15th Ewing Charity Classic Benefits NTPGA Foundation
Abigail Kasitz • December 1, 2020
PGA Professional Takes Home Car Thanks to Ewing Automotive Group
DALLAS, Texas –
The 15th Annual Ewing Charity Classic, a fundraising golf tournament conducted by the Northern Texas PGA for the benefit of the Northern Texas PGA Foundation, was held today at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas. This year’s event raised $241,000.
The Ewing Charity Classic, formerly the Westcott Pro-Am, is widely considered one of the most special and unique pro-am events in the country with $4.79 million raised during the past 25 years for the benefit of the Northern Texas PGA Foundation's broad-based community outreach programs. The money raised helps to further the Foundation’s mission to positively impact lives and communities through golf.
The Ewing Charity Classic featured 22 teams consisting of three amateurs, a PGA TOUR, Korn Ferry Tour or LPGA Tour player and a PGA of America golf professional. Past and present tour players that participated in this year’s event included David Graham, Todd Hamilton, J.J. Henry, Kelly Kraft, Sebastian Munoz, Ryan Palmer, Gerina Piller, Scottie Scheffler, John Senden, and Jordan Spieth among others.
This year, the event consisted of two, 9-hole competitions. With a frost delay this morning, the field was split, and those who started on hole #1, played holes 1-9, and those who started on hole #10 played holes 10-18.
Professionals Dow Finsterwald, Jr. and Ryan Palmer teamed up with amateurs Mike Biggs, James Edmondson and Jeff Bookout to shoot 11-under par, 61, to claim the front-nine title, while professionals Henry Cagigal and Todd Hamilton paired with amateurs Cameron Decker, Ernest Horany and Chris Mellina carded a 5-under par, 67, to capture the back-nine competition.
Henry Cagigal, PGA assistant professional at Rockwood Park Golf Course, also took home a black 2021 Mercedes Benz C300 after hitting a 52-degree wedge, 80 yards, reaching 1 foot, 11 inches from the hole. Andrew Lewis, PGA director of instruction at Altus Performance, finished in second place hitting his ball 4 feet, 5 inches to take home $2,500.
“To do something like this, it’s a once in a lifetime deal,” said Cagigal. “I never expected to win. It’s been on my mind for several weeks now, and it’s something I knew was a possibility by getting to play in this event, but I never expected it. [This event] is an incredible gesture by the Ewing family, to do this for all of us PGA professionals and the community.”
The contest was Mr. Ewing’s idea as a way to not only help raise funds for the Northern Texas PGA Foundation but also to say a special thank you to the PGA professionals who participate in the event. In 2012 it was so well received that Mr. Ewing decided to keep the shootout going and has given away a car each year since.
Ewing Automotive Group, a dealership group consisting of Mercedes-Benz of Plano, Ewing Buick GMC and Ewing Subaru of Plano, located north of the George Bush Turnpike and South of Highway 121, in one of the fastest developing business corridors in the country. A special thank you goes out to Mr. Ewing and all he has done for the Northern Texas PGA, our local PGA Professionals, junior golfers in North Texas and the game of golf. In 2019, Mr. Ewing was inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame for all he has done for the game of golf.
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