Ridgewood Country Club in Waco will be the host venue for the 116th Texas Amateur presented by Hytera US. Conducted by the TGA since 1906, this year’s championship is scheduled from June 12-15.
“We are thrilled to be able to bring the Texas Amateur to Ridgewood Country Club which has been such a wonderful partner through the years,” said Chris Untiedt, TGA Senior Tournament Director. “The club has an established tradition of supporting amateur golf and we are excited to continue our relationship with them and to work together in conducting a memorable championship.”
This will be the first time the Texas Amateur will be staged at Ridgewood and the latest in a long list of elite TGA championships contested at the venerable Central Texas club. Ridgewood has previously hosted five Women’s Texas Amateurs (1956, 1966, 1980, 2009, 2015), two Texas Senior Amateurs (1972, 2020), the Texas Super Senior Amateur (2019) and, most recently, the 2021 Women’s Senior Stroke Play, won by Texas Golf Hall of Famer Mina Hardin.
But the course players will confront in the 116th Texas Amateur will present an entirely different test than any of the prior champions faced, following the 11-month renovation by Tripp Davis.
Ridgewood Country Club opened in the fall of 1947 near what is now Lake Waco with an 18-hole course originally designed by Ralph Plummer, another Texas Golf Hall of Famer. He returned to Ridgewood over a decade later to completely redesign the course, which became necessary after government officials finalized plans to expand the lake in the early 1960s.
Since then, there have been multiple upgrades and improvements with Davis overseeing the most recent in 2023.
The extensive course renovation project led by Davis included removing a number of trees, recontouring fairways, rebuilding and reshaping greens, as well as reconstructing and shifting tee boxes and bunkers to sharpen and fortify the strategic elements of Plummer’s original design. To improve playing conditions, all greens were resurfaced with TifEagle Bermuda and the tees and fairways with TifSport Bermuda.
Though still compact at just 6,809 yards, the par-70 layout is a masterful examination that will provide a thoroughly modern challenge to even the most accomplished players.
“The result of Ridgewood’s renovation project has greatly enhanced what was already an iconic course,” Untiedt said. “It definitely has a lot of old-school characteristics where you need to find the right part of the fairway to have the best angle into the green. The course will play firm and fast with the new bermudagrasses and is sure to be a fantastic test for the players.”
There continues to be tremendous interest in competing in the Texas Amateur, not only for the chance to hoist the H.L. Edwards Memorial Trophy, but also for the opportunity to earn a spot in a national championship. As a designated USGA Exemption Event, the winner of this year’s Texas Amateur receives a full exemption into the 2025 U.S. Amateur to be held August 11-17 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif.
The TGA accepted a record-setting 1,085 entries for the 116th Texas Amateur presented by Hytera US at Ridgewood Country Club, eclipsing the previous record of 1,061 set for last year’s championship at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas. It is the fourth consecutive year that the number of entries has exceeded 1,000.
Seventeen-year-old Reese Roberts of Dallas won the 115th Texas Amateur at Trinity Forest and is one of two past champions among the 55 players who were fully exempt from having to qualify. Joining Roberts is Charlie Holland, also of Dallas, who won the 98th Texas Amateur in 2007 at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity.
Top finishers from the 2024 championship are also among the group of exempt players, which includes Marek Fleming of Tomball (T4), Andrew Lawson of Dallas (T4), Trevor Algya of Highland Village (T7), Finn Burkholder of The Woodlands (T7), Carson Cooper of Spring (T9), and Andrew Baucum of Heath (T9).
To determine the remaining 89 spots in the 144-player starting field, 18-hole qualifiers were held from April 7 through June 3 at 15 sites across the state.
The format for the championship is 72 holes of individual stroke play. All contestants will play 18 holes on both June 12-13. After 36 holes the field will be cut to the low 54 scorers and ties heading into the final two rounds.
Starting times and pairings for the first and second rounds will be posted on the TGA website no later than June 9. Live scoring updates and daily recaps will also be available online once the action gets underway from Ridgewood Country Club.
The Texas Amateur is the state’s oldest and most prestigious amateur championship and is one of the four men’s majors on the TGA’s annual schedule along with the Texas Four-Ball, Texas Senior Amateur and Texas Mid-Amateur. Notable past Texas Amateur champions include Charles Coody, Ben Crenshaw, Bruce Lietzke, Mark Brooks, Scott Verplank, Bob Estes, and Will Zalatoris.
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