Around the Green

Winter Classic Held at Dallas Athletic Club for Eighth Consecutive Year

DALLAS – The Winter Classic is set to kick off the 2016 Legends Junior Tour Season for the second-straight year. The 36-hole event is scheduled for January 23-24 at Dallas Athletic Club’s Blue Course.

The field features 12 tour winners from 2015, including the Boys 14 & Under and Girls 12-18 Division winners from last year’s Winter Classic. The event also has all three LJT Players of the Year from the 2015 season.

The 84-player field will be Junior Golf Scoreboard ranked and the first of 14 events on the 2015 schedule to be Golfweek ranked. The event will give out numerous AJGA Performance Stars to all three divisions – Boys 15-18, Boys 14 & Under, and Girls 12-18.

The top three finishers of the Boys 15-18 division will also receive an invitation to the Byron Nelson Junior Championship held in late June, and exemptions into the Texas State Junior Championship in July and the George Hannon Junior Invitational in August. The top three finishers of the Girls 12-18 division will earn an invitation to the Texas Girls’ Invitational held in September, while the winner of the Boys 14 & Under Division earns an exemption into the George Hannon Junior Invitational.

Aside from hosting the previous seven LJT Winter Classics, Dallas Athletic Club's Blue Course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, hosted the 1963 PGA Championship. It also hosted the 1992 and 2003 Texas Golf Association's Texas Amateur Championship, the 1997 USGA Mid-Amateur Championship and the 2012 TGA Mid-Amateur Championship.

Last year’s Winter Classic saw Dallas’s Zack Hayward win by one stroke over Lewisville’s Ryan Grider in the Boys 15-18 Division. Garett Reband, Brandon Smith and Camden DeBonis rounded out the top five in the season-opening event. Austin’s Sadie Englemann won her first of two events in 2015, edging Cedar Park’s Chandler Rosholt by one stroke and Girls 12-18 Player of the Year Hailey Jones by three strokes in the Girls 12-18 Division. In the Boys 14 & Under Division, Scott Roden of Dallas won in a playoff over Granbury’s Tucker Allen. Roden would go on to win three times on tour last year.

Tee times will begin Saturday at 8:00 of No. 1 and No. 10 tees with the Final round taking place on Sunday Jan. 24. For more information on the 2016 Winter Classic, click here.

About the Legends Junior Tour

The Legends Junior Tour is part of the Texas Junior Golf Alliance, a joint venture between the Texas Golf Association, Northern and Southern Texas PGA and Houston Golf Association. The Tour operates as part of the Texas Golf Association and its Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization. Since its inception in 2005, the Tour has provided over $250,000 to promote junior golf initiatives and exposure to the game to those who might not otherwise have the opportunity across the state. The Legends Junior Tour is home to such prestigious events as the Byron Nelson Junior Championship, Texas Cup Invitational, Jackie Burke Cup and Texas State Junior Championship.