Day 2 of the 25th Women’s Partnership Match Play Concludes at River Crossing Club

Date: April 16, 2024
Contact: Krisit Knight, Texas Golf Association
Phone: 214-468-8942

Email: [email protected]

Briefly: The 25th annual Women’s Partnership Match Play concluded its second day of play Tuesday afternoon at River Crossing Club in Spring Branch, Texas.

In the first flight, the team of Kim Guidry of San Antonio and Nanette Hall of Universal City claimed the lead after tying the team of Jan Rapp of Dallas and Kemberly Barrett of Woodway in Match 4. It was in Monday’s matches when the leading team put on a true display of partnership. Guidry and Hall were able win both Match 1 and 2 earning a total of 24 points on Day 1. Rap and Barrett earned a total of 18 points on Tuesday leaving them just 1 point behind the leaders.

We will have another close finish in tomorrow’s final round in the second flight. Lisa Papes of Allen and Lindy Sarah Farmer of Arlington have Day 2 lead after earning a total of 23 points over Tuesdays Matches 3 and 4. The leading team, 44 total points, is only 1 point ahead of the team of Patricia Carnes and Amy Goodwin who hail from McKinney.

In the third flight, the team of Stephanie Smith of Dallas and Chris Meadows of Plano will have the overnight lead after an exciting match in Match 4 against the team of Sandra Swan and Charlene Wilson out of Desoto. The team of Lori Keith of Austin and Tracey Calloway of Round Rock earned the most points in a single match in the third flight, winning a total of 12 points in the morning match.

We will have an exciting finish in the fourth flight as the team of Rachel Hanse and Renee Montgomery from Houston is tied with the team of Dianne Dillard and Claudia Willis of Bryan. Both teams finished Day 2 with a total of 42 points and are set to face off in Wednesdays final match. The team of Lili Taufa of Austin and Teresita Aguilar of Temple trail by just 2 points after a 13-point Match 4 against par.

In the fifth flight, the team of Sabra Fullwood of Leander and Sherry Brown of Round Rock will have the overnight lead after a dominating performance in the morning match earning a total of 13 points. The team of Rebecca Hooper and Michel Bellinger from San Antonio are just 2 points behind the first-place team. The two teams will meet in tomorrow’s final match. We had plenty of incredible performances in the fifth flight lead by the teams of Robin Bobbitt and Sally Mason from Houston and Jill Rizzo, College Station, and Sue Rowe, Magnolia, who both ended a Match earning 15 points.

Our leaders in the sixth flight lead all flights in total points with a total of 46 points. The team of Jan Rollins of Mansfield and Jo Puckett of Dallas have the Day 2 lead after earning an incredible total of 24 points over Tuesdays Matches 3 and 4. They lead the team of Brenda Mosely and Virginia Vaillancourt hailing from San Antonio by 3 points.

Day 2 Results

Golf Course: River Crossing Club’s championship golf course is playing from 5235 yards for the Women’s Partnership Match Play. Located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, the course features scenic hilltop views and sprawling fairways.

Weather: Tuesday’s high reached the low 80’s. A few light showers surrounded the course throughout the day but missed just to the south. Wednesday’s final round looks to be some of the same as the high is expected to be 79 degrees with a 64% chance of precipitation.

More Info: The Texas Golf Association extends its sincere appreciation to the staff, members of River Crossing Club for their integral part in making the Women’s Partnership Match Play. For more information on the Women’s Partnership Match Play, click here.

The 15th Texas Girls’ Invitational set for Feb. 17-19

Addison – The 15^th Texas Girls’ Invitational heads to Eagle’s Bluff Country Club on February 17-19, for the first major championship of the 2024 Legends Junior Tour season. This event returns to East Texas for the first time since 2017.

The Texas Girls’ Invitational is an 84-player field modeled after the Byron Nelson Junior Championship and Texas Cup Invitational. The tournament quickly grew and has taken its own identity and is a favorite event among the girls on the LJT schedule. In 2019, the event changed from a 36 to 54-hole format held in February with World Amateur Golf Rankings points to play for.

The winner of this year’s tournament will have her name engraved on the Nez Muhleman Trophy.  Inez “Nez” Muhleman is known for her dedication to junior golf. Nez had gone to the annual U.S. Girls Junior Championship for 31 straight years and was awarded the USGA Joe Dey award In 2011.

