News

Thomas Claims Medalist Honors at Public Links Championship

The 2013 State Public Links Championship got underway on
Thursday at Avery Ranch Golf Club in Austin, Texas. The 76 player field started
the championship with an 18-hole qualifying round to determine the 32 players
who would be moving on to match play. Tee times started at 8:00 AM and went off
of #1 and #10 tees.

Tyler Thomas of Beaumont, was the early leader in the clubhouse
with a blistering 5-under par, 67, that consisted of seven birdies and two
bogeys. Being in the first group, Thomas held the lead all day and was
eventually named Medalist for the qualifying. Josh Cole of Texarkana finished
three shots back of Thomas with a 2-under par, 70. Coles round consisted of 4
birdies, and two bogeys. Other notable rounds were Chris Shive, Chris Wheeler,
Jared Cornish, and Scott Smith who tied for third with solid rounds of even
par, 72.

At the end of the day, six players were left tied for the
last three match play spots. Joshua Aguilar, Bryan Neuhaus, Jon Glover, Juan
Gutierrez, Trey Caldwell, and Bill Odom all shot 5-over par, 77, and returned
to the 18^th tee for a sudden death playoff. In a situation that
could have lasted a lot longer, only one hole was needed to determine the final
three match play participants. Aquilar, Neuhaus, and Glover all made par on the
difficult closing hole to secure a place in the match play bracket.

Moving into match play, players were seeded according to
their qualifying positions. The Round of 32 matches will get underway Friday
morning at 7:30 AM off of the first tee at Avery Ranch Golf Club. Winners of
their matches will have time to grab lunch and then will be heading back out
onto the course starting at 1:00 PM for the Round of 16 matches. Quarterfinal
matches will be held Saturday morning at 7:30 AM, followed by the Semifinal
matches at 12:30 PM. The Public Links Final Match will be held on Sunday
morning, starting at 7:30 AM. The match play bracket and scoring are available
online at www.txga.org.