It was closer than he wanted, but Emile Vaughan, who lives in Pike Road near Montgomery, won not only the 57-64 age group in the 16th State Senior Amateur Championship Wynlakes Golf & Country Club, but the overall championship as well.

He shot rounds of 69-70-75–214 to finish on two-under-par and one clear of Birmingham's John Lyon, who started slowly with an opening 77, but roared home over the weekend with rounds of 67-70, for a total of 215.

Vaughan, who won the inaugural State Mid-Amateur in 1989 and the 2007 State Senior, was eligible to win the overall title as both age groups play from the same tees in this Alabama Golf Association state championship.

“I barely got it done,” Vaughan said. “I thought I had a three-shot lead after 14 holes, but didn't know any more than that.”

As it turned out he came to the tough closing hole, with water in play off the tee and by the green for approach shots, with just a one-shot lead.

“I really didn't want to know (where he stood) before my tee shot, but wanted to know after I had found the fairway. But no one seemed to know.”

He played his second shot, from 140 yards, safely away from the water, leaving a long putt from off the green, which rolled four fee

t past the hole. He made the putt and only then found out he had won by the slimmest of margins.

“Sometimes the less you know, the better. I do know this, you always need to try your hardest on every shot. I let a few shots slide in the middle of the round, but knew I had to play the rest of the way around par.”

He was able to do so, closing with six pars.

A Montgomery native his entire life, Vaughan, 57, played junior college golf for Alexander City (now Central Alabama Community College) and then transfered to Middle Tennessee State. He tried the mini-tours and club professional life, but it wasn't for him so he regained his amateur status  in 1982 and owns a commercial printing business in town. He is a member of Wynlakes and has played many, many rounds there over the years.

As well as finishing second overall, Lyon won the 50-56 age group by three from Robert Nelson of Fairhope (72-75-71), Montgomery's Stan Sherlin (73-70-75), and Mark Corley of Owens Cross Roads (72-71-75), all on 218.

Sterrett's David Head shot 73-73-74–220 to finish second in the 57-64 age group, with Mobile's Wayne Gardner winning the 65+ age group after rounds of 71-69-77–217 by three of over John Gibbs of Oneonta (76-72-72–220).

He shot rounds of 69-70–139 to stand at five-under-par and leads by four from Stan Sherlin, Mark Corley and Joey Holley, all of whom are tied on one-under-par. All three are in the 50-56 age group.

Vaughan, who won the inaugural State Mid-Amateur in 1989 and the 2007 State Senior, is eligible to win the overall title as both age groups play from the same tees in this Alabama Golf Association state championship.

“I've been a member at Wynlakes since 1988 and know it rather well. Last year the U.S. Senior Amateur qualifier was at Wynlakes and I've never been so nervous on a golf course. I was trying to qualify for a national championship and was expected to do well. That's extra pressure and its (home course knowledge) can be a double-edged sword. I was able to eke through in the second spot.”

However, he noted he had been “pretty comfortable” in his opening two rounds and said the course was running so hard and fast it was imperative to keep the ball in play.

“Knowing the course so well, I've been able to club down on some tee shots and keep it (his ball) in play.”

A Montgomery native his entire life, V

aughan, 57, played junior college golf for Alexander City (now Central Alabama Community College) and then transfered to Middle Tennessee State. He tried the mini-tours and club professional life, but it wasn't for him so he regained his amateur status  in 1982 and owns a commercial printing business in town.

“Par or better tomorrow (Sunday) should be good. That's what I'm aiming for.”

Sherlin, a Montgomery native, and Holley, who hails from Troy, teamed up to win last year's State Senior Four Ball. This time around they will be paired in the final group trying to win an individual state title.

Sherlin has shot 73-70, Holley 70-73 and Corley, who is from Owens Cross Roads near Huntsville, shot 72-71, for all three to be on 143. They lead the 50-56 age division by two from Birmingham's John Lyon, who had the round of the day, a five-under-par 67, to be on his own in fourth on 145. He shot an opening round of 78.

David Head of Sterrett is a distant second to Vaughan in the 57-64 age group  after back-to-back 73's leave him on 146.

Mobile's Wayne Gardner leads the 65+ after fine rounds of 71-69–140. Don Blanton of Selma is second after going 10 shots higher in his second round (77), than his stellar opening 67. They cannot win the overall title however, as this age division plays a shorter course.

The overall leaders tee off on No. 1 at 9:10 on Sunday.

