themselves near the bottom of the leaderboard, led by 1998 ASGA Match Play champion Lee Hiers of Hot Springs pairing with two-time Four-Ball champion David Shirey of Camden for a 77. Spa City duo of Ryan Browning and Mike Dolan, last-minute additions, carded 79 while Tim Burke of Hot Springs Village and Scott Bowen of Little Rock are tied for last at 80.
The tournament concludes with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. today on the Arlington, the winners taking home the Creekmore and Allison Trophy.
Sports on 03/29/2015