WACO, TX — "At 68, boom. One year, it was just gone. I lost 25 yards off the tee and one and a half of clubs in distance. So, at some point in time that hits everybody," Ed Brooks, a super senior golfer, said.
That's why the Texas Golf Association had more gentlemen than ever sign up for the tournament.
"I started playing in high school and played my way through college, and took off a few years working and started playing in the late 90s serious amateur golf again," Brooks added.
Brooks won the Senior Amateur Championship, for golfers ages 55 and up, back in 2017 at the age of 68.
"I was very fortunate. That wasn't supposed to happen. The man upstairs had a plan for me there somehow," Brooks said.
That win pushed him to continue to compete and now he's here in Waco at Ridgewood Country Club... where Mace Brindley has been a member for about 40 years.
"It's fun to have these golfers, many of which I know, have them come and play our course and see how our course holds up," Brindley, a super senior golfer, said.
Of the 70 gentlemen competing this week, eight are in the Legends division, ages 75+.
"I had always wanted to play but my job always took precedent over it," Don Grider, a legends golfer, said.
Don Grider served as a pilot in the Air Force for 22 years, and once he retired, he went straight for the greens.
Grider has won the Texas Super Senior Amateur Championship the past two years and is looking to turn make it a three peat this year.
Round two was cancelled due to bad weather. But, heading into the final round Thursday, Brooks and Grider are leading the Super Seniors and Legends, respectively.
