Brame Leads After Round One of the 50th Texas State Open
Taylor Coffelt • July 29, 2020
After Round One of the 50th Texas State Open, Grady Brame Jr. of Hammond, Louisiana sits atop the leaderboard after firing an opening round of 63, 7-under par. Brame carded three birdies on the front nine and four on the back. He will tee off of hole #10 tomorrow at 2:27 p.m.
“The last time I played in the Texas State Open was in 2016 at Castle Hills, so it’s good to be back. It feels pretty good to start off in the lead but there are still three rounds left so there isn’t any true sense of satisfaction just yet,” Brame stated after the round. “Today I just took advantage of the birdies when they came. I’ve been struggling up to this point this summer but hopefully this will be a turnaround and I can do something special this week.”
Three players sit one stroke behind Brame at 6-under-par including Jun Min Lee (a) of Bryan, Texas. Lee currently leads the field of 32 amateurs after today’s first round. Low Amateur honors will be awarded at the conclusion of the 50th Texas State Open.
Again in 2020, the Low PGA Club Professional will be recognized at the 50th Texas State Open. Seventeen PGA Professionals are in the field with Ben Kern, 2018 Texas State Open Champion and PGA head professional at Georgetown Country Club, leading. After shooting a 4-under par, 66, Kern has a one stroke lead over Spencer Dillard, PGA assistant professional at Preston Trail Golf Club in Dallas.
Kyle Pritchard, of Castroville, Texas and defending champion of the Texas State Open, currently is T14 at 3 under, 67. “It always feels good to come back as a champion,” Pritchard said after his round. “There’s a little more pressure, though, because everyone is always watching you. But this course is great and I love coming out here. It’s really just exciting to be back out [competing in the Texas State Open].”
Christian Barber (a), of Spring, Texas, made a hole-in-one today on hole #9. He hit a 7-iron from 209 yards for his ace.
The 72-hole stroke play event consists of 156 players with 123 professionals and 32 amateurs competing. The field will play 36-holes before being cut to the low 55 scores and ties. All four rounds will be contested at The Cascades Club, a 6,882-yard, par 70 layout. For the Championship, hole #10 is being played as a par 4 rather than a par 5.
The purse for the 50th Texas State Open is $150,000,and the champion will take home $30,000.
The Championship is presented by Joyce Crane and Veritex Bank and is supported by Ameriprise Financial Group, Cavender’s, Dobb’s & Porter, Energy Weldfab, Jucy's Hamburgers, Patterson Tyler, The Plato Group and The Property Shoppe. Proceeds from the championship will benefit the Northern Texas PGA Foundation.
Round Two will commence on Wednesday, July 29 at 7:30 a.m. After tomorrow’s round, a cut to the low 55 and ties will occur. Currently, 66 players are at even par or better.
Starting times and groupings can be found at www.ntpga.com.
Please note: (a) denotes amateur, and amateurs will be awarded gift certificates.
Round One results here.
Woodson and Schaefer (a) Capture Senior Division
Little Secures Senior Division
Six qualify for Senior PGA Professional Championship
Irving, Texas (August 25) – The Nelson Golf and Sports Club hosted two Northern Texas PGA Major Championships this week, the Club Car | XXIO Northern Texas Senior PGA Professional Championship and the Lajitas Golf Resort Women’s Section Championship. Clayton Friend claimed the Senior title, and Kim Paez claimed the Women’s title. Kim Paez, PGA Member at Ping Inc., claimed the Lajitas Golf Resort Women’s Section Championship title, carding rounds of 70-72–142. Paez finished the Championship at 2-over-par, winning by four strokes. She began the final round one stroke back of Katie Flinn, director of instruction at Topgolf - Fort Worth, and her 2-over-par final round was enough to come from behind and secure the win. This is Paez’s first victory with the Northern Texas PGA since joining the section in 2025. “I stuck to my game plan this week, which was fairways and greens,” Paez said. “I think I missed only one or two fairways yesterday. I played pretty conservatively, but it paid off in the end.” Reflecting on her final round performance, Paez said, "It was a little bit windier today. It made me calculate a lot more on the tee shots.” It was an up-and-down round for Paez, but she hit her approach on hole 18 to two feet and tapped in for birdie. “The last three holes are pretty gettable, so I just had to remind myself that no matter how the round was going, I was going to have opportunities to close it out at the end.” Next week, September 3-5, Paez joins four other PGA female PGA Teaching, Coaching and Club Professionals from across the country to represent the United States in the fourth Women’s PGA Cup. They will take on Australia, Canada, Great Britain & Ireland, South Africa and Sweden in a 54-hole stroke play format at Carden Park Golf Resort in Chester, Cheshire, United Kingdom. “It is the biggest honor. When I first got my PGA Membership, and I found out about the PGA Cup, it became one of my biggest goals,” said Paez about making the team. “I was constantly checking the rankings, and coming into the KPMG [Women’s PGA Championship] and the LPGA Professionals Championship, I knew I had to lock in and give myself the best chance.” “I am so excited and so proud to represent the Northern Texas PGA as well, so hopefully I make everyone proud,” added Paez. This 36-hole Northern Texas PGA major championship is the fourth of five individual stroke play events that comprise the Woman Player of the Year points standings. The 22-player field competed for a purse of $7,500, and Kim Paez took home $1,050. The Lajitas Golf Resort Women’s Section Championship was presented by A.PUTNAM and XXIO. The Nelson Golf and Sports Club Par: 35-35–70 Women’s Championship Yardage: 5,878 yards