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McMyler, Isaac to Play for 101st Women’s Texas Amateur Championship

HUMBLE – After winning their third and fourth grueling matches of the week on Thursday, defending champion Emma McMyler from San Antonio will face Montgomery’s Remington Isaac on Friday for the 101st Women’s Texas Amateur title on the Tournament Course at the Golf Club of Houston.

A junior at Xavier University, the 21st-seeded McMyler held off No. 1 seed Camryn Carreon, also from San Antonio, in a back-and-forth Semifinals match that came down the final hole. Up 1 in the match, McMyler laced a long iron from the fairway bunker on the par-4 18th that found a piece of the left side of the green. Carreon, a senior at the University of Texas at San Antonio, missed the green from the fairway. She nearly holed her chip shot, but her ball bounced past the cup.

Carreon conceded her opponent’s short par putt to give McMyler the 1-up victory.

“Camryn’s been playing well all year,” said McMyler, who won twice for XU last season. “It was a great match, a hard-fought match. It was fun to play against someone who is also from San Antonio. I’ve known her for a while. It was a lot of fun, and a really great match.”

The other Semifinal match featured two talented players who also knew each other well. Both No. 31 seed Remington Isaac and 30th-seeded Hailee Cooper are from Montgomery. They played on the same Montgomery High School golf team; Isaac was a freshman when Cooper was a senior. Together, they led a talented team to the UIL Class 6A Regionals in 2018.

Thursday at the Tournament Course, Isaac came out on top with a 1-up victory. The two longtime friends both shot even-par 36 on the front nine, then proceeded to match each other – par for par – from the 10th to the 17th hole. Isaac poured in an 11-foot birdie on No. 18 to capture the win and advance to the Final Match.

“We were pretty much all square the whole round,” said Isaac, a sophomore at Kansas State. “My putt on 18 was downhill, breaking hard left. I didn’t want to run it too far by because then I needed to make the par putt if I missed the birdie. It just barely dribbled in. It was a pretty good putt.”

Earlier Thursday morning, in a Quarterfinals battle of two participants in the upcoming 122nd U.S. Women’s Amateur at Chambers Bay in August, Carreon outlasted University of Illinois sophomore Alise Knudson from Dallas in 19 holes. Carreon took a 1-up lead on the 17th hole and had a ticklish 4-footer for par to end the match on the par-4 18th.

She pushed it.

Carreon didn’t have to wait long to exact revenge. She drilled a 10-footer for birdie to win the match on the first extra hole.

“Honestly, I was upset after I missed that little putt on 18,” she said. “On the first playoff hole, I said to myself, ‘It’s all or nothing.’ I really crunched my drive. I didn’t hold anything back. My putts weren’t falling all round, but I finally got one when I needed it.”

In other Quarterfinals action from the Championship Bracket, McMyler took care of 20th-seeded Hunter Nugent, a UTSA senior from Irving, 3&2. Isaac defeated University of Houston senior Annie Park from Houston, 3&2. Cooper beat last year’s runner-up at the 100th Women’s Texas Amateur Megan Winans, an Oklahoma freshman from Richardson, 2&1.

In addition to the Final Match in the Championship Match Play Bracket, Friday also brings the Finals in six lower flights. All the competitors who finished 33rd or worse in Tuesday’s Qualifying Round were seeded into flights based on their scores.

For more information on the 101st Women’s Texas Amateur, click here 

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Top-Seeded Carreon Advances to Quarterfinals at 101st Women’s Texas Amateur

HUMBLE – University of Texas at San Antonio senior Camryn Carreon survived a birdie barrage, an ace, two talented opponents, and 99-degree weather on Wednesday on the Tournament Course at the Golf Club of Houston to advance to the Quarterfinals at the 101st Women’s Texas Amateur.

After dispatching No. 32 seed Leah Alberto of Kingwood 4&3 in the morning’s Round of 32, Carreon found herself 1 up through 11 holes in the Round of 16 against Houston’s Sarah Kmiecik, a junior at Mary Hardin-Baylor. Then Kmiecik birdied the 12th, 13th, and 14th holes to flip the match and go 1 up.

