High School Golf Scoreboard

College Station – The 2011 Aggie Cup Invitational was hosted by A&M Consolidated High School this past week on January 17th and 18th, 2011. This was the fifth version of the tournament played on Martin Luther King Day and the following day. The tournament is quickly becoming one of the best invitational tournaments due to the strength of the field and the courses that are played. Round 1 was played at Traditions Golf Club under wet, soggy conditions. The course played to a length of 6,812 yards with par at 72. The nationally ranked Texas A&M Men’s and Women’s programs each call Traditions home. Traditions plays host to the Aggie Invitational for the men and Mo’ Memorial for the women each year. Each field will typically host some of the best college programs in the land. Traditions also play host to the AJGA’s Laredo Energy Open each spring, as well as an annual stop by the Texas Junior Golf Tour each December. Traditions will also play host to the 2011 Women’s NCAA Championship this spring. Round 2 was played at Miramont Country Club under the same wet, soggy conditions. The course played to a length of 6,848 yards, also a par of 72. Miramont has hosted some prestigious events in the short time it has been opened, some of which are the Jackie Burke Cup hosted by the Texas Legends Junior Tour, the Texas State Amateur, the Texas State Mid Amateur, as well as the Father-Son tournament hosted by the Texas Golf Association. Each golf course was in excellent condition and was quite a treat for the players.

Past medalists of the event include Cory Whitsett from Houston Memorial (currently a member of the nationally ranked University of Alabama golf program). Whitsett won the tournament in each his freshman and sophomore year at Houston Memorial High School. Current University of Texas golfer Cody Gribble from Highland Park won the 2009 title, while University of Arizona signee Brenden Redfern of Austin Westlake set the previous record in 2010 at 4-under par 140. Other participants of the event include LSU All-American John Peterson from Fort Worth Paschal High School, Trent Redfern of Austin Westlake who currently plays for the University of Arizona, Kort O’Leary from Waco Midway High School who currently plays for Sam Houston State, Greg Yates from Mansfield High School who currently plays for Texas A&M, Jordan Spieth from Dallas Jesuit High School, who has signed a national letter of intent to play golf for the University of Texas next season, Curtis Reed from Medina Valley, a two time Texas State individual champion who currently is in his freshman season at the University of Houston, and Jordan Russell from A&M Consolidated High School who is playing collegiately for Texas A&M.

Past team champions include Houston Memorial in 2007 and 2009, and Austin Westlake in 2008 and 2010. The field typically includes several UIL State qualifiers at both the 4A and 5A level. Mansfield, Southlake Carroll, Lufkin, San Antonio Reagan, Fort Worth Paschal, Houston Memorial, and Austin Westlake are usually in field each year representing the 5A teams, and Highland Park, Medina Valley, and Lake Travis typically are the power teams in 4A.
This year’s field boasted 5 out of the 8 teams from last season’s 5A State Tournament in defending Aggie Cup and defending State Champion Austin Westlake, State 5A Runners-Up in Southlake Carroll, as well as top 5 finishers in Mansfield, San Antonio Reagan, and Lufkin. Jeff Swearingen from College Park High School qualified as a medalist to the State Tournament last season also. Lake Travis and Highland Park were both 4A State Tournament qualifiers from last season.

Austin Westlake successfully defended their Aggie Cup title by firing an impressive even par 288 in round one. Sophomores Stratton Nolen and Daniel DeLaGarza each paced the Chaps by opening with rounds of two under par 70. Senior Eli Juren shot an opening round of even par 72, and defending Aggie Cup medalist Brenden Redfern opened with a 76 to round out the scoring for Westlake. The Chaps broke the Traditions team score record by five strokes that they set last year in winning the Aggie Cup. Nolen and DeLaGarza each tied for the low round at Traditions that was set by teammate Redfern in 2010. Finishing in second place on day one was the Southlake Carroll Dragons. The Dragons were paced by senior Blake Pugh’s opening round of even par 72. Also contributing to the Dragons impressive score of 302 was sophomore Corbin Kasten with a 75, junior Vincent Martino with a 76, and sophomore Matt Gilchrest with a 79. Lufkin assured that they would be in the lead group by opening with a team score of 308. Lufkin was paced by senior Will Griffin with a 75, senior Michael Phillips with a 76, senior Sam Fidone with a 78, and sophomore Josh Lewis with a 79. San Antonio Johnson opened with an impressive 312, and were followed closely by Lake Travis and Mansfield who each opened with 315. Individually, Lake Travis’ Joe Beck III opened with a 73 as did San Antonio Reagan’s Kyle Francis. Also in contention were a pair of San Antonio Johnson players in Christian DeLaCruz and Jake Boggus, who each opened with rounds of 76.

In round two, Austin Westlake solidified their hold on the Cup title by firing the low round of the day at 295. Again the Chaps were led by their sensational sophomores as Nolen fired a second round 69 to win medalist honors by one over DeLaGarza, whoe fired a second round 70. Nolen set the Aggie Cup record for the low 36 hole total by one. DeLaGarza tied the record that was set the previous season by Redfern. Also contributing for Westlake was Matthew Perrine with a 77 and Brenden Redfern with a 79. The Chaps broke their previous record at the Aggie Cup by an impressive three strokes. Southlake Carroll also held on to the second spot by firing a second round 300. The Dragons were led by Matt Gilchrest’s second round of one under 71, as well as another round of 76 by Martino, a 76 by Pugh, and a 77 from Kasten. Pugh finished in 3rd individually while Gilchrest finished tied for 5th with Lufkin’s Will Griffin and San Antonio Johnson’s Jake Boggus, but won the 5th medalist spot by virtue of his 71. Lufkin matched the Dragons second round 300, but it wasn’t enough to climb into second placed and the Panthers claimed third place. Lufkin was led by SMU signee Sam Fidone’s 73 in round two, and got a couple of 75’s from Will Griffin and Michael Phillips, as well as a 77 from Tyler Dunbar. Also playing well in round two was San Antonio Johnson. Johnson fired a second round 305 to hold on to fourth place. Johnson was led by Christian DeLaCruz’s 73, which allowed him to finish in 4th place. Jake Boggus’ second round 74 was good enough to get him into a tie for 5th place. Johnson also got contributions from Jake Judkins with a 77 and Case Hollenbeck with an 81. Johnson will be a team to be reckoned with in Region IV.

A&M Consolidated would like to thank all of the participating teams, the staffs at Traditions and Miramont, especially Director of Golf Jon Saffle at Traditions, Director of Golf Brad Lardon at Miramont, and Head Golf Professional Mark Greer at Miramont, and especially A&M Assistant Men’s Coach Jim Anderson for taking time out of his busy schedule to be involved with the tournament. This year’s event was very successful and we look forward to hosting again next year.