Vaughan, who won the State Mid-Amateur in 1989 and the 2007 State Senior, is in the 57-64 age division, but is eligible to win the overall title as both age groups play from the same tees in this Alabama Golf Association state championship.

However, everyone is looking up at Selma’s Don Blanton who matched six birdies against a lone bogey for a five-under-par 67 in the 65+ age division. Blanton has a total of five AGA wins: three wins in the State Senior Four Ball with Sam Farlow, and he also won it with the late Art Gleason. Plus he took home the 2009 State Senior.

He leads the 65+ by four from Mobile’s Wayne Gardner. They cannot win the overall title however, as this age division plays a shorter course.

Vaughan had birdies on Nos. 4, 15, 17 and 18 for a strong finish, with his only bogey coming on No. 12. He leads Dothan’s Tommy Williams by three in the 57-64 age division, with defending champion Tom Jungkind of Bessemer in a tie for sixth on 74. Jungkind won both the overall title and he 57-64 age division last year.

In the 50-56 age division, Price and Holley, who won last year’s State Senior Four Ball with Stan Sherlin, have a one shot lead over a quartet of players: N.H. Holt, Claude Cooper, Kevin Newton and Steve Hudson, who is gunning for his fourth state title in four years as he won the State Senior in 2011, as well as the 2010 and 2012 State Mid-Amateurs.

Tee times on Saturday are from 7:30 – 9:10 and 11:50 – 1:10 off Nos. 1 and 10.

Wynlakes Golf & Country Club in Montgomery is the host for the 16th State Senior Amateur Championship, which begins this Friday.

A strong field will play three rounds of stroke play with the championship concluding on Sunday. Three age divisions will compete: 50-56, 57-64 and 65+.

Tom Jungkind of Bessemer is the defending champion and last year he won both the overall title and his age division (57-64) after rounds of 70-69-70–209 at Northriver Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa.

Jungkind has won two State Senior Four Ball titles with Mike Greer, and Jungkind has also won the State Four Ball twice (in 2006 with Mark Lindsey and in 1993 with David Minshew). Jungkind is playing this week, but Greer, Minshew and Lindsey are not.

Other Alabama Golf Association state champions in the field include the following players.

Steve Hudson of Birmingham won the State Senior in 2011, as well as the 2010 and 2012 State Mid-Amateurs, and has been the AGA Player of the Year multiple times.

Don Blanton of Selma has a total of five AGA wins: three wins in the State Senior Four Ball with Sam Farlow (who is not playing this week), and he also won it with the late Art Gleason. Plus the 2009 State Senior.

Emile Vaughan of Pike Road won the State Mid-Amateur in 1989 and the 2007 State Senior.

Earle Bidez of Birmingham won the State Senior Four Ball with Jon Golden in 2007. (Bidez is playing this week; Golden is not).

Robert Nelson of Fairhope won the 2009 State Mid-Amateur and the State Junior in 1978.

Stan Sherlin of Montgomery won the State Mid-Amateur in 1996 and ‘97, as well as the ‘01 State Four Ball, with former State Amateur champion John Coles III, and last year’s State Senior Four Ball with Joey Holley of Troy. Sherlin and Holley are playing, Coles is not. Holley also won the State Four Ball with Terry Mobley in 1994.

2007 State Four Ball champion Del Wood III of Birmingham (with Alan Coshatt) is teeing it up (Coshatt is not old enough to do so).

Frank Vines of Birmingham won the State Four Ball in 1990 with Tom Jones. (Vines is playing; Jones is not).

Bob Dumas of Auburn won the 2008 State Senior.

Ralph Mathews of Andalusia won the State Senior in 2010 and the State Senior Four Ball with Greenville’s David Hancock in 2009. Both are playing. Mathews also won the State Junior in 1974.

Tee times on Friday are from 7:30 – 9:10 and 11:50 – 1:20 off Nos. 1 and 10.

Thomas Sutton led the way as he fired a five-under-par 66 to lead the five qualifiers at Timberline Golf Club in Calera.

He will be joined at Sectionals, at various locations across the country, by the other four local qualifiers: Zachary Portemont, who shot 68, and Wilson McDonald, who shot 69, plus Pope Spruiell and Conner Pratt who beat Jacob Randall in a playoff for the final two spots after all three shot 70.

All have the goal of qualifying for the U.S. Open, to be played June 13-16 at Merion in Ardmore, Pa.