Carreon and Kmiecik traded pars on the par-15 15th hole, then the fireworks show began.

The par-3 16th played 168 yards into a right-to-left wind. Kmiecik pulled out a 4-hybrid with 25 degrees of loft. She flushed it and called after it, “Be the right number!”

Spoiler alert: It was the right number.

Her ball landed just right of the hole, spun left, hopped twice, and disappeared. It was Kmiecik’s fourth career ace and third in the past six months. Suddenly, she was 2 up with two to play. A lot of opponents might’ve packed it in after that, but not Carreon. All she did was drain a 15-foot birdie on No. 17, and then a 25-footer for another one on the 18th to draw the match to even.

Carreon ended it when she stuffed a wedge to 4 inches on the 20th hole.

“I was just trying to give myself a chance towards the end,” said Carreon, who recently qualified for the 122nd U.S. Women’s Amateur in August. “On the greens, I was just freeing myself up. They weren’t falling earlier today in the round like they’ve been, but they did at the end. It was the right time.”

The second, third, fourth, and fifth seeds all were eliminated from the Championship Match Play Bracket in the morning’s Round of 32. Such is the nature of match play. Anything can happen. Kyle Fraser from Fort Worth, the No. 2 seed, lost to 31st-seeded Isaac Remington of Montgomery in 19 holes. No. 3 seed Haley Vargas was defeated by 30th-seeded Hailee Cooper from Montgomery, 1 down. The No. 4 seed, Delaney Martin from Boerne, fell to Irving’s Hunter Nugent, 3&2. The fifth seed, Gabriela McNelly from Mico, lost to McKinney’s Ellie Rippee, 3&1.

Meagan Winans, runner-up at last summer’s 100th Women’s Texas Amateur, was one of the few top seeds to survive Wednesday’s Rounds of 32 and 16. The University of Oklahoma freshman from Richardson needed 19 holes to get past Hankamer’s Cari Denson in the morning. It wasn’t any easier in the afternoon; Fort Worth’s Megan Tang pushed Winans to 23 holes before the young Sooner notched the victory.

The heat was a major factor yet again, with the mercury tipping out at nearly 100 degrees. By 1:30 p.m., the heat index was 105 degrees. Shade umbrellas, lots of bottled water, and iced towels were omnipresent at the Golf Club of Houston.

Four of the 16 matches in the morning’s Round of 32 went to extra holes, highlighted by a 24-hole marathon between Texas Golf Hall of Famer Mina Hardin from Fort Worth and University of Illinois sophomore Alise Knudson from Dallas. Knudson ultimately prevailed after trailing 3 down through nine holes.

Hardin was still 1 up by the time they reached the 18th tee box, but she pushed her drive into the right rough. After a punchout back to the fairway, Hardin clipped a wedge to 4 feet. Knudson was in for par; Hardin needed to convert the knee-knocker to win the match.

“I misread it,” she said.

After trading pars on the first extra hole, Hardin said she thought she was cooked when Knudson poured in a 20-footer for birdie. Hardin, the 2010 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion, answered by draining a 15-foot birdie of her own.

“We were both hitting really good shots,” said Hardin, a five-time Women’s Texas Amateur champion. “It’s not like we were dogging it around out there. We were both 1-under through the first five extra holes.”

The match concluded on the Tournament Course’s par-4 sixth hole when Hardin yanked an approach shot into the water.

“That’s golf,” she said. “Sometimes you’re the bug. Sometimes you’re the windshield. Alise is a heck of a player.”

The Championship Match Play Bracket’s Quarterfinals begin Thursday at 8 a.m. The Semifinals follow in the afternoon, setting the stage for the Final Match on Friday morning. For more information on the 101st Women’s Texas Amateur, click here.

