Jackie Burke Cup Returns to Eagle’s Bluff Country Club

A selection of elite junior golfers on the Legends Junior Tour will go head-to-head November 7-8 when the 2026 Jackie Burke Cup returns to Eagle’s Bluff Country Club for the second time in the event’s history.

“We’re excited for the Jackie Burke Cup to finally be here,” Legends Junior Tour Tournament Director Scott Davidson said. “These players have been competing all season for Player of the Year and for points toward a spot on the Jackie Burke Cup team. Now it’s time for them to go head-to-head at Eagle’s Bluff.”

The invitation-only, Ryder Cup-style event pits the top 12 players from North Texas against their counterparts from South Texas. Each team has eight players from the Boys 15-18 Division, two from the Girls 12-18 Division and two from the Boys 14 & Under Division.

Teams will compete in Four-Ball, Foursomes and Singles matches over two days, with each match worth two points and halved matches splitting the points. Play begins Saturday morning with six Four-Ball matches, followed by six Foursomes matches in the afternoon. Sunday features 12 Singles matches, for a total of 48 points. The North needs 24 points to retain the cup, while the South needs 25 to win it back. The first Four-Ball match tees off at 7:20 a.m. Nov. 7 from No. 1.

Opened in 1999, Eagle’s Bluff Country Club is a 462-acre master-planned community on the eastern shoreline of Lake Palestine, about 15 minutes from Tyler. The par-71 championship course was the culmination of Carlton Gipson’s 38-year design career, which also included The Tournament Course at The Woodlands Country Club and BraeBurn Country Club. Gipson died shortly before the course opened. Known for its elevation changes, tree-lined fairways and blooming azaleas, the layout is often compared to Augusta National.

Eagle’s Bluff has a long history with the Texas Golf Association. It hosted the 81st Women’s Texas Amateur in 2002, the inaugural Women’s Stroke Play Championship in 2015 and the 102nd Women’s Texas Amateur in 2023. It has also hosted Legends Junior Tour events, including the 2023 Jackie Burke Cup, the Texas Girls’ Invitational and the Texas Cup Invitational.

“We can’t say enough about the membership and staff at Eagle’s Bluff Country Club,” Davidson said. “They’ve been a great partner to the TGA and the Legends Junior Tour, from the Women’s Texas Amateur to our junior events, and we’re grateful they’ve opened their doors to us once again. It’s a championship-caliber course in a beautiful setting, and it’s the perfect stage for the Jackie Burke Cup.”

First played in 2005, the Jackie Burke Cup is named for Jack Burke Jr., one of the most accomplished golfers in Texas history. Born in Fort Worth in 1923, Burke started playing at age 7 under his father, Jack Burke Sr., a well-known club professional and instructor. He grew up caddying at Houston’s River Oaks Country Club. Jimmy Demaret, who went on to win three Masters, was his childhood babysitter. As an amateur, Burke qualified for the 1941 U.S. Open at Colonial, the first U.S. Open played in Texas. He turned professional later that year, then served in the Marine Corps during World War II as a combat trainer at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Burke went on to win 17 PGA Tour titles. In 1952, he won four straight tour events and the Vardon Trophy. In 1956, he won the Masters, rallying from eight shots back in the final round, and added the PGA Championship later that year. He played on five consecutive U.S. Ryder Cup teams from 1951 to 1959 and captained the squad in 1957 and 1973. In 1957, he and Demaret founded Champions Golf Club in Houston, which has hosted the Ryder Cup, the U.S. Open, the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Open. Burke is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and the Texas Golf Hall of Fame and received the USGA’s Bob Jones Award in 2004. He became the first major champion to reach age 100 and died Jan. 19, 2024.

“Jackie Burke meant so much to the game in Texas, and having our season finale carry his name is something we don’t take lightly,” Davidson said. “This is the event our players circle on the calendar. They spend the whole year earning points for a chance to wear their team’s colors, and for a lot of them, representing North or South Texas in the Jackie Burke Cup is the highlight of their junior careers.

“Since 2005, the Jackie Burke Cup has grown into one of the great traditions on our schedule. The North-South rivalry has been about as even as it gets over the years, and some of the best players this state has produced have come through these matches.”

The North retained the cup last November at Galveston Country Club in a finish that came down to the final hole of the final match. Fittingly, Galveston was where Burke got his first club professional job in the early 1940s. The North took a 13-11 lead into Sunday’s Singles, and the South answered with wins from Marco Baima, Dylan Knox, Ian Chen, Isaiah Diaz, Isaac Diaz and J.P. Lynch. Baima, of San Antonio, set the tone in the opening match, shooting 29 on the front nine on his way to an 8-and-7 win.

It all came down to Match 12 between Arlington’s Matthew Lewis and Austin’s William Mangione, with the North needing to win the 18th hole to retain the cup. Lewis hit the green in regulation and lagged his long uphill birdie putt to a foot. Mangione’s chip ran past, and he missed the par putt. When Mangione conceded the hole, the North had the 24 points it needed to keep the cup.

Baima and Diaz return for the South this year, along with the rest of a South team looking to win the cup back.

For more information on the Jackie Burke Cup, click here.

2026 Jackie Burke Cup Rosters

North Team
Girls 12-18 Division
Lois Lee, Flower Mound
Elizabeth Bellendir, Coppell

Boys 15-18 Division
Knox Barnard, Waxahachie
Cooper Nichols, Farwell
Veer Dev, Lucas
Madden Myers, Amarillo
William Ballotta, Dallas
Jacob Babb, Mansfield
Ryle Cooper, Alvord
Krish Shah, Dallas

Boys 14 & Under Division
Jude Mourning, Granbury
William Cothran, Fort Worth

South Team
Girls 12-18 Division
Pippa Fikes, Fair Oaks Ranch
Michaela Partridge, Leander

Boys 15-18 Division
Marco Baima, San Antonio
Andrew Bird, Nacogdoches
Ryan Lee, College Station
Isaiah Diaz, Del Rio
Sonny Sciantarelli, Austin
Jake Knobler, Sugar Land
Drew Dickens, Dripping Springs

Boys 14 & Under Division
Mason Hwang, Houston
Pablo Mora, Shenandoah