Five-Time TOUR Winner, Texas Architect, Current Curtis Cup Captain Highlight 2016 TGHOF Inductees
SAN ANTONIO –
The current captain of the women’s U.S. Curtis Cup team, Robin Burke, one of Texas’ greatest architects, Joe Finger, and five-time PGA Tour winner Blaine McCallister, highlight the Texas Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Inductees.
Renowned Texas Teacher Lindy Miller is to be honored in the Texas Golf Professional / Teacher Category while Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston will be added to the Texas Registry of Historic Golf Courses, according to the TGHOF Board who conducted the statewide nomination process and voting for Texas’ highest golf honor.
The inductees will be honored at the 2016 ‘The Gathering of Eagles’ golf tournament and induction dinner to be held on Monday, October 10th at Brackenridge Park Golf Course and San Antonio Country Club, respectively. Sponsorships are now available with more information available on the website www.texasgolfhof.com.
The Texas Golf Hall of Fame is located at the Brackenridge Park Golf Course, clubhouse, the adjacent Walk of Fame and a historic building adjacent to the clubhouse, the Borglum Studio.
“We are certainly pleased to have such great Lone Star Legends to enter the Texas Golf Hall of Fame for our class of 2016,” said TGHOF Board Chairman Jerry Smith. “It will be a great time to honor the best of the best in Texas golf for this year.”
Miller was a four-time All-American at Oklahoma State University and served for 22 years as the Director of Golf at Mira Vista Country Club in Ft. Worth. Since 2009 he has been the Teaching Professional at Shady Oaks Country Club.
“I was so excited, it was a real honor to be selected,” Miller said. “To join the group of teachers who are already there continues our tradition in the state teaching category, which is second to none.” “It’s all about the game and all about Texas golf.”
Robin Burke is the wife of TGHOF member Jack Burke, Jr., one of the founders of Champions Golf Club in Houston where he still teaches. She will be honored in the Amateur category. They will become the first husband and wife in the Texas Golf Hall of Fame. Aside from her 2016 captaincy of the American Curtis Cup amateur team this summer in Ireland, she is one of the greatest female Texas amateur golfers.
Burke is a two-time Texas women’s amateur champion and an eight-time Houston women’s amateur champion. She reached the finals of the 1997 U.S, Women’s Amateur championship and made the semifinals of three U. S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships. Her 38 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur victories are tied for third most in American history. She is also the two-time winner of the Southern Amateur Championship and is still active at Champions Golf Club with her husband, a former Masters and PGA Championship winner.
A Houston native, Finger, who passed away in 2003, will be honored in the Lifetime Achievement category. He spent 45 years as an architect designing courses all over the world. His widow Julia said he would be so very pleased to be included among the great Texas architects.
“He started playing golf in Texas at a very early age and played until he was a very old man here. The Texas courses and the ones he did elsewhere meant so much to him.”
Finger teamed with fellow TGHOF member Byron Nelson to design the Riverhill Golf Club in Kerrville in 1998 near where he lived and also did a total renovation of Scott Schreiner Golf Club in Kerrville for his final project.
McCallister, a Fort Stockton native, attended the University of Houston on a golf scholarship where he roomed with Masters Champion Fred Couples and CBS Golf announcer Jim Nantz. Honored in the Professional Player category, he went on to win five PGA TOUR events highlighted by the 1991 HEB Texas Open. He also won the Hardee’s Golf Classic, the Honda Tournament in Florida, Bank of Boston Classic and the B.C. Open. He now plays on the Champions Tour.
“Growing up in a small town in West Texas, you couldn’t ask for a bigger honor. It’s very overwhelming, honestly,” he said.
Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston was opened during the depths of the Great Depression, 1936, but has endured and been improved over the years as a shining symbol of great public golf in Texas’ largest city. It was designed by John Bredemus, known as the Father of Texas Golf, for his work statewide and over the decades has been played by the greats of the game, both in Texas and nationally. It’s hosted the PGA TOUR’s Houston Open along with the 2008 NCAA Division II National Championship.
In 1995, the course received a restoration with input from Houston architect Jay Riviere and Hall of Fame member Dave Marr, Jr. as the result of an extensive fundraising campaign. It remains one of the most popular public courses in Houston with more than 65,000 rounds a year at the layout located in the central city area.
For more information on the 2016 induction banquet, October 10, and ceremonies along with sponsorships, contact Mary Carriker, Managing Director of the THGOF at mary@golfsanantonio.org or 210-736-8701.
Contact: Jerry D. Smith, Board Chair – 972.998.6770
Mary Carriker, Managing Director - 210.736.8701