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Camryn Carreon Grabs Top Seed at 101st Women’s Texas Amateur

HUMBLE – Riding a wave of momentum from her first amateur victory two and half weeks ago, San Antonio’s Camryn Carreon on Tuesday fired a 4-under-par 68 in the 101st Women’s Texas Amateur Qualifying Round at the Golf Club of Houston’s Tournament Course. Carreon, a senior at the University of Texas at San Antonio, earned Medalist honors and the No. 1 seed in the Championship Match Play Bracket.

“I’ve been trying not to have any expectations,” said Carreon, who won the 2022 Women’s Stroke Play Championship on June 26 at the Traditions Club. “No matter the emotions during round from the last hole, I’m just trying to stick to the gameplan, and it helped out.”

So did a solid iron game and hot putter.

Carreon, a First-Team All-Conference USA selection who record seven Top-20 finishes for UTSA last season, made six birdies on Tuesday. None of them were from longer than 12 feet away.

“My putting was good today,” she said. “Inside 10 feet, they were dropping. It’s not going to happen all the time, but when it does, and you just know it’s going to fall, it’s the best feeling ever.”

A recent qualifier for the 122nd U.S. Women’s Amateur later this summer, Carreon will attempt to complete the TGA Women’s two-step this week by winning both the Women’s Stroke Play and Women’s Texas Amateur in succession. Only Emma McMyler has accomplished the feat; the Xavier junior won both high-profile championships last summer.

Kyle Fraser, a mid-amateur from Fort Worth, finished one shot behind Carreon at 3-under 69. The former collegiate Lacrosse standout at Stanford got off to a torrid start Tuesday with three birdies on her first five holes. Fraser added three more on the back nine on the Tournament Course to help offset one bogey and a double-bogey.

Haley Vargas from Lubbock, Delany Martin from Boerne, and Gabriela McNelly from Mico share third place at 1-under 71. Martin is one of five players in the field from University of Houston’s Women’s Golf Team, which makes their home at the Golf Club of Houston along with the Men’s Team.

Thirty-two players posted scores of 4-over 76 or better to establish the Championship Match Play Bracket. The remaining competitors were placed in one of six flights based on their Qualifying Round scores.

Fort Worth’s Mina Hardin won Senior Medalist honors with a 3-over 75. A five-time Women’s Texas Amateur champion and the 2010 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur winner, Hardin has been a consistent presence at this championship for years. A veteran of more than 50 USGA national championships, Hardin was inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.

Three juniors tied for Junior Medalist honors at even-par 72. Megan Winans from Richardson, Houston’s Ashley Yen, and Alise Knudson from Dallas also tied for sixth place.

In addition to being tested by the Tournament Course’s demanding routing and the water or wetlands hazards looming on 16 of the 18 holes, the competitors in the Qualifying Round also were challenged by the elements. The Greater Houston Area has been racked with Heat Advisory days this summer, and Tuesday was no different.

By 2 p.m., the temperature peaked at 99 degrees with a 108-degree Heat Index. The forecast projects a little more favorably: mid- to lower-90s by the end of the week.

The 101st Women’s Texas Amateur is the second TGA championship played at the Golf Club of Houston. The proud club also played host to the 2007 Texas Mid-Amateur Match Play, won by San Antonio’s Jonathan Mathias. For 17 years, the club hosted the PGA Tour’s Houston Open, first played on the Member Course from 2003-05 before it moved to the Tournament Course from 2006-19.

The Rounds of 32 and 16 in the Championship Match Play Bracket will be played Wednesday, starting at 8 a.m. For more information on the 99th Women’s Texas Amateur, click here.

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Bobby Massa’s Sizzling 62 Leads 113th Texas Amateur

TYLER – With his prestigious length off the tee, Bobby Massa turned Willow Brook Country Club into his own private playground during Thursday’s opening round of the 113th Texas Amateur. The reinstated amateur from Dallas eagled three of the iconic course’s four par-5s and broke the course record with a score of 9-under-par 62. He leads the championship by four shots headed into Friday’s second round.

Massa said he carries his driver about 330-340 yards off the tee on average. He planned to “bomb and gauge” his way around Willow Brook, which is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year. So far, Massa’s plan is working quite well.

