Houston Golf News

HOUSTON - President George H.W. Bush's passion for the game of golf and his hometown of Houston, Texas are both well documented, and he and First Lady Barbara Bush are looking forward to combining those passions this Fall as they serve as honorary chairpeople for the LPGA Tour Championship presented by Rolex.

The LPGA Tour Championship presented by Rolex will be hosted by The Houstonian Golf & Country Club, the sister club to the Bush's home club, Nov. 17-22, 2009. 

The record books were rewritten at the 33rd Callaway Golf PGA Assistant Championship, as Tim Thelen of New Ulm, Texas, fired a final round 4-under-par 68 for a 265 total.

PGA apprentice Sean Dougherty of Overland Park, Kan., finished in second place.

Thelen broke the 72-hole Championship scoring record of 270, which was previously held by Kyle Finton of Edmond, Okla., by five strokes. Finton set the mark in 2003.

Another battle is brewing. The setting will be Miramont Country Club in Bryan, and the issue will be settled Nov. 9-10 when the Southern Texas PGA hosts the 29th renewal of the Texas Joe Black Cup Matches.

The Ryder Cup-style tournament features teams of Southern Texas PGA Professionals against a similar team of Professionals from the Northern Texas PGA. The tournament was established in 1981 to honor Texas native Joe Black, who was then completing his first term as president of the PGA of America. 

Jeff Strong, the head PGA golf professional and general manager at Eagle Pointe Golf Club in Mont Belvieu, will serve as Captain of the 2009 Southern Texas PGA Texas Joe Black Cup Matches team.

The 2009 Texas Joe Black Cup Matches will be hosted by the Southern Texas PGA on Nov. 9-10 at Miramont Country Club in Bryan. The Ryder Cup-style tournament began in 1981 and pits a team of Southern Texas PGA Professionals against a team of Professionals from the Northern Texas PGA. The event is named in honor of Joe Black, a native of Snyder, Texas, who was then serving as president of the PGA of America. Black is currently living outside of Austin. 

Scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 12, on Cypresswood Golf Club's Tradition Course, The 2009 Houston Texans Cheerleaders Bulls and Birdies Golf Tournament promises its participants a bushel full of great golf and good times.

The four-player scramble will kick off with a 10:30 a.m. shotgun start, and will benefit the Houston Texans Foundation and the Southern Texas PGA Foundation, through which the STPGA administers a wide variety of junior golf functions. Golfers entering teams can choose from a pair entry packages. 

HOUSTON - When women's professional golf makes its long-awaited return to Houston this fall for the 2009 LPGA Tour Championship, it will be backed by familiar and long-time supporter Rolex, which was recently named presenting sponsor for the year-end tournament.

The 2009 LPGA Tour Championship presented by Rolex, to be held Nov. 17-22, will feature a field of 120 of the top LPGA professionals in the world, a $1,500,000 purse, and a unique format that will see a cut after 36 holes to the low 70 professionals (and ties) and an additional cut after 54 holes to the low 30 pros (and ties).

Linda Fuller of Richmond, Texas, shot a net 66 to win the World Championship Playoff at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club during the 26th annual PGA Tour Superstore World Amateur Handicap Championship, an event that featured 3,060 people.

The World Championship Playoff consisted of all flight winners and ties, a total of 75 golfers. There was a three-way tie for second place. Treg Hallman, Jill Ford and Thomas Wagner all finished with a net 68.

Bolstered by the return of the Valero Texas Open to the regular PGA Tour schedule for the first time since 1969, and the Shell Houston Open’s ascension to must-play status among the Tour’s stars who signed up to have a go at Redstone Golf Club in record numbers because of its uncanny ability to almost replicate conditions they would see at Augusta National, the collection of tournaments played within the Lone Star State’s borders has never been better.

Challenging courses like La Canterra Golf Club, TPC Four Seasons Resort and Colonial Country Club produced great champions, none of which was ranked lower than 30th in the Official World Golf Rankings heading into the U.S. Open. This year, the PGA Tour’s best came to Texas and had great success. 

It doesn’t take a single-digit handicap to plan a golf tournament. Instead, an ideal chairperson needs to be a supreme organizer with excellent planning skills to take an event from original blueprint to post-round barbecue. Before targeting potential participants and sponsors, a golf tournament needs a purpose, golf course, name and date. And because the more visual elements incorporated into the event the better, a Web site dedicated to your tournament and a colorful, eye-catching logo wouldn’t hurt. And if you’re really into New Media, making a Twitter account or Facebook page dedicated to your golf tournament is a quick and easy way to promote and update the progress of the event.

Despite a sagging economy and lack of a title sponsor, the LPGA Tour will in fact have a season-ending Tour Championship, and it will be held in Houston.

The Houstonian Golf & Country Club is the new home of the LPGA’s year-end event, which will mark first time the Houston metropolitan area has welcomed a regular season LPGA stop since 1986. In 2003, The Woodlands Country Club was the site of the Samsung World Championship.