This is the second LJT event that Eagle’s Bluff Country Club has hosted in the last year. The Jackie Burke Cup was staged here last November, and the Texas Cup Invitational is set to come out to Bullard next month. The golf course was designed by Carlton Gibson in 1999 and stretches 6,997 yards from the back tees. The par-71 layout is known for its beauty as the course runs through the tall pine trees of East Texas.

“We are very excited for this year’s Texas Girls’ Invitational at Eagle’s Bluff Country Club.  We have a very strong field of not only Texas players but also competitors from six other states coming in to compete for the Nez Muhleman Trophy,” shared Tournament Director Scott Davidson.

 “Eagle’s Bluff has been a great host for the Texas Golf Association and the Legend Junior Tour. The club took on our 103^rd Women’s Texas Amateur last year along with the LJT Jackie Burke Cup. They are going to host our boy’s Texas Cup Invitational in March as well. Everyone there is first class, and they truly enjoy hosting the incredible golfers we have on our tour.”

 Adrienne Ahn of Dallas won the 14^th Texas Girls’ Invitational by three strokes last year. Another impressive field of junior girls’ players with compete to have their name on that trophy this year.

 Past Champions of the championship include Farah O’Keefe, Kaci McCartan, Lakareber Abe, Maddie McCrary, Vanessa Ha, Jaravee Boonchant, Anne Chen, Mackenzie Niblett, Hailey Jones, and Tillie Claggett.

 For more information on the Texas Girls’ Invitational, please click here.

9th Women’s Stroke Play Championship Set for June 23-25

Harbor Lakes Golf Club in Granbury will be the host site for the 9th Women’s Stroke Play. Conducted by the Texas Golf Association, the championship is scheduled for June 23-25.

This will be the fourth TGA championship to be held at Harbor Lakes. The club previously hosted the 2006 and 2012 Women’s Senior Stroke Play and the 2022 North Texas Regional Amateur.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to return this year to Harbor Lakes Golf Club for one of our premier championships,” said Amy Worthington, TGA Director of Women’s Operations. “We know the club and its membership, which have long been passionate supporters of amateur golf, will provide an exceptional experience for the players.”

Located approximately 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Harbor Lakes Golf Club opened in 2003 and was designed by Dick Phelps. The par-72 layout, which will play approximately 6,300 yards during the championship, is routed through a varied landscape of rolling hills, hardwood trees, and open meadows. With many fairways and greens guarded by water hazards, bunkers, and run-off areas, the course presents an exacting challenge to even the most accomplished players.

“Harbor Lakes requires a combination of strength, precision, and sound course management to score well,” Worthington said. “It’s a fantastic course with lots of character and nuance and will be a great test for the state’s best female amateur golfers.”

The 9th Women’s Stroke Play will be contested over 54 holes of individual stroke play. The top 30 players with the lowest World Handicap System Indexes® will compete in the Championship Flight, plus those players who opted into the Championship Flight at the time entries were submitted. The remaining players will compete in one of two additional flights.

Defending champion Camryn Carreon of San Antonio will head the 84-player starting field at Harbor Lakes. Carreon, a then-senior at UT San Antonio, carded rounds of 74-71-68 to win the 8th Women’s Stroke Play last year at Traditions Club at Texas A&M in Bryan. Her 3-under 213 total was good for a three-stroke victory over runner-up Ellie Szeryk of Allen. Carreon will look to become the first player in the championship’s 9-year history to capture back-to-back titles.

Joining Carreon are several other top finishers from the 2022 championship, including Elina Sinz of Katy (who finished 4th), Delaney Martin of Boerne (8th), Alise Knudson of Dallas (T9), Megan Tan of Fort Worth (11th), and Mason Lewis of Granbury (T12).

Starting times and pairings for the first and second rounds will be posted on the TGA website no later than June 21. Live scoring updates and daily recaps will also be available online once the action gets underway from Harbor Lakes Golf Club.

First held in 2015, the Women’s Stroke Play is one of the two women’s majors on the TGA’s annual schedule along with the Women’s Texas Amateur. Thus far, three players have won both the Women’s Stroke Play and Women’s Texas Amateur. They are Hanna Alberto, Annika Clark, and Emma McMyler. Only McMyler has captured both major titles in the same year.

