Around the Green

Texas Cup Returns to Mira Vista Country Club

Dallas- The Texas Cup Invitational has become one of the most prestigious junior golf tournaments in Texas and the top tournament for boys on the Legends Junior Tour.

The LJT took over the Texas Cup in 2008 and has seen the tournament’s field strength grow each year. The field strength has been near the top of the Golfweek rankings each of the last four years, ranking 30^th in 2012, 34^th in 2013 and 23^rd in 2014 and 27^th last year.

Brendan Powers of Mansfield won last year’s Texas Cup, shooting 5-under 67 in the final round to win by three strokes. Powers made 11 birdies in 36 holes to finish 4-under 138 overall. He returns in 2016 to defend his title on Mira Vista’s par-71 layout which will stretch out to 6,838 yards.

Boys from Texas, Washington, Arkansas, Idaho and Nebraska are competing in this year’s event along with several international players from Mexico. The tournament features 78 boys competing in 36-hole stroke play competition at Mira Vista Country Club in Fort Worth.

The field consists of 12 winners from 2016, seven in the Boys 15-18 Division and five from the Boys 14 & Under Division, three players who finished in the Top 10 in last year’s Texas Cup Invitational and six players who are within 2,000 points from the top of the Player of the Year Standings.  

Jun Min Lee of Mission is the most recent winner on the LJT, winning the North Texas Classic on Oct. 9. Lee joins Jeffrey Maciejewski (Lanny Wadkins JC), Jack Anderson (Flodder Financial Shootout), Brandon Hoff (Jimmy Demaret JC), Crosby Guercio (Collegiate Preview), Turner Hosch (Spring Preview), Thomas Critch (Winter Classic), and six Boys 14 & Under champions – Thomas Bockholt III, Lucas Borrero, Evan Vo, Vishnu Sadagopan and Dallas Hankamer.

Some other notable players that will participate in the 12^th annual Texas Cup Invitational include Parker and Pierceson Coody who were both runner-up at the Texas State Junior Championship, Shuai Ming Wong, who finished runner-up in the Byron Nelson Junior Championship with Parker Coody and 2014 LJT Boys 15-18 Player of the Year Ryan Grider. Pierceson Coody is the reigning Boys 15-18 Player of the year, while his brother, Parker, currently leads the Player of the Year Standings.

The Texas Cup field features eight players who played in the U.S. Junior Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn.: Reid Davenport, Rishi Kejriwal, Garrett Martin, Ryan Grider, Crosby Guercio, Jansen Smith, Kyle Robinson and Shuai Ming Wong. Davenport, Wong and Robinson each made the cut to match play.

Mira Vista Country Club has hosted this event the past three years. The course opened in 1987 and was designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. It has hosted the 1994 Texas Amateur and the 2000 Texas Mid-Am along with the Texas Cup Invitational.

The Texas Cup is ranked by Golfweek and Junior Golf Scoreboard. The tournament offers players a chance to earn exemptions into future Legends Junior Tour events as well as stars towards the AJGA’s Performance Based Entry. The winner of the Texas Cup will become fully exempt with the AJGA while the top 15 finishers will earn at least four stars.

To see the full field or participants for the 2016 Texas Cup Invitational, click here. For more information about the Texas Cup Invitational, click here.