Around the Green

Texas Cup Invitational Returns to Ridglea Country Club

Dallas – Ridglea Country Club is set to host the Texas Cup Invitational on Nov. 3-4, 2018. For the second straight year, the 78-player field will take on the North Course’s narrow fairways and small greens.

The LJT took over the Texas Cup Invitational in 2008 and has seen the tournament’s field strength grow each year. This is the final event of the 2018 season for players in the Boys 15-18 Division to earn points towards the LJT Player of the Year Standings.  This is a major event on the schedule and points are doubled for the top half of the field.

Ridglea Country Club’s own Brandon Massey won the Texas Cup Invitational last year. The Fort Worth native posted rounds of 69-68 to get to 5-under-par overall and two strokes ahead of the field. Massey made nine birdies through two rounds, while Austin’s Trey Bosco and Kingwood’s Damin Strydom finished tied for second in last year’s event.

Ridglea Country Club is hosting the Texas Cup Invitational for the second time in as many years. The event was at Mira Vista Country Club and The Honors Golf Club of Dallas before that. The North Course was originally designed by John Bredemus in 1928 and was redesigned by Ralph Plummer in 1954 and again by Jay Morrish in 1987. The course features Tifsport fairways and Tifeagle greens and has hosted numerous events including U.S. Open and Amateur qualifiers as well as the 1990 National Big I Junior, which was won by Tiger Woods.

Players earned exemptions and invitations into the Texas Cup Invitational through their play on the Texas Junior Golf Alliance schedules and through their state junior championships. There are six states being represented in the tournament along with players from four different countries.

The boys-only field will consist of 78 players, which will compete in 36 holes of stroke play competition. Along with the Golfweek ranking, the invitational will be ranked by Junior Golf Scoreboard and will distribute numerous AJGA PBE stars to the top finishers, including fully exempt status to the winner.

The winner of the 2018 Texas Cup Invitational will earn 2,000 points towards the LJT Player of the Year Standings. Austin’s Thomas Bockholt III leads the Boys 15-18 Division Standings with 5,725 points. Dallas’ Connor Adams trails Bockholt by 1,443 points heading into the final event of the year and is the only player in the standings that can catch the Rice University commit.

Along with the Player of the Year Award, the standings determine the teams for the Jackie Burke Cup matches at Moody Gardens Golf Course on Nov. 10-11. The matches pit the North Team versus the South Team and each team consists of eight players from the Boys 15-18 Division, two players from the Boys 14 & Under Division and two players from the Girls 12-18 Division. Players in the Texas Cup Invitational will jockey for positions on their respective Jackie Burke Cup teams.

The first round of the Texas Cup Invitational gets started on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 11:30 am. Tee times for the final round will be determined based on scores from the previous round and will begin at 7:30 am on Sunday.

To see the full field or participants for the 2018 Texas Cup Invitational, click here. For more information about the Texas Cup Invitational, click here.