In Memoriam: Diane Dill, 1936-2023

Rose Diane Dupree was born on July 21, 1936, in Gilmer, Texas to Jake and Ruth Dupree. As the only child of Jake and Ruth, she was the apple of their eyes. Diane loved athletics and the outdoors. She played football in the front yard with the boys in the neighborhood, always being the quarterback. She played baseball and tennis, and at the age of 14, she discovered true excitement in golf. She would play with her parents and other kids who were around.

Diane attended Gilmer schools while growing up. She was in the Gilmer Buckeye marching band, where she played trombone. Gilmer is home to the cherished tradition known as the East Texas Yamboree. It is a good-old fashioned small-town festival. It typically draws over 100,000 people to the small community. The annual four-day event is held each October to celebrate the yam cash crop. In 1953, Diane was selected to be Queen Yam XVI. She presided over the Queen’s coronation and the Queen’s parade and all the festivities during the Yamboree. The floats are built by Upshur County Schools. The float that wins First Place is the Queen’s Float in the parade on Saturday. Diane always loved this fabulous experience in her young life and being Queen Yam. She loved her East Texas roots.

After graduating from Gilmer High School, Diane attended the University of Texas. She was a member of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority and earned a Bachelor of Business degree.

After Diane graduated from the University of Texas, she started playing golf with local friends. Wanting to be more competitive, she started taking lessons from a golf pro at the Humble Country Club in Pasadena. He helped refine her swing. His name was Bill Dill. Not only did Diane love golf, she loved and adored Bill Dill. The feeling was mutual, and Diane and Bill married in June 1963. Although Bill was 11 years older than Diane, it was a match made in heaven. They were inseparable and shared a love of hunting, fishing, traveling, cooking and of course, golf. Together they became the stars of Bentwater Country Club. Many of their closest friends are gathered today in Diane’s honor.

The team of Bill and Diane taught so many to play and enjoy golf. Diane’s amateur legacy is impressive, as she had 14 holes in one and played in two US Women’s Amateurs. She won six Women’s Senior Strike Play tournaments and captured the Super Senior and Legends Divisions three times. When Diane could no longer play because of a back injury, she volunteered for the Women’s TGA and attended the USGA Rules School. Volunteering for the TGA allowed her to be on the courses with young ladies at the collegiate and professional level. Diane volunteered at over 20 events and helped the TGA conduct top tier women’s championships. Diane was a TGA Director on the Women’s Committee, as well.

In 1958, Diane began her career with Humble Oil, which became Exxon. She joined the Marketing Department. Who could have been better to be an ambassador for the company than a talented, organized, and friendly young lady with a degree in business from the University of Texas?

In 1977, Diane became an analyst in administration where she handled management development and compensation.

Diane retired in 1988, after 30 years of service and received many professional accolades over those years.

In her leisure time, Diane found joy and great passion in golf. Her competitive spirit, drive and determination made her a shining star for others to follow. Her devotion to golf brought respect and honor to her while impacting many others along the way.

Dear Diane lived a dream life, a full life by every measure. She was showered with God’s countless blessings of having doting and loving parents, having a marriage to her wonderful soul mate, Bill Dill, living an honored professional life, and being surrounded with loving family and friends.

Diane is survived by her stepson Johnny Dill and his family Tara Ward, Brian Stewart, and daughter Ava, stepdaughter Mary Lou Dill, and is predeceased by stepdaughter Billie June Wilson, cousins Mike and Cathy Bullard, Courtney Duperier and husband Chris, Ross Bullard and their families, cousins Paul and Beverly Rowntree, Christopher and Brandi Rowntree, Michael and Alicia Rowntree, Matthew and Rachel Rowntree and their families.

May the Lord Bless you and keep you, Diane.

To make a donation in the memory of Diane Dill, click here.

The Great Kathy Whitworth Dies at 83

No player, man, or woman, won more on a single tour than Kathy Whitworth, who died Sunday at 83.

From 1962 to 1985, Whitworth won 88 times on the LPGA Tour, more than both Tiger Woods and Sam Snead on the PGA Tour and besting fellow legends like Mickey Wright, JoAnne Carner, Nancy Lopez, Pat Bradley and others along the way. She became the first woman to amass more than $1 million in career earnings on the LPGA Tour.

