Around the Green

Austin's Bockholt Wins Texas Cup Invitational

Fort Worth – Thomas Bockholt III stuck a 230-yard approach shot to 17 feet and made birdie on the first playoff hole to win the 2018 Texas Cup Invitational at Ridglea Country Club’s North Course Sunday afternoon.

Austin’s Bockholt shot 2-under 69 in the final round to get into a tie with Prosper’s Matthew Griggs after 36 holes.

The playoff went to No. 18, which is a 500-yard par-5 that doglegs left. Bockholt’s drive hit a tree and the Rice commit was just looking to get it close to the green.

“I knew it was right at the hole, but I didn’t think it would get that close,” said Bockholt following his round.

The ball was 17 feet short of the hole and Bockholt was able to two-putt and win the playoff after Griggs missed the green with this second shot and failed to get up and down.

Bockholt stared his day off with a birdie on the par-5 first hole and fell back to even-par on the day with a bogey on the par-4 fifth. He made the turn at even-par and proceeded to birdie the first two holes on the back side to get to 2-under on the day. He made bogey on No. 13 but made birdie on the 370-yard 16^th to get back to 2-under overall.

Prosper’s Griggs, who was tied for the lead entering the final round, played well to start the day, making three birdies and nine pars in his first 12 holes. The Arkansas commit made three bogeys in a five-hole stretch but finished with a birdie on the 18^th green.

His approach shot in the playoff hole was short left of the green. His chip didn’t run out once it got on the green and he two-putted for a par.

Pearland’s Sebastian Moss, Austin’s Evan Vo and Plano’s Matthew Comegys all tied for third. Moss shot 3-under 68 in the final round, which was the lowest score of the weekend, while Comegys shot 1-over 72 and Vo posted a 2-over 73 on Sunday.

Four players tied for sixth place including Flower Mounds’ Rohit Madireddi, who shot 1-under 70 in the final round. Comfort’s Cooper New posted rounds of 73-72 to get to 3-over, while McKinney’s Cody Winkler and Kingwood’s Damin Strydom each shot 71-74.

Dawson Ovard, Shoichiro Kato, Trace Martin and Drew Murdock tied for tenth at 4-over 146, while defending champion Brandon Massey tied for 14^th with Brendan Powers and Trevor Mierl at 5-over 147.

Ridglea Country Club hosted the Texas Cup Invitational for the second year in a row. The North Course features tight fairways along with small greens and the course’s 6,500 yard, par 71 layout requires precision and touch. The course was built in 1928 and redesigned in 1987 by Jay Morrish.

The Texas Cup Invitational concludes the 2018 Legends Junior Tour Season and the Jackie Burke Cup matches are next up at Moody Gardens Golf Course Nov. 10-11. The matches feature the top 12 players from North Texas facing the top 12 players from South Texas. Teams are determined based on their rankings on the LJT Player of the Year Points List.

With the win, Bockholt secured his Player of the Year Award in the Boys 15-18 Division. He finished the year with two wins and seven top-5 finishes. His previous win came at the Spring Preview at BlackHorse Golf Club in March. Bockholt will lead the South Team down in Galveston as they look to win the Jackie Burke Cup for the first time since 2013.

To see all the scores from the Texas Cup Invitational, click here. For more information about the tournament, click here.