Around the Green

Sebastian Maintains Lead at Texas Cup Invitational

GLADEWATER – Richmond’s Grayson Sebastian battled in Tuesday’s second round of the Texas Cup Invitational to post a 1-under 71 and maintain his lead. The class of 2025 sophomore sits at 4-under for the championship and will take a one shot lead into Wednesday’s final round of the first LJT Boys Major of the year.

“My approach for tomorrow will be to just control what I can control,” said Sebastian after his round. “I plan to get some good rest and be energized for tomorrow. I’m not going to think about golf until I step back on the course tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.”

Sebastian had an up and down second round that included five birdies and four bogeys on the scorecard. He will look to claim his first LJT title on Wednesday.

Defending champion Connor Henry is hot on his heels after a solid second round score of 3-under 69. Henry sits in solo second at 3-under for the championship and has showed no signs of nerves in defending his title.

“I feel good. I’m very comfortable out there,” Henry said. “I feel like I’m doing a good job of putting myself in the right spots to score.”

Dallas’ Brooks Harper and Selma’s Shiv Parmar are in a tie for third at 2-under. Harper shot a 1-under 71 and Parmar carded an even-par 72 in round two.

Sitting tied for fifth is Burleson’s Blake Keen and Dallas’ Andrew Petruzzelli at 1-under overall. At even-par and tied for seventh is Tyler’s Connor Carver and Prosper’s Ryan Shellberg. All four of these juniors will look to come from behind and create a magical final round on Wednesday.

Three players occupy a tie for ninth at 1-over through 36 holes including Austin’s Sterling Hurd. The class of 2026 freshman fired the low round of the tournament thus far with a 5-under 67 in round two. Hurd’s impressive play vaulted him back up the leaderboard and in contention with 18 holes left.

“Today I was trying to get myself back into contention and I did,” Hurd said. “Hopefully tomorrow I can play the same way and maybe make even a few more putts. That’s the game plan for the final round.”

The par-4 third hole played the toughest again in round two at a 4.47 stroke average for the 84-player field. It yielded four birdies on the day which was double the amount from round one. Conversely, the par-5 sixth hole played the easiest with a stroke average of 4.94 and was the only hole that played under-par.

The Texas Cup Invitational, the first of the two boys-only majors on the LJT annual schedule, is the LJT boys first 54-hole event of the year.

The Final Round of the Texas Cup Invitational is scheduled for Wednesday, Mar. 15 with tee times beginning on No. 1 tee at 8:15 AM. To see pairings, click here.

For more information on the Texas Cup Invitational, click here.