Whitworth died suddenly on Christmas Eve while celebrating the holiday with family and friends, the LPGA and Whitworth’s long-time partner Bettye Odle announced.

“Kathy left this world the way she lived her life, loving, laughing and creating memories,” Odle said in a statement published by the LPGA.

“The golf world and the world in general lost one of its most incredible women with the passing of Kathy Whitworth,” LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan added in the statement.

“Kathy was a champion in the truest sense of the word, both on the golf course and off. In the short time I spent with Kathy, I was truly blown away by her and her approach to the game and to life. Her strength, insightfulness and vibrancy were obvious from the minute you met her! She inspired me as a young girl and now as the commissioner and I know she did the same for so many others. We all mourn with Bettye, her family, and the entire golf world.”

Whitworth won the 1957 New Mexico Women’s Amateur just two years after taking up the game and repeated the feat the next year.

Before finally breaking through for the first of her record 88 victories, she nearly quit the professional game in 1959, in the middle of a difficult rookie season in which she won just $1,217 and had a scoring average north of 80.

Halfway through her first season, Whitworth came home to her parent’s house in New Mexico where they told her she could try something else if golf didn’t work out. Her father and a few other businessmen subsidized her career with $5,000 a year for three years.

After five second-place finishes, Whitworth notched her first win three and a half years later at the 1962 Kelly Girls Open. She finished runner-up six more times that year before collecting win No. 2.

Her career took off from there, and in 1981, she surpassed $1 million in career earnings.

Despite Whitworth being rather unpolished with her golf game at first, Betsy Rawls told the LPGA that Whitworth learned to play during her first years on Tour. She was known for the ultra-high standards she placed on herself.

“She just had to win,” Rawls said. “A lot like Mickey Wright and Louise Suggs. There’s just something that drives them. Kathy was a very intelligent person. It was unacceptable for her to make a mistake. She hated herself when she made a mistake. She was wonderful to play with — sweet as she could be, nice to everybody — but oh, man, she berated herself something awful. And that’s what drove her.”

LPGA founder Louise Suggs once said of Whitworth, “Mickey was the greatest golfer, but Kathy was the greatest winner.”

— Story courtesy of GOLF.com

Women’s Senior Stroke Play Set for Oct. 11-13

ARLINGTON – Shady Valley Country Club will be the host site for the 33rd Women’s Senior Stroke Play, the second to last event of the year on the Women’s schedule conducted by the Texas Golf Association. The 54-hole championship, which features the state’s top amateur golfers aged 50 and older, will be held Oct. 11-13.

“We are so excited to bring this event to Shady Valley Country Club,” said Katie O’Connell, TGA Tournament Coordinator. “It’s a fantastic venue for our ladies to come compete at. They have been a joy to work with.”

This championship has seen many highly touted players come away victorious. The 2022 field is no different as a multitude of players with impressive resumes will look to add to their illustrious careers.

The following player profiles have been created as a preview to some of the top storylines coming into this year’s championship.

►Anna Schultz, 67, of Heath, is one of the most accomplished golfers in the state and a member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame since 2013. A three-time winner of this event, Schultz captured the USGA’s 2007 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur title. Her resume would put any golfer in awe as it features incredible success at the local, state, and national level.

►Mina Hardin, 62, of Fort Worth, is the defending champion and a two-time winner of this event. Last year, Hardin pulled out the victory by two strokes at 11-under for the championship. Most notably, Hardin’s resume includes a win at the USGA’s 2010 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur. A five-time Women’s Texas Amateur champion and a member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame’s Class of 2012, Hardin’s career also features a runner-up finish at the USGA’s 2001 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.

►Marian Barker, 68, of Lubbock, is back in the field this year after missing the 2021 championship. The four-time winner of this event will look to capture the title for a fifth time. Her most recent victory was in 2020. A highlight of Barker’s impressive career is  advancing to the match play rounds of the USGA’s U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur in 2004, ’09, and ’16.

►Kelley Nittoli, 59, of San Antonio, is fresh off capturing her second WSGA Women’s Southern Senior Amateur title this week. Nittoli, who played for a short stint on the LPGA Tour right after college, is married to Jim Nittoli, Director of Golf at San Antonio Country Club. Nittoli’s impressive play this year also features advancing to match play at the USGA’s U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur in September.  