“I started hitting the driver pretty good early on, and that gives me an advantage,” said Massa, who played collegiately at the University of Texas at Arlington from 2006-10. “I just kept hitting it in the fairway, and things kept going the way I wanted. I made a lot of putts.”

Massa’s 62 broke 2013 Texas Mid-Amateur champion Clay Hodge’s previous record of 7-under 64 at Willow Brook. After starting his day with four consecutive pars, Massa made his first birdie on his fifth hole. Two holes later, he made his first eagle, about a 10-footer on his seventh hole.

“That really got me going,” he said.

Matt Van Zandt, a longtime TGA competitor, played in Massa’s group Thursday. Van Zandt said Massa had much more to his game than just his big stick.

“Everyone is going to talk about how far he hits it, but his wedge game was amazing today,” said Van Zandt, who shot 3-over 74. “He was in complete control. His driver is incredible, though. I lasered it on a couple holes, and I was 52 and 60 yards behind him in the fairway.”

Five players share second place at 5-under 66, four strokes behind Massa. That group includes Hutto’s Jake Doggett, who finished second last summer at Midland Country Club for the 112th Texas Amateur, and Colleyville’s Zach Atkinson, who won the 95th Texas Amateur at Carlton Woods in 2004. Doggett went bogey-free and made five birdies; Atkinson had five birdies and an eagle to offset a pair of bogeys to arrive at 66.

Tied with Doggett and Atkinson for second place are Kingwood’s Hamilton Hayes, Truett Burns from Fredericksburg, and McKinney’s Hunter Millsap.

Willow Brook played to a stroke average of 72.88 in the first round. Thirty-nine players broke par. Players who posted rounds of 1-over 72 were rewarded with a tie for 55th place.

This is the ninth TGA championship contested at Willow Brook, but just the second Texas Amateur. Houston’s Marty Fleckman won the 1964 Texas Amateur at the old school, shot-makers course. That was the last time the Texas Amateur was played in a match play format.

Willow Brook also has played host to the 1967 and ’96 Women’s Texas Amateurs, the 1993, 2003 and ’13 Texas Senior Amateur, the 2019 Texas Shootout, and the 2020 Texas Mid-Amateur Match Play.

Founded in 1922, Willow Brook originally was a nine-hole course. Texas Golf Hall of Fame architect Ralph Plummer stretched the routing to 18 holes following World War II. The pristine course has been updated and modified over the years, including renovations in 1978 by another Texas Golf Hall of Famer, Joe Finger, and again in 2002 by PGA Tour veteran Mark Hayes.

In 2018, with the 100-year anniversary on the horizon, Tripp Davis & Associates completed an extensive renovation that included rerouting several and reshaping greens, tees, and bunkers to revive some of Plummer’s original strategic design elements.

The tight, tree-lined fairways rise and fall with the rolling terrain. The best amateurs in Texas played the par 71 course from 6,630 yards in the first round. With plenty of doglegs bending both ways, Willow Brook demands precision off tee. The TifEagle Bermuda greens, meanwhile, call for patience and caution with their speed and subtle breaks.

NOTES

Dignitaries & Awards

During Wednesday night’s Players’ Reception at Willow Brook, the TGA memorialized a legend and handed out some awards.

“When you think of Willow Brook Country Club, you think of A.J. Triggs,” the TGA’s Director of Competitions John Cochran said it best when he addressed the players and Willow Brook staff Wednesday night.

Triggs, a longtime Willow Brook member who was club president in 1989, also was a two-time past TGA President who spent more than 30 years as a director. The winning captain of the 2009 Texas Shootout, Triggs was steward of the game in every aspect. He won 55 amateur tournaments and was part of the 1949 and ’50 University of North Texas national championship teams. He was best known, however, for his volunteerism and passion for growing the game.

Triggs was inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame in 2013. He passed away in 2015.

“No one would be more excited for the Texas Amateur to come to Willow Brook than A.J.,” Cochran said.

Triggs’ Willow Brook president’s jacket, along with a Texas Amateur hat and the medal from the 2009 Shootout, were on display at the Players’ Reception. The makeshift Triggs memorial also was present on the first tee for Thursday’s opening round.