Sutton is a regular on the golf team at UAB and is a redshirt junior from Montgomery. He carded both nines of 33, with birdies on Nos. 4, 5, 8, 11, 15 and 18 against a bogey on No. 10.

“We play out here (UAB) about once every 10 days, so I’m familiar with the course. That helped. Plus I hit it well and putted well,” Sutton said.

He came in playing well after a second place finish in Mississippi State’s spring tournament a few weeks ago.

He also credited his teammate and caddie Paul Dunne, who did not try to qualify because he is from Ireland and will be home for the summer.

Portemont played college golf for Troy University from 2007-11. He is now an assistant professional at Grand National in Opelika, having played on the Peach State Tour, a regional mini-tour in 2012.

“I had some success and broke even for the year, which was a goal of mine. Unfortunately my investors backed out, so I couldn’t do it again this year.”

His home town is Andalusia, but he traveled all over the East and Southeast as a young man working for his family’s traveling carnival show, All American Shows Inc.

McDonald also plays for UAB and hails from Mobile, as does Pratt who played for Spain Park High School, played his freshman year at Coastal Carolina, before transferring to UAB, where he is now a junior. Spruiell is from Livingston and plays mini-tour golf.

Randall lives in Vestavia Hills. He won the State Junior in 2006 and headed to the University of South Alabama to play golf. However, that wasn’t for him and he stopped playing golf after a year in school. After his sophomore year he transfered to Alabama to continue his education and did not play golf for four years until picking it back up early this year. He is the first alternate.

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Amid cold and damp conditions, Bronson and Holder won by a score of 2 & 1, with the former Alabama students combining to take home this state title.

In Sunday morning’s semifinals they had beaten young Tuscaloosa natives Jake DeZoort, 15, and Tyler Hitchner, 17 by a score of 4 & 3, while Farlow and Fulkerson,  both members at the Country Club of Birmingham, and also former students at the University of Alabama, saw off defending champions Tommy Coggin and Doug Davis, both members of Vestavia Country Club, by a margin of 2 & 1.

Bronson and Holder were also the low medallists in stroke play qualifying with a score of 12-under-par and in four matches they never needed to play the 18th hole as they closed out all their matches before this point.

Long-time friends, they grew up in Mobile and played on the UMS Wright Prep School, with Bronson the No. 1 player as an eighth grader, with Holder No. 2 man that year as a senior. Bronson, who played for the University of Alabama golf team as a walk on as a senior in 2011, now lives and works in Montgomery, while Holder resides in Point Clear.

They lost the first hole of the final match, but were never headed after taking the lead on the seventh hole. Birdies by Bronson on Nos. 9 and 10, both par fives, took them 3 up, but Farlow cut into the lead with a birdie on No. 11. It was as close as he and Fulkerson, 35 and who played for Alabama, would get as Bronson birdied the 13th to go back up by three.

Farlow, 27 and son of four-time State Amateur champion Sam Farlow, who watched both matches Sunday, made a birdie putt on the 15th to cut the deficit, but the next two holes were halved in pars, leaving Bronson and Holder on top after Holder holed a 10 foot putt on No. 17 to seal the victory.

“We came in here with no expectations,” Bronson said. “I played a lot of golf in college, but not so much now. It was so fun to get on a roll and keep winning matches.”

“Hunter is the better player. I just tried to make pars and get out the way. We’ve known each other a long time and are comfortable with each other’s games,” Holder said.

Their win grants them each a five-year exemption into the State Amateur Championship.

Four teams are left standing after two rounds of match play in the 31st State Four Ball Championship at NorthRiver Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa.

They include defending champions Tommy Coggin and Doug Davis, both members of Vestavia Country Club. They face off in Sunday’s second semi-final at 7:40 against Bo Farlow and John Fulkerson, both members at the Country Club of Birmingham, and former students at the University of Alabama.

Coggin and Davis beat Robson Copenhaver and Blake Mozley 6 & 4 in the quarterfinals, while Farlow, son of four-time State Amateur champion Sam Farlow, and Fulkerson beat John Barnett IV and McGowin Miller 2 and 1.

The first semi-final, set to tee off at 7:30, pits stroke play low qualifiers Hunter Bronson and Brinson Holder against young Tuscaloosa natives Jake DeZoort, 15, and Tyler Hitchner, 17.

