Between them, Will Aycock and Jason Staggs have won five Rawls Men's Golf Association championships, having logged more time than most players on the eight-year-old Rawls Course. Houston resident Larry Seligmann is playing the Rawls Course for the first time this weekend, and Lance Wright's experience on the Tech layout is somewhere in between.
On Friday, though, drastic weather changes narrowed the advantage that course knowledge provides.
Aycock and Wright carded 1-over-par 73s, while Seligmann and Staggs joined Nathan Coulter in shooting 74s, making a crowded leaderboard after the first round of the Jerry Rawls Classic.
They all had to manage their games around wild weather changes: from hot and still in the beginning, to a blast of early wind, then a rain delay and, finally, pleasant and cool. But pleasant and cool described the scene for only the last few holes.
"The conditions were probably the most difficult I've played here in a long time," said Aycock, a two-time Rawls club champion. "It was tough."
Rain stopped play for about 45 minutes when the leaders were early on the back nine, but a wind that shifted from out of the northeast to out of the south was particularly confounding.
"I think the people that normally play this course didn't have an advantage like they normally would if it was blowing out of the south, because it (called for) totally different clubs and how the holes played," said Staggs, a three-time Rawls club champion. "It was a little different out there."
Wright, a former golf pro who manages Golf Headquarters, drove the ball well to help set up three front-nine birdies, but those were offset by two bogeys. Then he shot 38 on the back nine, but that was still good enough for a share of the lead.
"I'm kind of surprised at some of the scores," he said. "I thought there would have been a couple under par. I thought I should have been 71 at worst today. I'm a little surprised that 73's tied for the lead, honestly."
On the way to his 73, Aycock birdied No. 14 with a chip-in and No. 15 with a 9 iron to 15 feet. The onset of the late-afternoon storm hit him especially hard. With the wind whipping, he three-putted the 12th green for double bogey and then, after the weather delay, he went back out and bogeyed No. 13.
"I hit the ball all right; it was just 12 and 13 killed me," he said. "(No.) 12 was really a bad hole, but other than that, I played all right, played really well."
Staggs was within one shot of the top after making birdie on the par-5 18th.
"Conditions were tough, and the rain delay didn't help," he said. "It was probably 45 minutes and then getting back out there and trying to stretch out and play. I think the scores are kind of reflecting the conditions. Even though I didn't play that well, I'm happy to be where I am."
The leaders' being unable to go low left the weekend open to a wide range of possibilities with eight players within five shots. One of those is the 1989 Texas Amateur champion. The 51-year-old Seligmann played at Tech, but that was long before the Rawls Course opened.
"I've never played the course, so I was happy with the way I played; I just didn't know where to hit it," he said.
In addition to battling the same unpredictable conditions as everyone else in the top flight, Seligmann was coming off a Friday morning flight in from Scottsdale, Ariz., and little sleep.
"I'm happy with my golf game," he said, "but obviously coming here on four hours rest and not knowing the course wasn't an ideal situation."
THE JERRY RAWLS CLASSIC
at the Rawls Course
Par 72;
Friday's First Round
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
Lance Wright 73
Will Aycock 73
Jason Staggs 74
Nathan Coulter 74
Larry Seligmann 74
Landon Waters 76
Greg Roberts 77
Bryan Buie 78
PRESIDENTS FLIGHT
Blake Ashcraft 78
Austin Jung 82
Randy Richardson 83
Kyle Beebe 83
Drew Winters 87
Matt Heasley 89
Josh Fairbanks 91
FIRST FLIGHT
Jon Gonzales 73
Josh Weast 74
Josh White 77
Jim Ferrell 78
Haffis Banire 80
Garry Copple 81
Chad Garlington 82
Chris Ryburn 82
Anthony Capwell 85
Rick Hancock 88
SECOND FLIGHT
Stan Roberts 77
Jeff Carter 79
Marty Faubus 82
Devan Adams 85
Steve Owen 86
T.J. Greenwood 90
THIRD FLIGHT
Jeff Reasoner 77
Kent Payne 81
Ron Hettler 85
Steve Bewley 87
Wade Davenport 88
Ken Beebe 89
Aaron Waldrip 90
Chuck Chapman 95
Mike Karon 95
SENIORS DIVISION
Net scores
(80 percent of handicap)
Dale Hayden 71
Chris Marston 71
Roy Holland 73
David Hallgarth 74
Mark Waldrip 75
Harold Flournoy 76
Charles Bentley 77
Gordon Davis 78
Dusty Thomas 78
Ronnie Hughes 79
Jerry Smith 80
Gerald Myers 87
TODAY'S TEE TIMES
SENIORS DIVISION
8 a.m.: Smith, Hughes, Myers. 8:10 a.m.: Thomas, Davis, Bentley. 8:20 a.m.: Waldrip, Flournoy, Hallgarth. 8:30 a.m.: Holland, Hayden, Marston.
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
8:40 a.m.: Waters, Roberts, Buie, Coulter. 8:50 a.m.: Aycock, Staggs, Seligmann, Wright.
PRESIDENTS FLIGHT
9 a.m.: Fairbanks, Heasley, Jung, Winters. 9:10 a.m.: Richardson, Ky.Beebe, Ashcraft.
FIRST FLIGHT
9:20 a.m.: Garlington, Capwell, Hancock. 9:30 a.m.: Banire, Copple, Ryburn. 9:40 a.m.: Gonzales, Weast, White, Ferrell.
SECOND FLIGHT
9:50 a.m.: Greenwood, Owen, Adams. 10 a.m.: Roberts, Carter, Faubus.
THIRD FLIGHT
10:10 a.m.: Chapman, Karon, Waldrip. 10:20 a.m.: Ke.Beebe, Davenport, Bewley. 10:30 a.m.: Hettler, Payne, Reasoner.