The 2021 Texas Player of the Year Chris Wheeler picked up his hardware Wednesday night. Last year’s South Texas Player of the Year, Padden Nelson from Houston, and North Texas Player of the Year, Gant Bills of Plano, also were honored.

The TGA’s two 2021 regional Volunteers of the Year were acknowledged as well: Richard Bargon (North Texas), and Craig Branson (South Texas).

Don Warren, the mayor of Tyler, was on hand for the festivities, too. A longtime Willow Brook member himself, Warren said the club was eager and enthused to welcome the best amateurs in Texas to their historic club, especially during their centennial celebration.

Record-Breaker, Almost

The TGA this year accepted 982 entries for the 113th Texas Amateur, just three shy of the record 985 established at last summer’s 112th Texas Amateur. Forty-four players received exemptions to the championship. To determine the remaining 100 spots in the 144-player starting field, 18-hole qualifiers were held at 14 sites across the state from April 2-June 6.

Round 2 of 113th Texas Amateur begins Friday at 7:30 a.m. For more information, including complete scoring, click here.

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Wyatt Koricanek Grabs 36-Hole Lead at the 112th Texas Amateur

MIDLAND – Wyatt Koricanek was one of the last players to get into the field at the 112th Texas Amateur. Through 36 holes at Midland Country Club, the Yorktown resident finds himself in first place after a stellar 5-under-par 67 in Friday’s Round 2.

The second alternate out of the May 13 qualifying tournament at Vaaler Creek Golf Club in Blanco, Koricanek (pronounced “cora-chaun-ick”) got the call that he had a spot in the Texas Amateur last Sunday night. Four days later, he made the most of the opportunity and fired a 4-under 68 in the opening round.

At 9-under 135 overall, Koricanek leads Chris Berzina from Fort Worth by three shots.

“I was dying to get in,” Koricanek said. “I was really excited to get that call, like ready to go. You hope to play well in every tournament you go to, but I honestly felt like I was going to play well here.”

With 11 birdies and just two bogeys through 36 holes, the Texas State University senior validated his intuition. He could be one shot better, too. On the par-4 seventh, he hit a sand wedge from 114 yards right at the flag. It took one hop, rattled in and out of the hole and stopped a foot away.

“I thought it was in,” he said. “I heard it click, and there it was a foot or two away. I’ve never eagled a par 4, but there’s nothing wrong with a tap-in birdie.”

Berzina, a junior at TCU, holds second place at 6-under 138. On Friday, he shot a second consecutive 3-under 69 on the strategic and narrow Midland Country Club course. He poured in five birdies against a pair of bogeys.

“Today was a lot more of a solid round than yesterday,” said Berzina, who finished T15 in the 2018 Texas Junior Amateur at Horseshoe Bay Resort. “Yesterday, I had a little birdie streak going. Today, I had more pars all around and a couple three-putt bogeys. But I answered most of those bogeys with birdies.”

Tyler’s Clay Hodge, the first-round leader, shares third place with San Antonio’s Andres Acevedo at 5-under 139. Leander’s Ryan O’Rear, Odessa’s Blake Parks and Jake Doggett from Hutto are tied for fifth place at 4-under 140.

Ten players are within six shots of Koricanek’s lead.

Fifty-five players advanced through the 36-hole cut at 3-over 147. As expected, Midland Country Club has tested the best amateurs in the state; currently 21 players are under par for the championship. That’s less than 15% of the field.

In Round 2, the competitors played the par-72 course from 7,321 yards; the stroke average was 74.42, less than a shot better than it was in Round 1.

For the second straight day, a par 3 proved to be the most difficult test. On Friday it was the 232-yard eighth hole, which had a stroke average of 3.51. There were 12 double bogeys or worse on the testy No. 8 hole, which played straight into the wind on Friday. The par-5 fourth hole yielded the most birdies at 42.