►Marilyn Hardy, 62, of Magnolia, was the 2011 champion of this event and a runner-up in 2019. She has made impressive runs in several of the USGA’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur championships. In 2020 and 2021, Hardy finished runner-up at the WSGA’s Women’s Southern Senior Amateur.

Shady Valley Country Club is a privately owned club in Arlington that was founded in 1959 by golf enthusiast Howard Wilemon, Jr. The course is fun and challenging as it features a tight layout and stays true to its name with many trees.

The 16 players with the lowest Handicap Indexes® at the Women’s Senior Stroke Play will be required to play from the Championship Tees (approx. 5500-5700 yards). All other players may select which tees they wish to play from – the Championship Tees or the Flights Tees (approx. 5100-5300 yards). Upon completion of Round 2, the field will be broken into flights based on 36-hole scores.

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

For more information on the 33rd Women’s Senior Stroke Play, click here.

Parel & Nguyen Win 2022 Women’s Four-Ball Championship

SUGAR LAND – Elise Parel from Porter and Jacqueline Nguyen from Houston went wire-to-wire to capture the 2022 Texas Women’s Four-Ball Championship on Tuesday at Riverbend Country Club.

The pair of Houston Baptist University teammates blitzed Riverbend in the Final Round with an 8-under-par 64. It’s the same stellar score they combined to shoot on Monday. They finished the 36-hole championship with a score of 16-under 128 to win by eight shots.

“Especially being teammates and old friends, it means a lot,” said Parel, who will enter her senior year this fall at HBU. “Winning this tournament means our games are on point. Going into the fall season at HBU, it’s going to give us momentum to keep doing well and keep playing for one another.”

It was a bit of role reversal for Parel and Nguyen in the final round. In Monday’s opening round, Parel routinely hit laser-like approaches, which led to a bevy of looks at birdie from 15 feet and in. They made most of them.

On Tuesday, it was Nguyen’s turn.

“Jackie was on literal fire today,” Parel said of Nguyen, who starts her sophomore campaign next month.

Thanks to Nguyen’s precise iron game – and a hot putter – the dynamic duo birdied their first four holes of the final round. They turned at 6-under for the round and cruised in from there to register a second straight bogey-free round.

“We really weren’t trying to shoot another 64,” Parel said. “We just went out there and played our games. We laughed and enjoyed ourselves. At the end of the day, it’s just golf. We’re out here as teammates and friends.”

Eryn Garza from Montgomery and Brandee Fleming from Magnolia took second place in the Championship Flight with a two-day total of 8-under 136. The two Dallas Baptist University teammates combined to fire a 6-under 66 in the final round. Rylie Cerny from Kingwood and Jessica Aguirre from Colleyville finished in third place at 7-under 137.

Sidney Stramel from Allen and Simone Campise from Lewisville were the fourth-place finishers at 6-under 138. Rounding out the Top 5 were Madison Le from Arlington and Abigail Hirtzel from Waxahachie. They finished the tournament with a score of 4-under 140.

In the First Flight, Meghan Moake from Houston and Caitlyn Stanley from Katy took the title with a 36-hole score of 6-under 138 to win by three shots. Moake and Stanley combined to shoot a 5-under 67 in the final round.

Olivia Campbell from Franklin and Cherri Rapp from Austin took home the first-place hardware in the Second Flight. They finished at 15-over 159 to win by six shots.

The most tightly contested battle came in the Third Flight, where Erica McAlister from Keller and Linda Edwards from Southlake scored a one-shot victory over the Corpus Christi duo of Cathy Gibson and Alisa Kennedy. McAlister and Edwards won with a two-day total of 20-over 164.

A true shot-maker’s course, Riverbend was designed in 1956 by J. Press Maxwell, son of the legendary golf course architect Perry Maxwell. After his father passed away in 1952, J. Press began to emerge as one of America’s most-promising designers.

His work at Riverbend validates those opinions. With tight, hardwood-lined fairways, creatively positioned bodies of water, and thought-provoking green complexes, Riverbend forces players to continually think their way around the scenic course. Tricky doglegs with a few imposing trees located in directly in some fairways keep even the most seasoned players on their toes.