Bronson and Holder, both former students at Alabama, beat Clint Compton and Mike Lewis 4 & 2 in the quarterfinals, while youngsters DeZoort and Hitchner beat two 50-somethings and both multiple Alabama Golf Association championships winners Steve Hudson and Robert Nelson 1 up.

The final will follow the semifinals at approximately 12 noon.

They played high school golf at UMS Wright Prep School in Mobile and have been friends for many years. They fired rounds of 66-64–130 to finish 12-under-par and pip three teams on 11-under: defending champions Tommy Coggin and Doug Davis (66-65), former champion Woodie Eubanks and Will Swift (65-66), and overnight leaders, youngsters Jake DeZoort, 15, and Tyler Hitchner, 17 (63-68).

The 16 qualifying teams in this Alabama Golf Association state championship will start match play Saturday morning and the eight advancing teams will play that afternoon, with four teams left Sunday morning and the final two teams playing each other Sunday afternoon to determine the champion.

Bronson walked on the golf team at Alabama in 2011 as a senior and made the squad. Holder is three years older than his partner and also attended Alabama, but did not play on the golf team. They are now both working for a living, with Bronson living in Montgomery and Holder in Point Clear.

Bronson said they “brother-in-lawed well” and are pleased to qualify first, “but that was not our main focus. We just wanted to qualify and see what happened.”

He made a hole-in-one in Thursday’s first round holing a 9-iron from 156 yards on No. 6. It must be catching, as he also made an ace last week in a social round at Lagoon Park in Montgomery.

“We know any team that has qualified can beat any team in match play; it’s a pretty even playing field. We’d love to keep striking it well and putting well, which has been the difference. And, we’d love to play four more matches,” Bronson said.

NorthRiver hosted the State Four Ball in its early days from 1984-88 and again in 2009.

The field in this Alabama Golf Association state championship will play two rounds of stroke play, with the low 16 teams advancing to match play after Friday’s second round. Those teams will play matches Saturday morning and the eight advancing teams will play that afternoon, with four teams left Sunday morning and the final two teams playing each other Sunday afternoon to determine the champion.

DeZoort and Hitchner are both home-schooled and both live in Tuscaloosa. They have a two-shot lead over three teams: Woodie Eubanks of Trussville and Hoover’s Will Swift; Clint Compton of Albertville and Guntersville’s Mike Lewis; and Robson Copenhaver of Scottsboro and Blake Mozley of Albertville, all of whom shot 65 over the par 71 layout.

Last year’s champions, Tommy Coggin and Doug Davis, are a further shot back on 66, as are John Barnett IV and McGowin Miller

and Hunter Bronson and Brinson Holder.

Although they live in Tuscaloosa, both young men professed to not having played much at NorthRiver. They do, however, play a lot of golf and play a lot together.

“Being home-schooled we get out (of class) at 1:30 each and head to the golf course (they practice at Ol’ Colony) every day,” DeZoort said.

“We know each other’s games very well,” Hitchner added. “We are definitely comfortable playing together. And we have played in a lot of junior tournaments such as SJGT and AJGA.”

They don’t have match play experience, but were very pleased with their opening round.

They chose to play as, being home-schooled, they are not busy with high school golf and the championship was in their home town.

Eubanks, the men’s golf coach at Samford University, won this title two years ago with former Samford golfer Forrest Crabtree. Both he and Swift are multiple AGA champions and both play at Hoover Country Club.

NorthRiver hosted the State Four Ball in its early days from 1984-88 and again in 2009.

Friday’s tee times are from 8-9:50 off Nos. 1 and 10.

Five players will advance to sectional qualifying at various locations across the country, all with the goal of qualifying for the U.S. Open, to be played June 13-16 at Merion in Ardmore, Pa.

Tee times will be from 7:30 – 11:15, all of No. 1.

Players of note in the field include University of Alabama golfers Robby Prater and Trey Mullinax; Auburn University players Michael Johnson and Jackson Beindorf; UAB golfers Thomas Sutton, Hunter Hawkins, Conner Pratt, Wilson McDonald and Will Cannon; Samford

University golfers Clay Nolen and Drew Aimone; former PGA Tour winner Spike McRoy; mini-tour players Gator Todd,  Jimmy Brandt and Pope Spruiell; former Alabama Open champion Jason Dillard; multiple local high school golfers including Nick Cortez, Connor Slane and Connor Smith; four-time State Amateur champion Sam Farlow; multiple AGA State title winner Steve Hudson; and three-time State Mid-Amateur champion Scott Weaver.