In the first two rounds combined, the best amateurs in Texas averaged 74.88 on the Ralph Plummer-designed and D.A Weibring/Steve Wolfard-enhanced Midland Country Club course.

NOTES

Record-Breaker

Clay Hodge’s first round 64 broke Midland Country Club’s competitive course record since the course was completely renovated in 2015.

Hodge rolled in six birdies Thursday and holed-out a wedge from 145 yards for eagle on the par-4 18th hole. He was bogey-free and finished at 8-under.

Midland Country Club’s previous competitive course record was 65, shot by Mexico’s Alvaro Ortiz in a 2018 U.S. Amateur qualifier.

Young & the Restless

Every year at the Texas Amateur, the field of competitors runs the gamut from young juniors to veteran senior amateurs. This year was no different.

The youngest player at Midland Country Club this week is Luke Hagan, a 16-year-old from Austin. Ben DeLaRosa from Dallas also is 16. Both have birthdays coming up this summer; Hagan is just six days older than DeLaRosa.

The oldest player in the field is 62-year-old Ken Coutant from Dallas.

The average age of the 144 participants is 28, which is a little on the old side compared to recent years.

Round 3 of the 112th Texas Amateur begins Saturday at 7:30 a.m. For more information, including complete scoring, click here.

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John Derrick Wins the 83rd Texas Senior Amateur

WACO – Most golfers know how important course knowledge is when it comes to certain venues. The trickier the track, the more crucial it is to know the lay of the land. John Derrick on Sunday proved this to be true, as the longtime Ridgewood Country Club member won the 83rd Texas Senior Amateur by one shot in extremely blustery conditions.

With winds swirling, then dropping and then gusting again in the 25-30 mph range – by far the windiest day of the 54-hole championship – Derrick held things together with two birdies, four bogeys and 12 hard-fought pars. His final round 2-over-par gave him a three-day total of 7-over 217, one stroke better than Southlake’s Mike Lohner.

Derrick shot rounds of 70-75 in the opening rounds on his home course, a 1947 Ralph Plummer-designed gem. Several of the holes run along the gorgeous backdrop of Lake Waco, and the fast-running fairways rise and fall throughout the property to create relentless uneven lies. Many of the greens sit perched above eye level from the fairways, which causes trepidation and indecisiveness on approach shots.

In short, Ridgewood is the kind of course you need to play a bunch to feel confident in your decisions. That was no problem for Derrick, an eight-time club champion who has been a member since 1996. He estimated he’s played more than 2,000 rounds on the old school, tree-lined course.

“Today, the tough wind conditions really helped me,” said Derrick, who also won the 2019 Sunnehanna Senior Invitational and was runner-up at the 2010 TGA Mid-Amateur Match Play. “It swirls around here and it’s confusing. Some of the guys who haven’t played around here had a disadvantage because they didn’t know what the wind was going to do. I definitely think I had a big advantage.”

Besides Lohner, who missed a 6-foot putt on the 72nd hole that would’ve forced a playoff, Magnolia’s Craig Hurlbert was one of the players confounded by the winds on Sunday. The nation’s No. 1-ranked senior amateur in the Golfweek rankings, Hurlbert said the conditions kept him off-balance all day.

“It wasn’t just windy out there,” said Hurlbert, the 18- and 36-hole leader who has won four national amateur championships this year. “It was gusty, too. It got me five or six times. I was totally out of sync and had no idea what to do. Overall, the wind was very inconsistent. It was down. It was up. It was just a hard day today. John played very well. He knows where to hit the ball on this golf course. I’m not surprised that someone from this club won the tournament.”

While those around him struggled to pick targets and select proper clubs, Derrick kept his head down and made pars to stay in the hunt. It was one of those on the eighth hole, he said, that really turned the tide in his favor.

“I hit it about 40 feet past the hole,” he said. “It was a really quick, downhill putt. I was just trying to two-putt it. And I made it. That gave me some really good momentum.”

Derrick also rolled in a 20-footer for par on No. 14 and made a solid two-putt par on No. 17 to keep Lohner and Hurlbert from catching him.

