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The latest golf-related news, notes, and feature stories from the TGA.

Texas Father-Son Set for July 8-10

The 42nd Texas Father-Son Championship will be played July 8-10 at Wichita Falls Country Club.

“The Texas Golf Association and Wichita Falls Country Club have worked closely together for decades, and it’s always exciting to return to a venue where we have such a tremendous history,” said Chris Untiedt, TGA Senior Tournament Director. “The Texas Father-Son format promotes spirited team competition, and the course will be a great test for all the players in the field.”

The 2022 championship will be the second Texas Father-Son (the first held in 2003) and 13th TGA championship to be held at the club. In total, Wichita Falls Country Club has hosted seven different TGA championships, including the Texas Amateur (1947, 1960 and 1979), Women’s Texas Amateur (1997), Texas Four-Ball (2019), Texas Mid-Amateur (1998), Texas Senior Amateur (1976, 1984, 1990 and 1995), and Texas Senior Women’s Amateur (2015).

Fred Cooper designed Wichita Falls Country Club as a nine-hole layout in 1914, and the course was expanded to 18 holes in 1935. Having undergone various course improvements through the years, in the mid-2000s the club hired the architecture team of D.A. Weibring and Steve Wolfard to oversee a comprehensive renovation project. Completed in 2008, the monthslong, multimillion-dollar undertaking included rebuilding and reshaping greens and rebuilding and shifting tee boxes and bunkers to enhance the strategic design elements of the parkland-style course.

“Wichita Falls Country Club has enjoyed an enduring relationship with the TGA, and we are thrilled to build on that tradition with this year’s Texas Father-Son,” said Head Golf Professional Mark Greer. “Championship golf has always been an important part of the club’s makeup, from hosting prestigious competitions to being home to some of the state’s most decorated amateur players. It’s an honor to showcase our challenging golf course once again, and the membership and staff are looking forward to providing the players with a truly memorable experience.”

First played in 1981, the Texas Father-Son is one of the most popular events on the TGA’s annual schedule and is a longstanding summer tradition for many families. To make this unique tournament more accessible to a wider range of players, the 80 teams in the starting field are pre-assigned to one of six flights based on a combined Low Handicap Index® over a one-year period ending on July 1.

The Championship Flight consists of 40 teams with the lowest combined handicap indexes and will play four-ball stroke play the first two rounds. After 36 holes, the low 20 teams (and ties) continue on in the Championship Flight and will play combined individual stroke play in the final round. The three-day total is the team’s score for the championship.

Teams not making the 36-hole cut in the Championship Flight will compete in the President’s Flight and play another round of four-ball stroke play. The format for all other flights is 54-hole net four-ball stroke play.

Live scoring updates and daily recaps, as well as tee-times and pairings, will be available on the TGA website once the action gets underway from Wichita Falls Country Club.

At the 2021 Texas Father-Son, held at Crown Colony Country Club in Lufkin, Kyle and Derick Kelting of Amarillo captured the title on the first play-off hole over Matt and Will Griffin of San Antonio. Both teams carded matching 3-under-par 285 totals after 54 holes to finish four shots clear of the rest of the field. It was the second year in a row the Keltings and Griffins were deadlocked atop the leaderboard after regulation play. The two teams were declared co-champions in 2020 at Omni Barton Creek in Austin when playoffs were temporarily discontinued under the health and safety guidelines established by the TGA during the pandemic.