Jack Schreiner wasn’t getting too much harassment Saturday about his age.

After all, the 51-year-old Free State boys’ basketball coach’s playing partners in the LAGA men’s senior amateur were at least the same age as him but that will all change next week.

Jack Schreiner knocks in a putt at Eagle Bend Golf course during the Men's Senior Amateur Championship Saturday.

“Wait till I get back to school, the kids will definitely give me grief,” Schreiner joked about playing in a “senior” tournament.

But not even Schreiner’s 1-over par 73 Saturday at Eagle Bend good enough for the tournament lead by three strokes was enough to keep his reputation from getting clipped in the clubhouse.

“The competition has to step up and beat him. They can’t let him win this, or I’ll never hear the end of it all year,” quipped Steve Grant, Free State’s athletic director who works at Eagle Bend in the summer. “He was just lucky that I didn’t decide to play.”

Schreiner, who will have a chance to win his first senior title when the tournament concludes at 2 p.m. today at Alvamar, said it was Grant and good friend Dirk Wedd, Lawrence High’s football coach, that were scared to play him.

“That’s what I’m saying,” he said. “They must have been scared to not get out here.”

It was Schreiner who seemed frightening on the fairways Saturday when he parred eight of his first nine holes and added a birdie to sit 1-under at the turn.

While he had a double bogey on No. 15 and a bogey on the last hole, Schreiner closed the second half of his round with a 38.

Schreiner, who says he wishes he could play in more competitive tournaments during the summer, said he was excited about his round.

“I did all right. I was a little off on my short game, but it was good round,” he said.

Another playing partner, Jim Hill, said he isn’t going to let him walk away with the title.

“I’m going to keep my eye on him,” said Hill, the defending tournament champ who will tee off in the same flight as Schreiner.

Hill, who is tied for second place with Mike DuPree with 76, said anything is possible at Alvamar.

“It’s never over at Alvamar,” he said. “A three-shot lead at that place is just one big mistake waiting to happen on a hole.”

An avid golfer, Schreiner said he had to miss last year’s inaugural senior tournament because it was played on a Monday when he was in school.

“I should have probably taken a personal day,” he joked.

With bragging rights at stake, he won’t make that mistake again.

LAGA Men’s Senior Amateur

Saturday

Eagle Bend Golf Course, par 72

First Flight

Jack Schreiner 73

Mike DuPree 76

Jim Hill 76

Tom Taylor 78

John Nalbandian 82

John Ross 83

Art Frye 83

Richard Bronaugh 86

David Lerner 87

Frank Dehart 92

Dennis Novacek 94

Dirk Muncy 95

David Greenamyre 96

Second Flight

Tony Higgins 89

Bob Kocour 90

Gary Shafer 92

Don Boucher 92

Malcolm Gibson 92

Archie Hawkins 93

Jerry McKillip 93

Tom Waller 95

Dan Heptig 95

Mel Raynes 100

Dick Swindler 110