Ridgewood Head Professional Jimmy Cunningham, along with scores of friends and club members, crowded around the 18th green to watch Derrick cap off the major championship victory.

“It’s always fantastic to have one of your members compete in one of these prestigious events, let alone win it,” Cunningham said. “John is a dedicated player who practices a lot, and this week he showed why he’s such a strong competitor. I know it means a lot to him, but it also means a lot to me and the membership. We’re all so proud of him.”

The TGA extends its most sincere gratitude to Ridgewood, its staff and members for their hospitality and generosity throughout the championship week, as well as the week leading up to the event. Special thanks are due to General Manager Bill Horton, Head Golf Professional Jimmy Cunningham, Superintendent Travis Moore, Catering Director Camy Baban and Executive Chef Bernard Hurley.

We’re also endeared to the TGA Volunteers, who took time out from their busy lives to help us create a memorable week for all the competitors in the 83rd Texas Senior Amateur. For more information, click here.

 

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99th Women’s Texas Amateur Set for July 7-10

The 99th Women’s Texas Amateur is set to return to the University of Texas Golf Club for the second time in its decorated history. The best collegiate players in Texas, the most skilled juniors and proven mid-amateurs and seniors will all put themselves to the test at the most prestigious female amateur championship in the state from July 7-10.

The Women’s Texas Amateur is conducted over four days, with six rounds of golf. The championship begins with an 18-hole, stroke play qualifier. The top-32 players advance to the Championship Match Play Bracket. The rest of the field is divided into match play flights.

From there, the tournament takes on a virtual March Madness-like feel. In match play, it’s one-on-one competition. And, just like the NCAA Tournament, success in the Women’s Texas Amateur carries the same “win or go-home” mentality. It doesn’t matter how a player wins or what total score she shoots. The only thing that counts is beating her opponent and moving on to the next round.

It takes five match play victories over three days to win the Women’s Texas Amateur.

“The Women’s Texas Amateur at UT Golf Club will be a great test of stamina and focus,” Director of Women’s Operations Amy Worthington said. “The TGA is excited to be returning to one of the best golf courses in the state and crown a worthy champion of our most prestigious women’s event on schedule.”

The TGA staff continues to monitor the health and safety guidelines from government officials in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following new strict health guidelines, the TGA has successfully managed three safe and competitive Legends Junior Tour championships and three 111th Texas Amateur qualifiers. The TGA is committed to another safe and successful week at UT Golf Club.

Hanna Alberto of Kingwood won last year’s Women’s Texas Amateur at Bent Tree Country Club. The senior at Sam Houston State displayed brilliant ball-striking and unwavering nerves on her way to a 1-up Championship Match victory against San Antonio’s Faith Summers. Alberto won all four matches comfortably en route to the final match. She only had to play the par-5 18th once. She won 5&4, 3&2, 3&2, and 2-up before closing out the title in the Championship Match.

Since it opened for play in 2003, UT Golf Club has always had a championship pedigree. The Austin-based club hosted the 2010 Women’s Texas Amateur which was won by Texas A&M standout Sarah Zwartynski of Allen. It is the home of the University of Texas Men’s and Women’s golf teams, including the 2012 NCAA Men’s Golf National Champions. The Bechtol Russell design has also hosted NCAA Regional Championships, the Betsy Rawls Invitational and the Legends Junior Tour’s George Hannon Junior Invitational.

Championship golf and champion golfers go hand-in-hand at UT Golf Club. Over the years, the club has welcomed some of the highest profile players in the game of golf. These include 3-time major champion Jordan Spieth, PGA Tour winners Dylan Frittelli, Cody Gribble and Jhonattan Vegas, 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler, 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion Sophia Schubert and the 13th ranked female amateur in the world Kaitlyn Papp.

Once again, UT Golf Club will welcome some of the best players in Texas. Follow this year’s Women’s Texas Amateur at www.txga.org for up-to-date news and information, including live scoring and daily recaps, as well as starting times and pairings. Also, visit the TGA’s feeds on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information on the 99th Women’s Texas Amateur, click here.