Despite an early morning shower, play did resume at the 2011 U.S. Mid-Amateur at 7:34 a.m. CDT. Showers are again in the forecast for today, but as long as no electricity is associated with the rain, we should be able to keep playing. Round two has also started this morning. Starting times were adjusted 30 minutes for golfers starting round two. With the two qualifying courses adjacent to each other, it makes things logistically easier for contestants to get from one venue to the other.
The Houstonian Golf and Country Club and Shadow Hawk Golf Club, which will be the site for match play starting on Monday, are two separate private clubs that are owned by the same company. Both are Rees Jones designs that opened within a week of each other in 1999.
As for a first-round leader, Paul Simson of Raleigh, N.C., completed his final two holes on Sunday morning and posted a solid 5-under-par 67. The 60-year-old Simson is coming off a strong week at the USGA Senior Amateur at Kinloch Golf Club in suburban Richmond, Va., where he earned stroke-play medalist honors and advanced to the quarterfinals. He won the event in a dream 2010 season that saw him win the national senior titles of Great Britain, Canada and the United States, the first player to ever win all three prestigious titles in the same year.
Simson is a five-time USGA medalist, having achieved the feat four times in the Senior Amateur and once in the U.S. Mid-Amateur (2004), where he shared the honor with Jeff Wilson. He is one amazing golfer.