When Thad Hudgens was 50 years old two years ago, he saw a short track in his golf career leading to the senior amateur circuit.
“It is sort of my last little section to advance my game,” said Hudgens, Longwood, Florida. “I will see what I can do for the elderly to come. Here between the 50th anniversary and now I work quite hard. I’m just going to work like crazy up to 55 and see if I can do something. »»
During his first national golfweek event, Hudgens exercised a tour which suggests that 2025 could be a very happy new year. Playing in the Master’s Division (for players aged 40 to 55) of the first Golfweek Pirates Classic, Hudgens opened its doors with a 4-mine of 67 at TPC Tampa Bay which left him an immediate advance of three blows. He started his day with an eagle at the first hole in 4 after his approach of 110 yards with a corner of the gap found the bottom of the hole.
From there, Hudgens exceeds the nine front, then added three birdies and only one bogey on the nine rear. He leads Jerry Slagle of Southlake, Texas, who had 70, in the combined division of the Master / Senior Midfdom.
“I played quite well all day, I only did one Bogey, so it was quite stable,” he said.
Hudgens is removed more than 10 years from the Victory of Florida Mid-Amateur 2014. He won the Lupton Invitational (2017 and 2013), a better amateur event twice during the specialization class in Ooltewah, Tennessee, and he Make the second round of the match at US 2022 US Mid-amateur. Its annual schedule generally revolves strongly around the events of the Florida State Golf Association with an invitation handful in the mixture. So far, Hudgens has tried twice, without success, to qualify for the US Senior Open and British Senior Open.
In recent months, Hudgens has started working with the UK-based swing instructor Liam Robinson, with whom he connected on social networks. Robinson, a full -fledged talented player who once contributed to the DP World Tour, helped Hudgens intensify his game.
“He came to town for a few weeks, so I worked with him a little – maybe it was three weeks ago,” said Hudgens.
Hudgens played the university golf course in Ole Miss in the early 1990s, then competed briefly as a professional, mainly on the Hooters tour, Golden Bear Tour and what is now the Korn Ferry Tour. He qualified for a PGA Tour event, the Fedex St. Jude Classic, in 1993. In particular, the life of Hudgens outside the golf course revolves around Huey Magoo’s, the chain of chicken restaurants that he and a former teammate d’Ole Miss founded in 2004.
At the Golfweek Pirates Classic, the opening of Hudgens 67 was the low score in all divisions in a certain amount.
Mike Arter de Lakeville, Massachusetts, leads the super senior division after a 3 against 74 with Byron Whitman from Bonita Springs, Florida, one shot back.
Kevin Macy de Tampa filmed in an equal 72 to reach the top of the classification in the legends division and leads Greg Osborne de Litiz, in Pennsylvania, who killed 3.
Greg Osborne’s older brother, John Osborne, who lives in Vero Beach, Florida, heads the Super Legends division after also dismissed 74. Frank Polizzi of Plymouth Meeting, Massachusetts, was 4 years old.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Golfweek Pirates Classic: Thad Hudgens makes known his presence with the opening 67
