Around the Green

Texas Shootout Set for Nov. 15-16

The state’s top 24 amateurs from North and South Texas will gather at Royal Oaks Country Club for the 18th Texas Shootout from Nov. 15-16.

This will be the first Texas Shootout and sixth Texas Golf Association championship hosted by the renowned Dallas club.

“We are thrilled to be able to conduct this year’s Texas Shootout at Royal Oaks Country Club,” said Justin Guthrie, TGA Tournament Manager. “The club has been a tremendous supporter of amateur golf through the years and the challenging course is sure to provide a great deal of excitement for the event’s team match play format.”

Opened in 1969, Royal Oaks was designed by architect J. Press Maxwell, along with PGA Professionals Don January and Billy Martindale. The classic layout has undergone several restorations in the ensuing years. The most recent was in 2014 when Chet Williams supervised a complete redo of all bunkers, tees and greens, which included switching out turfgrasses on the putting surfaces from bentgrass to Mini Verde Ultradwarf bermudagrass.

First conducted in 2003, the season-ending Texas Shootout is by invitation-only and features the top 12 players (eight mid-amateurs and four seniors) from North Texas squaring off against their counterparts from South Texas in a Ryder Cup-style competition.

Players earn their way onto their respective teams by accumulating points throughout the year in designated TGA regional and statewide tournaments, as well as USGA national championships. North and South regions are defined as either being above or below the 31’ parallel (Salado, Texas).

Of the eight mid-amateurs selected from each region, five come from the TGA Statewide Player of the Year point standings and three from the Regional Player of the Year point standings. The top four North and South senior players are chosen based on the Statewide Senior Player of the Year point standings.

The format for the Shootout includes foursome, four-ball and singles matches. A total of 24 matches will be played over the two days. Each match is worth three points – one point each for front nine, back nine and 18 – making for 72 available points. The first team to accumulate 36½ points is the winner.

At last year’s Texas Shootout, hosted by the Traditions Club at Texas A&M in Bryan, the North Texas Team defeated the South Texas Team, 43-29. With the victory, North Texas took a 9-8 lead in the overall series.

Once the action gets underway from the 18th Texas Shootout at Royal Oaks Country Club, log on to txga.org for match play pairings, starting times, live scoring updates and daily recaps.

2021 TEXAS SHOOTOUT NOTES:

North Team: Gant Bills (Plano), Rob Couture (Dallas), Gary Ezmerlian (Fort Worth), *Chuck Gardner (Texarkana), Sean Heidrick (McKinney), Aaron Hickman (Tyler), Frederick Janneck (Fort Worth), Robert Johnson (Abilene), *Kyle Kelting (Amarillo), *Lee Sandlin (Dallas), *Lewis Stephenson (Burleson) and Chris Wheeler (Addison).

South Team: Todd Albert (Katy), Coy Breen (San Antonio), Casey Carnes (Schertz), *Gary Durbin (Houston), Clay Fullick (Conroe), Rob Gwin (Montgomery), John Hunter (Spring), Kevin Liberto (Cypress), Paul McNamara (Austin), *David Ortego (Spring), *John Pierce (San Antonio) and *Jed Shreve (The Woodlands).

*Indicates senior player representative

Schedule of Events:

Sunday, November 14

11:30 a.m. – Registration
12:00 – 12:30 p.m. – Practice Rounds (North)
12:40 – 1:10 p.m. – Practice Rounds (South)
6:00 p.m. – Cocktail Reception & Match Draw

Monday, November 15

7:30 – 8:15 a.m. – Foursome Matches

12:00 – 12:50 p.m. – Four-Ball Matches
6:30 p.m. – Player’s Dinner

Tuesday, November 16

7:30 – 8:58 a.m. – Singles Matches; Awards presentation following conclusion of play.