Around the Green

Lubbock's Boles Shoots 2-under and Leads Texas Cup Invitational

McKinney, Texas – Brian Boles made four birdies en route to a 2-under 69 in the opening round of the Texas Cup Invitational at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club’s Dye Course.

“I was hitting the ball very well today, especially my driver,” said Boles, following his round.

The Lubbock native started his day with a bogey on the par-4 first hole. He bounced back with a birdie on two and another on four before making his second bogey of the morning on the par-5 seventh. He finished his front side with two pars, to turn at even-par and then played steadily coming in.

He started his back nine with two pars and made birdie on the par-3 12^th, which is a 180-yard hole with water in front of and to the right of the green. The Texas Tech University commit made par on the next three holes and then recorded another birdie on the par-5 16^th and finished with two pars on 17 and 18.

“I had an eight-foot birdie putt on the 18^th that I wish I could have back, but overall I putted well today, especially in the seven to eight foot range,” said Boles.

Trailing Boles by two strokes is Heath’s Matthew Watkins, who shot even-par 71 on Monday. Watkins started his day on the 10^th hole and struggled with three bogeys in his first five holes. The 2019 LJT Winter Classic Boys 15-18 Division Champ bounced back though with birdies on holes No. 16, 2, 5 and 7 to get to 1-under on the day. He made a bogey on the par-4 ninth that dropped him back to even-par overall.

Granbury’s Jake Holbrook sits in third place at 1-over 73 after starting on No. 10 as well and playing behind Watkins’ group in the first round. The Oklahoma University commit made two birdies in his first round, including the 535-yard seventh.

Temple’s Dallas Hankamer and Keller’s Kaelen Dulany are tied for fourth at 2-over 73. Hankamer made three birdies on Monday, while Dulany made four.

Rohit Madireddi, Logan Vargas, Hayes Hamilton, Greg Seo, Dylan Arthur, Logan Hamak and Hunter Bott are all tied for sixth at 3-over, while Ben Delarosa, Niko Nebout, Jack Usner, Rohan Reddy Aerrabolu, Tucker Allen, Holden Hamilton and 2017 Texas Cup Invitational champion Brandon Massey are tied for 13^th at 4-over.

Stonebridge Ranch Country Club is hosting the Texas Cup Invitational for the first time in the tournament’s 12-year history. The Dye Course is set up as a Par 71 this week and stretches out to 6,893 yards for the field. The course opened in 1988 and was designed by Pete Dye. The greens are MiniVerde UltraDwarf Bermuda and the fairways weave around fescue grass and numerous bunkers and penalty areas.

Stonebridge Ranch Country Club joins a list of host sites which includes Ridglea Country Club, Mira Vista Country Club and The Honors Club of Dallas.

The Texas Cup Invitational is a boys-only event and one of the top-ranked junior events in the state of Texas. The tournament added a third round to make it a 54-hole event in 2019 and will be ranked by the World Amateur Golf Ranking as well as Golfweek and Junior Golf Scoreboard. Past champions of this event include, Chandler Phillips, Braden Bailey, Stratton Nolen and Ryan Grider.

Tee times for the second round of the Texas Cup Invitational are set to begin at 8:30 am on Tuesday, March 12 with players going off in groups of three off the No. 1 and 10 tees throughout the morning.

To see all the scores from Monday’s action, click here. To learn more about the Texas Cup Invitational, click here.