Several players in the field at the 2022 Texas Women’s Four-Ball remarked on how fun and challenging the Riverbend course played during the championship.

The TGA extends its warmest gratitude to Riverbend Country Club, including the members and staff. Everyone at the club went out of their way to make the players, TGA staff, and our volunteers feel welcome and appreciated. It’s this kind of buy-in from prestigious TGA Member Clubs that help us conduct world-class amateur championships.

Extra special thanks go out Director of Golf Ryan Brandt, Golf Course Superintendent George Cincotta, and Catering Director Haille Schindler for their exceptional hospitality and assistance in creating a memorable championship week.

For more information on the 2022 Women’s Four-Ball, click here.

Parel & Nguyen Sizzle with a 64 to Lead Women’s Four-Ball Championship

SUGAR LAND – Elise Parel from Porter and Jacqueline Nguyen from Houston combined for eight birdies and a bogey-free 8-under-par 64 on Monday to grab the lead after one round of the 2022 Texas Women’s Four-Ball Championship.

The two Houston Baptist University teammates were understandably all smiles when they finished their opening round at scenic Riverbend Country Club, a delightful yet challenging 1956 J. Press Maxwell design.

“We started off really good with two birdies in our first three holes,” said Nguyen, a sophomore at HBU. “Then Elise caught fire. She literally started sticking them within 5 or 6 feet.”

Outside a 25-footer on the par-4 16th, Parel said all their birdies were within 15 feet.

“If any hiccups happened on a shot, we knew we could rely on each other to stick it close or at least make par,” Parel said. “It was just really good teamwork.”

Three shots back in second place are Rylie Cerny from Kingwood and Jessica Aguirre from Colleyville. They’ll be teammates in the fall at Stephen F. Austin, but Monday at Riverbend was the first time they’ve every teamed up. After a 5-under 67, it’s safe to say they have some chemistry together.

“I think the key for us was we were really having fun and joking around out there,” Aguirre said. “We made sure we knew it was OK if we hit a bad shot; we tried not to get too emotional out there. It was a really good day out there for us.”

Abigail Hirtzel from Waxahachie and Madison Le from Arlington are in third place with a 3-under 69. Erin Garza from Montgomery and Brandee Fleming from Magnolia share fourth place at 2-under 70 with Simone Campise from Lewisville and Sidney Stramel from Allen.

Scheduled for 36 holes of four-ball stroke play, the Women’s Four-Ball feature two sets of tees for the fourth consecutive year. The TGA encourages participation from competitive golfers of all skill levels, from juniors and collegiate players to senior amateurs of all skill levels. In addition to the Championship Flight, competitors were placed into three other flights based on each team’s combined World Handicap System index.

In the First Flight, Meghan Moake from Houston and Caitlyn Stanley from Katy combined to shoot a 1-under 71 to take the lead. Cherri Rapp from Austin and Olivia Campbell from Franklin hold the Second Flight lead after their 6-over 78. Erica McAlister from Keller and Linda Edwards from Southlake will sleep on the Third Flight lead after they teamed up for a 9-over 81.

One of the crown jewels of the Sugar Land area, the tree-lined Riverbend course sports narrow fairways, perfectly conditioned greens, and surprising elevation changes. In 2010, Texas architect Jeff Blume led a $1.4 million renovation project that added more topography in the fairways, as well as additional bunkers. The par-72 layout the course tips out at a little less than 7,000 yards, but the Championship Division of the 2022 Women’s Four-Ball Championship played it from 6,005 yards.

The inaugural Women’s Four-Ball was held in 2007 at the Golf Club of Houston, which recently hosted the 101st Women’s Texas Amateur. Now in its 16th edition, the Women’s Four-Ball continues to attract some of the state’s most elite female amateur golfers.

For more information on the 2022 Women’s Four-Ball, click here.

Emma McMyler Repeats as Women’s Texas Amateur Champion

HUMBLE – Prior to this week, Xavier University junior Emma McMyler was already part of Texas golf history. On Friday at the Golf Club of Houston’s Tournament Course, she elevated herself to a new level entirely: two-time Women’s Texas Amateur champion.

