South Team Leads 21-15 Texas Shootout After Day 1

BRIEFLY:  The 2019 Texas Shootout is being hosted at Willow Brook Country Club in Tyler for the first time in the event’s history. The Shootout is a Ryder-Cup style event that features 12 of the best amateurs in north Texas squaring off against 12 of the best amateurs in south Texas in Foursome, Four-Ball and Singles matches. Points are awarded in a Nassau format, with 1 point for each the front nine and back nine and 1 point for the overall match.
 
Saturday’s action saw a tale of two rounds, with the North team leading 10-8 after the morning Foursome matches, but the South dominated the Four-Ball matches 13-5 to take an overall 21-15 lead heading into Sunday.
 
POINTS SUMMARY:

North Team               10                          5                        15
South Team               8                          13                        21
 
GOLF COURSE: Willow Brook Country Club opened in 1922 with a nine-hole course and 112 charter members. In the late 1950’s, Ralph Plummer was hired to design and build a full 18-hole course for the growing membership. It was recently renovated in 2018 when Tripp Davis and Associates oversaw a comprehensive renovation that has fortified the course’s strategic playing characteristics and revitalized its natural beauty.
 
WEATHER: The high was 58 with winds out of the northwest at 12-15 mph.
 
FOURSOME MATCHES: In the first match of the day, north teammates Chris Wheeler and Scott Abbott captured 2.5 of the three possible points. Seniors Mike Lohner and Kip Estep of the north won all three points to help propel the North team in front. South Texas teammates Scott Loving and Bryan Mitchell secured all three points in the last match of the morning to crawl back and only trail 10-8 heading into afternoon Four-Ball matches.
 
FOUR-BALL MATCHES: The South team came out hot in the afternoon Four-Ball matches. The first two matches each had 2.5 points to the South team and only 0.5 points for the North. Seniors Gary Durbin and John Pierce swept their Four-Ball match, winning all three points. Scott Loving and Devin Young also swept their match. Loving captured all six points available in his two matches Saturday. In the last match of the day, Brandon Immel and Marcus Jones kept the score respectable for the North team, winning 2.5 out of the possible three points.
 
WHAT’S NEXT: Sunday’s Singles matches will begin at 8:00 and the South team will need to reach 36 ½ points to win the title, while the north will need a total of 36 points to retain the title.
 
MORE INFO: The Texas Shootout was started in 2003 and quickly became a favorite on the TGA schedule. For more information, please visit www.TXGA.org.