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VERONA, N.Y. -- The leaderboard for the 12th NYS Men’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship is crowded at the top after the first round at Turning Stone Resort & Casino.

Three teams are tied for the lead at 6-under 66. Billy and David Hanes (Crag Burn GC), Derek Roller and Andrew Romano (Lancaster CC), and Chris Roeder (Brook-Lea CC) and his teammate Tim Coykendall (Ravenwood GC) hold a one stroke lead over the rest of the field.

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The Hanes brothers, who won the 2018 title at Leatherstocking, were able to keep mistakes off the card, coming into the clubhouse with a bogey-free round. “I think it is pretty similar to Crag Burn,” David Hanes said about Kaluhyat and the brothers' home course. “That was very helpful for us, and just kept it in play, hit straight shots, and that’s all we had to do.”

Shot of the day for the Hanes brothers was from David who stuck it to 5 feet on the par-3 17th hole and gave him a tap-in birdie to tie the lead going onto the 18th tee.

“It looked like it went in,” 2018 NYS Mid-Amateur Champion Billy said about his brother’s impressive shot. “It looked like it lipped out actually.”

Roller and Romano earned their spot at the top of the leaderboard by knocking in four birdies on their back nine after dropping a huge eagle on the Par 5 sixth early in the round (they started on No. 3). 

Another set of brothers are a stroke off the leaders, Ryan and Tyler Edholm (Pendleton Creek GC), who sit at 67 and also finished the round without a bogey. Joining them at the number is Jayson Clarke and Josh Desain (Wayne Hills CC) who converted four birdies and an eagle on the front nine of the Kaluhyat course.

Following them are four teams who sit at 4-under par and also four teams tied at 3-under as well including 2019 champion Ryan Gabel (Southern Dutchess CC) and his new partner Doug Kleeschulte (Wiltwyck GC), who's a past NYS Men's Am champion (2010).

Majority of the Amateur Division played Kaluhyat Golf Course on Sunday, while over a dozen other teams played on Shenendoah for the opening round.

Kaluhyat Golf Course setup at 6,724 yards for the Amateur field, while Shenendoah setup at 7,002 yards.

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In the 11th NYS Men’s Senior Amateur Four-Ball Championship, Chris Smithers (Tuscarora GC) and David Hicks (Cornell University GC) lead the senior division by a stroke at 7-under 65. 

A total of fourteen teams shot under par on Sunday at Turning Stone on the Shenendoah Golf Course.

Smithers and Hicks started out a little slow, but turned the switch and started to take command of the course.

“But then we turned it around, and we both hit it pretty good.” Hicks said about the bogey on the second hole of their round. “Chris’s putter got a little hotter than mine, he had an eagle on the short hole”.

Smithers, who tied for 2022 NYS Men's Senior Am runner-up, was getting praise from his partner of how well he was able to understand and commit to the tough greens on the course.

“I thought Chris read the green’s beautifully, in fact I had him read most of mine” Hicks said. “The three of us would at times have trouble reading the greens.” Smithers also noted that this course is in “great shape.”

Two-time NYS Mid-Am champion Luke Hobika (Yahnundasis GC) and partner Joe Babcock (NYSGA eClub – CNY) are just one stroke of the lead and are in solo second place. 2018 NYS Men's Senior Champion Robert Hughes (Watertown GC) and his partner John Bufalini (NYSGA eClub - Watertown) were able to come in at 5-under 67 and are tied for third with Jim Mueller (Orchard Creek GC) and Mark Chylinski (Schenectady Municipal GC).

The 2021 champions, Mark Battle (Ravenwood GC) and Chris Sorci ( NYSGA eClub - Roc.) are tied with three other teams at 2-under 70.

2022 champions Matt Clarke (Cazenovia CC) and Bob Rosen (CC of Buffalo) opened with a 3-over 75 to open their title defense from last year at Leatherstocking.

The Shenendoah course setup at 6,128 yards for the Senior field.

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In the 1st annual NYS Men's Super Senior Amateur Four-Ball, Randy Young (Bellevue CC) and Don Van Gorder lead after the first round with 7-under 65 at Shenendoah Golf Course. They will play Kaluhyat Golf Course on Monday morning to finish.

The two former NYSGA champions collaborated for seven birdies throughout their round. Six of those birdies were on the front nine on the Rick Smith layout.

Two strokes off the lead are the following sides: Dan Levinson (Arcola GC) and Tom Yellin (MGA eClub - NYC) and Barry Winter (Southern Dutchess CC) and Jim Hamburger (McCann GC) who all shot 67 in round one.

The side of Jim Burns and Jim Johnson (Canandaigua CC) sit at 68.

Three other teams in the Super Senior shot under par during the first round on the 5,596-yard layout.

Tomorrow, all three fields will tee off in a shotgun format at 8:30 am to finish off the championship.