With a 3&2 victory in the Final Match against Kansas State University sophomore Remington Isaac of Montgomery, McMyler won the 101st edition of the prestigious amateur championship. It was a successful title defense, as the San Antonio native also won the 100th Women’s Texas Amateur last summer at River Crest Country Club in Fort Worth.

“It means a lot. To be able to do it twice is a cool thing to do,” said McMyler, who also won the 2021 Women’s Stroke Play Championship. “Doing it at this course is pretty special with it being a PGA Tour course. The field was pretty strong this week, and I had a lot of tough matches. But I played really well and was able to pull out the win. It’s pretty special.”

McMyler is the first to win consecutive Women’s Texas Amateurs since Texas Golf Hall of Famer Mina Hardin did it 1999-2000. Hardin, the 2010 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion, was the Senior Medalist this week at the Tournament Course during the Qualifying Round and advanced the Championship Bracket. A veteran of more than 50 USGA national championships, Hardin also won back-to-back Women’s Texas Amateur titles in 1996-97.

The Final Match was tight throughout the front nine. Both players held leads at one point, but they were tied as they reached the 10th tee box. Over the next 40 minutes or so, McMyler ripped off three straight birdies to take a commanding 3-up lead. Long off the tee and precise with her irons, she put herself in position to capitalize again and again. McMyler poured in a 12-footer on the 10th, then made 25-foot bomb on the 11th, and capped off the string with a 6-foot birdie on No. 12.

With her father Brian on the bag as caddie, McMyler also birdied the par-3 14th to go 4 up.

“I was kind of feeling it with the putter,” she said.

For her part, Isaac never backed down and continued the fight until both players bogeyed the par-3 16th, which ended things. The former Montgomery High School standout made four birdies on the front nine, but McMyler’s birdies kept besting Isaac’s pars early on the inward loop.

“I have definitely gotten mentally stronger because of this week,” said Isaac, who won seven of her 10 events during her high school senior and led her team to a runner-up finish at the 2021 UIL state championships.

Isaac employed her good friend and mentor Hailee Cooper as her caddie in the Final Match. The two were high school teammates for a year – Isaac was a freshman during Cooper’s senior year – and Isaac defeated Cooper in the Thursday’s Semifinals at the Tournament Course. Despite the tension of the match and what was at stake, Isaac and Cooper smiled and joked with each other throughout the round. The good friends clearly enjoyed the experience, regardless of the final outcome.

McMyler, a two-time Big East Golfer of the Year who won twice for Xavier last season, earned 21st seed in the Championship Match Play Bracket after recording 3-over-par 75 in Tuesday’s Qualifying Round. In the Round of 32, she defeated No. 12 seed Lauren Nguyen of Katy, 3&2. McMyler then took down 28th-seed Ellie Rippee of McKinney, 2&1, in the Round of 16.

In the Quarterfinals, McMyler beat No. 29 seed Hunter Nugent of Irving, 3&2. The Xavier standout then toppled No. 1-seeded Camryn Carreon of San Antonio in the Semis, 1 up.

“The week being so long, it’s really challenging,” said McMyler, who recently finished T26 playing as an amateur at the Epson Tour’s Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA powered by the A2 Sports Commission. “It was super-hot out here, so staying hydrated and staying fresh for the entire week was important.”

In addition to the McMyler-Isaac showdown, six other flights in the tournament held their final matches Friday.

In the First Flight, Paige Wood of McKinney defeated Chelsea Romas of Coppell, 5&4. In the Second Flight, Elina Sinz of Katy beat Faith Kilgore of Wimberley, 3&2. In the Third Flight, Trinity King of Arlington took down Federica Tavelli-Westerlund of San Marcos in 19 holes. In the Fourth Flight, Maria Jose Martinez Almeida of Houston defeated Brooke Morales of McKinney, 7&6. In the Fifth Flight, Simone Campise of Lewisville scored a 1-up victory against EG Messenger of Montgomery. In the Sixth Flight, Molly Murray of McKinney defeated Aidan McLachlan of Dallas, 4&3.

The Texas Golf Association extends its gratitude to the Golf Club of Houston, including its staff and membership, for their support, hospitality, and generosity during the 101st Women’s Texas Amateur. We greatly appreciate the efforts from the club, as well as the TGA volunteers, for helping us create a memorable championship week. For more information on the 101st Women’s Texas Amateur, click here.

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.