Four golfers are tied for third one shot back — Jake O’Neal, James Hall, Nick Huff and Taylor Schmidt. Huff is a senior at Hockinson High School.
The tournament continues Saturday with the second round beginning at 7:30 a.m. The final round is Sunday.
Jones, now 71, teed up in his 54th ROIT on Friday. He carded a 95. Like most golfers, of any age, he wondered what could have been, if only his putter had not let him down.
Still, it was a 95 on a difficult course under tournament conditions for a guy who played in this tournament in 1960.
“I said to myself, ‘If I maintain my golf game, I can still do it as long as they invite me,'” Jones said. “I want to do it at least one more year for sure, to get to 55.”
Jones said when he started, the talent was more local, primarily Vancouver and Portland golfers.
These days, the ROIT has turned into one of the most prestigious amateur events in the Northwest, with college golfers and other elite, scratch-handicap golfers in the field.
But the ROIT also celebrates golfers with a bit more experience. Jones said one-third of the 192-man field is 55 or older this year.
“It’s still nice they let old guys like me play in this thing,” he said.
Jones loves coming back to remember how things have changed.
“The trees have grown up with me,” he said. “They were kind of pups.”
He also can give a newcomer a scouting report.
“The greens have always been severe. If you are on the wrong side of the pins here, you’re putting defensively instead of offensively.”
Through the years, the course has, literally, become longer, with the addition of new tee boxes. But even if that had not happened, figuratively, it would been a longer course for Jones now. He cannot hit the ball like he did in his prime.
Yet he is proud of his short game. Get him around the green, and he is solid. If only that pesky putter would have showed up Friday …
Jones never won the tournament in his earlier days but was good enough to shoot in the mid-70s for a round or two each year. He also ended up playing at Portland State, as a reserve, he said.
“Now, if I shoot in the 80s, I’d be toasting double iced teas,” he said.
Jones, a member of Columbia-Edgewater in Portland for virtually all of his life, watched his father play the first three ROITs. When his dad gave up his spot, the son took over. Jones has not missed a tournament since then.
“It’s my challenge. It’s kind of like The Masters,” he said. “Some of those old-timers kept coming back and coming back until being told they couldn’t play. I’m getting close to that, I guess.
Jeff Wright and Jesse Heinly share the first-round lead at the Royal Oaks Invitational Tournament by shooting 2-under 70s on Friday.
Four golfers are tied for third one shot back -- Jake O'Neal, James Hall, Nick Huff and Taylor Schmidt. Huff is a senior at Hockinson High School.
The tournament continues Saturday with the second round beginning at 7:30 a.m. The final round is Sunday.
“Every year, it beats me up, and then I say ‘When is the entry for next year?'”
Jones started the game when he was 5 years old. He said he was never a “championship” golfer, but a good country club player who at one point sported a 4-handicap.
“Golf has been pretty much my whole life,” Jones said, noting he is self-employed, owning an industrial supply business.
“I always worked things around my golf,” he said.
The Royal Oaks Invitational was, and is, always on that schedule.
