Playing on a course that frustrated just about every golfer participating in the Kansas Golf Association Senior Amateur Championship, round-one leader Andy Smith put all his struggles into perspective and held on to his four-stroke lead over Ron Eilers to win his second Senior Am in the last three years.

Andy Smith keeps his eyes on the ball while putting. Smith won the 2007 Kansas Golf Association Senior Amateur Championship on Friday at Alvamar.

“I had to have a little conversation with myself,” Smith said after carding a 77 Friday at Alvamar Country Club. “I realized golf is a game, and I have a few friends right now that are undergoing some very, very big health issues. So I try to think about them a little bit and their plight.”

Smith’s thoughts about his friends struck him when things began to get dicey on the par-4 12th hole, where he ended up with a double bogey after being just 1-over at the turn.

“I said, ‘You know, it’s just a double bogey. Go on,'” said Smith, who followed that up with a bogey on 13. “So I was lucky today. I was very fortunate.”

Smith’s luck was in part because of the misfortunes of runner-up Eilers and last year’s Senior Amateur champion, Kevin Handlan, who didn’t capitalize on Smith’s slip-up on the back nine.

“On 12, he hits it in the trees and has to chip back out, while the rest of us are in play,” said Eilers, who also shot a 77, while Handlan finished the round with an 81. “All of us bogey the hole, and he doubles it. We don’t pick up the two shots on him that we needed to there. If we picked up two shots and pick up another one on the next hole, maybe that changes things – at least in our own minds.”

The biggest issue for most golfers, as it had been for the entire tournament, was the deception of Alvamar’s greens.

“A lot of the times you would read a putt to break one way, then you would get over the putt and your feet will tell you that it’s going to break the opposite way,” Smith said. “So you really have to look at all four sides. You have to be very careful, and you’ve got to keep the ball in the right position to make aggressive putts. … I think that’s what cost Ronnie and Kevin a real chance to make a real run at me.

“I think the greens posed a major difficulty for a lot of people. We don’t see a lot of subtle breaks on the other courses we play, so I think that had a lot to do with it. … I just had two fairly solid days. They weren’t spectacular days of putting, but they were solid enough to win.”

Dick Stuntz of Lawrence and Topeka native Jim Hagan shot the best rounds of the day with 1-over 73s.

Stuntz jumped up from a tie for 27th to a third-place finish, while Hagan finished in a tie for sixth after heading into the final day tied for 40th.

Lawrence native Stewart Platz, who was in the final foursome with Smith, Eilers and Handlan, shot a final-round 79 to bring his two-day total to 155 and land him in a tie for fourth with Steve Perry of Kansas City, Kan.