13th Women’s Texas Pinehurst heads to Historic Gus Wortham Golf Course
The 13th Women’s Texas Pinehurst will be played Nov. 3-4 at Gus Wortham Golf Course in Houston. The event marks the next-to-last tournament of the 2025 season ahead of the 2nd Annual Red River Cup Matches.
“We are ecstatic to be heading to Gus Wortham Park Golf Course for the 13th Women’s Texas Pinehurst,” said Kristi Knight, the TGA’s Director of Women’s Golf. “This is a unique event format hosted at a historic venue that has welcomed the Legends Junior Tour and TGA men’s events. We’re thrilled to bring one of our most popular women’s events to this course.”
Located along Brays Bayou, the 151-acre course is one of the earliest 18-hole golf facilities in Texas. The Houston Country Club, founded in 1903, opened its first nine-hole course a year later on a 45-acre tract along Buffalo Bayou near Glenwood Cemetery.
By 1908, with membership on the rise, the club purchased a larger parcel of rolling land along Brays Bayou southwest of downtown. Led by A.W. Pollard, members leveled, drained and cleared the native landscape while preserving stands of oak and pine to create the new layout. In 1914, the course hosted its first invitational tournament, beginning a 39-year tradition.
The club relocated in 1953 after businessman Gus Wortham purchased the property and renamed it the Houston Executive Club. The City of Houston later acquired the course in 1973 and renamed it in Wortham’s honor.
In 2007, a nonprofit group called Friends of Gus Wortham—now Wortham Park Friends—formed to advocate for the course’s preservation. That same year, the group successfully petitioned against redevelopment plans for a professional soccer stadium. Beginning in 2013, the organization also fought efforts to convert part of the property into the Houston Botanic Garden.
Featuring natural topography, groves of hardwoods and open fairways, the course is crossed by several rustic bridges spanning a tributary of Brays Bayou. Today, the City of Houston continues to collaborate with Wortham Park Friends and the Houston Golf Association to maintain and enhance the historic venue.
“The course provides a great challenge for the players, but in a way that makes it enjoyable from start to finish,” Knight said. “The format allows teams to strategize and really work together throughout the round.”
Often mistaken for modified alternate shot, Pinehurst is a variation of that format. In traditional modified alternate shot, both players hit tee shots, choose the better ball and alternate from there. Pinehurst tweaks this slightly: both players hit tee shots, then each plays their partner’s ball for the second shot. After that, the team selects the best ball and alternates until it’s holed.
For example, on a par 5, both players tee off, switch balls for their second shots and then choose the better position. If Player A’s second shot is selected, Player B would hit the third shot, and the team would alternate from that point forward.
At last year’s 12th Women’s Texas Pinehurst, New Braunfels’ Patthawan Livingston and Helotes’ Tammy Trichell claimed the overall title at Wichita Falls Country Club. The duo carded rounds of 78-72 for a two-day total of 150, winning by two strokes. They credited strong communication and consistency for their comeback victory—their first team win in the event.
Trailing by four strokes after the opening round, Livingston and Trichell rallied with eight straight pars starting on hole five, then made back-to-back birdies on holes one and two to seal the championship with a final-round 72.
In the First Flight, the team of Elizabeth Scaggs and Carol Turnage tied for first with Sally Bowman and Lee Ann Penick. Scaggs and Turnage opened with a 74 to share the first-round lead, then followed with a 78 that included two birdies for a 152 total. Bowman and Penick matched that total with rounds of 75 and 77, closing steady with 12 pars in the final round.
In the Second Flight, Dallas’ Mara Neal and Richardson’s Jackie LaFollette secured a two-stroke victory with rounds of 81-88 for a 169 total, maintaining their first-round lead despite gusty final-round conditions.
Cedar Park’s Kimberly Anne Maloney and Amarillo’s Crystal Cross claimed the Third Flight title with rounds of 93-90. The duo recorded a single birdie on Tuesday, which proved pivotal in their one-stroke win amid challenging winds.
Round 1 of the 13th Women’s Texas Pinehurst will begin Monday, Nov. 3, at 9 a.m. with a shotgun start.
To learn more about the 13th Women’s Texas Pinehurst, click here. To learn more about Gus Wortham Park Golf Course, click here.