Around the Green

Grider and Cox Tied For Texas Cup Lead

Fort Worth—Ryan Grider and Kyle Cox are tied atop the leaderboard of the 12^th annual Texas Cup Invitational. Mira Vista Country Club is hosting the Texas Cup for the fourth straight year.

Lewisville’s Grider posted a bogey-free round of 4-under 67 on Saturday, making birdie on back-to-back holes to start his day. Grider, who started on hole No. 10, made 12 straight pars after his opening birdies before making another birdie on the 618-yard sixth hole. A birdie on the ninth hole capped the former Boys 15-18 Player of the Year’s day.

“I’m hitting the ball very well right now,” said Grider after his opening round. “I’d like to do better on getting my putts to the hole on Sunday.”

Carrollton’s Cox played in the final group off the No. 10 tee in the first round. Cox made the turn at 3-under after making birdie on holes 16 and 17. A bogey on the par-4 fourth hole dropped Cox back to 2-under on the day, but two birdies in his final four holes got him back to 4-under overall.

 “Everything went well for me today and the birdie on six was a big momentum booster to finish my round,” said Cox.

Playing with Grider and Cox in the final round will be Parker Coody, who entered the Texas Cup as the leader in the Player of the Year Points List in the Boys 15-18 Division. The Plano native posted a score of 2-under 69 in the first round, making four birdies and two bogeys.

Austin’s Michael Anthony Rome was the fourth player in red figures on Saturday. Rome will play in the penultimate pairing on Sunday with Dallas’ Turner Hosch and Austin’s Matthew Denton. Hosch and Denton each shot even-par in the first round and are tied for fifth with Fort Worth’s Chris Berzina and San Angelo’s Jeffrey Maciejewski.

Brandon Massey, Tommy Boone, Scott Roden, Shuai Ming Wong, Hanseung Chang, Nate Plaster, Pierceson Coody, Dawson Ovard, Landon Ernst and Reid Davenport are all tied for ninth at 1-over 72.

Tee times for the final round of the Texas Cup will begin at 8:30 AM on Nov. 6. Players will go off the Nos. 1 & 10 tees until 10:30 AM. To see all the tee times for Sunday, click here.

Mira Vista Country Club has hosted this event the past four 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 2012 Byron Nelson Junior Championship.

The LJT took over the Texas Cup Invitational 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.

For more information about the Texas Cup Invitational, click here. To see all the scores from Saturday’s first round at Mira Vista Country Club, click here.