Martin Wins Fall Series – Hill Country

Briefly: Trace Martin, of San Marcos, finished atop the leaderboard after three rounds at the TGA Fall Series – Hill Country at Vaaler Creek Golf Club in Blanco. Martin capped off the two-shot victory over Truett Burns with a final round 3-under par 69. Martin and Burns were the only two players to finish under par for the championship, posting 6-under 210 and 4-under 212, respectively.

Leaderboard:

Rank	Name	City	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Martin, Trace	San Marcos	-6	71	70	69	210
2	Burns, Truett	Fredericksburg	-4	76	68	68	212
T3	Koricanek, Wyatt	New Braunfels	2	74	69	75	218
T3	Rome, Michael	Austin	2	74	72	72	218
5	Kenny, Declan	Dallas	4	72	81	67	220

Full Leaderboard

In Contention: Wyatt Koricanek and Michael Rome finished in a tie for third at 2-over par 218. Rome was victorious in the TGA Fall Series – Houston at The Clubs of Kingwood in October. Declan Kenny finished with the low round of the tournament when he posted a 5-under par 67 in the final round to finish in solo fifth place.

Golf Course: Vaaler Creek Golf Club, located inside the Rockin’ J Ranch development in Blanco, opened in July 2009. Designed by Michael Lowry, Vaaler Creek features well-placed bunkers and beautiful water-features that provide a challenging, yet relaxing round of golf for players of all skill levels.

Tournament Format: The TGA Fall Series is a 54-hole individual stroke play event with no cut. The tournament field features 17 participants in the Men’s Division playing from approximately 6,800 yards.

Weather: Overcast skies each morning gave way to sunshine for the first two rounds, which saw temperatures reach the low 70s. The final round began with dense fog and a misting rain throughout the day.

What’s Next: The final TGA Fall Series – DFW #2 will be held at Hackberry Creek Country Club on November 16 – 18. The Texas Golf Association would like to extend our appreciation to the staff and members of Vaaler Creek Golf Club for hosting this year’s TGA Fall Series – Hill Country.

For more information about the TGA Fall Series – Hill Country, click here.

Trey Bosco Wins 111th Texas Amateur

FREDERICKSBURG – Trey Bosco won the 111th Texas Amateur late Sunday afternoon after carding a final round 2-under-par 69 at Boot Ranch Golf Club. The 18-year-old from Austin captures the victory with a 72-hole total of 5-under 279.

Sunday at Boot Ranch played much like the third round. Fast and firm greens complemented by swirling gusts made the Hal Sutton-designed championship golf course challenging yet again. Playing in the final group, Bosco showed little nerves from the outset. He split the fairway with his opening drive on No. 1, found the putting surface and drained an 18-foot birdie putt. He quickly pulled within one shot of the 54-hole leader Caleb Hicks.

Bosco, Hicks and Andres Acevedo, the third player of the final group, battled throughout the front nine. By the time they made the turn, all three players were over par for the round. The leaderboard was stacked and 10 players were within two shots of the lead.

Bosco, who begins his collegiate golf career at Baylor this fall, showed poise on his closing nine. He birdied the par-5 11th, but followed it with a bogey on the par-3 12th. After pars on holes 13 and 14, he knew he needed to make a charge.

“Coming down to 15, 16, 17, I was like, OK, might need to turn on the jets a little bit,” Bosco said. “I made a bomb on 15, and then from there I just had this tunnel vision to where all the putts just seemed to drop.”

He birdied the long par-5 16th and par-3 17th for three consecutive and led the field by two shots with one hole to play. Bosco finished with a routine par to clinch the biggest amateur title in his young golf career.

“It’s still kind of sinking in, but it means the world,” Bosco said. “I’ve had kind of a rough summer with the whole quarantine and all that stuff, so to get this before I go off to college is a dream come true for sure.”

Bosco is the second straight Bear to hoist the H.L. Edwards Memorial Trophy. Ryan Grider, a redshirt junior at Baylor, won last year at Dallas Athletic Club’s Blue Course. Bosco’s name will also be etched alongside the likes of Ben Crenshaw, Charles Coody, Mark Brooks, Scott Verplank and a host of other Texas golf legends who have won the Texas Amateur.

“Being a Texas Am Champion, you get to go down in the record books,” Bosco said. “It brings me a lot of confidence. It means that I can play with all these guys and I can compete with all the top college players.”

Finishing runner-up was Hicks, who led the field through 54 holes. The UT Arlington junior struggled on the front side en route to a 4-over 39. However, he didn’t let up his fight. Hicks carded a bogey-free 3-under 33 on the back nine including a birdie on the 72nd hole to finish just one-shot off Bosco’s 5-under.

Four players shared third place at 2-under 282. Tommy Morrison, a 2023 University of Texas commit, fired the low round of the day. The 15-year-old carded five birdies and an eagle on Sunday to climb 23 spots up the leaderboard.

“I knew this morning something low had to happen,” Morrison said. “Me and my caddie just went out there and figured we had nothing to lose.”

Morrison’s closing 5-under 66 was enough to hold the clubhouse lead until the final group finished. Also at 2-under par for the championship, were Jimmy Lee, a sophomore at Texas A&M, Jacob Sosa, a 2022 Texas commit, and Andres Acevedo, a senior at Seton Hall.

Reid Davenport of Austin finished seventh at 1-under-par 283. Austyn Reily of Pottsboro and Stephen Campbell Jr. of Richmond tied for eight at even-par 284. Defending Texas Mid-Amateur champion and last year’s runner-up Chris Wheeler of Addison rounded out the top-10 at 1-over 285.

The TGA extends sincere appreciation to Boot Ranch, its attentive staff and engaged membership, as well as our volunteers for all their help and support ahead of and during the 111th Texas Amateur.

In May of this year, the TGA was forced to reschedule the Texas Amateur from its original mid-June dates after the COVID-19 crisis preempted the ability to conduct statewide events. The TGA and Boot Ranch worked together to ensure a safe and competitive championship was held in 2020.

Extra special thanks to General Manager Emil Hale, Head Golf Professional Alex Rhyne, Golf Course Superintendent Patrick Joy and his amazing grounds crew, Director of Club Operations Monica Kendrick and Executive Chef Casey McQueen. The 111th Texas Amateur would not have been possible without their efforts.

For more information on the 111th Texas Amateur, click here.