Killeen Makes it Four Straight Victories and Harris Claims His First Individual Title

Steven Clements • August 17, 2022

DALLAS, TX – JJ Killeen, PGA head professional at Red Feather Golf and Social Club, came from behind to win the Joyce Crane | Veritex Bank Section Championship. Killeen has now won four straight NTPGA individual stroke-play Section major championships dating back to the Section Championship last year. Killeen is currently part of a team overseeing the construction of Red Feather Golf and Social Club in Lubbock, Texas.


The theme of the summer for Killeen has been strong final rounds. He continued that theme by firing a 6-under-par, 65 today to finish the Championship at 7-under-par. This now brings his final round scoring average for the past three majors to 65.00 and 6.67-under-par. 


“I can’t really explain why I play well in the final round except for I know I have to. That’s just pure luck I would say,” said Killeen. Just like last year Killeen has earned an exemption into the AT&T Byron Nelson. “You never know how many opportunities you are going to have to play on the PGA TOUR, I was fortunate to play this year and it was amazing. Was that adding pressure and was I thinking about it today? Yes.”


The recently retired Billy Harris, PGA Life Member, claimed the Senior Division with scores of 66-72–138 to finish at 4-under-par. Harris has been a PGA Member for over 39 years and has spent his entire career in the Northern Texas Section. Today marked his first individual Section major victory during that time period.


“I’ve won some team events and won the Texas Team Championship a few times, but this is great and it’s about time,” said Harris.


The 125 Northern Texas PGA Members in the field competed for a $100,000 overall purse. JJ Killeen earned $8,500 and an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson. Billy Harris earned $4,300 for his victory. 


The Joyce Crane | Veritex Bank Section Championship was presented by AT&T Byron Nelson, CG Infinity, Ewing Automotive Group, GOLFFOREVER, GT Golf Supplies, Nexbelt, PGA TOUR, Royal Oaks Country Club, Surf & Turf Golf, and TPX Communications. 


Royal Oaks Country Club

Par 35-36–71

Yardage: 7,083 yards


View Final Results
HERE

By Erik Anderson August 25, 2026
Six qualify for Senior PGA Professional Championship
By Erik Anderson August 25, 2026
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
By Erik Anderson August 17, 2026
Four Qualify for 50th Assistant PGA Professional Championship
By Erik Anderson August 10, 2026
PLANO, Texas (August 10) – Seth Murphy, Associate at John Sikes Golf Academy and Thomas Faulk Jr. (a) captured the 1st & 10th Tee Golf Energy Bar Pro-Junior Championship title. The pair carded a 33-31–64, 8-under-par and made birdie on the first playoff hole. The pair began their round on the 8th hole and opened with a par. Six birdies on their next eight holes set them up for success for the first round. Their final nine holes were steady, with 7 pars and two birdies, but the bogey-free round was enough to get them into a two-team playoff against Ryan Grider, Associate at The Lakes at Castle Hills, and Colten Karstendiek (a). After a safe drive on the first playoff hole from Faulk Jr., Murphy was able to attack and had just 135 yards into the par-4 18th hole. He hit a pitching wedge to 10 feet and buried the putt. Murphy said, “He [Thomas] made about a 20-footer on our second hole, and that just put us on the pace we needed to get some momentum going. We gave ourselves lots of opportunities, double opportunities, where we were both putting for birdie, which is always nice. Just overall, we teamed very well today.” Faulk Jr added, “I started off hot and helped him out, and then when I was winding down, he got things going. We just made putts and pars when we needed to. It was just the team working.” Ryan Grider, Associate at The Lakes at Castle Hills, and Colten Karstendiek (a) fired 32-32–64 to finish in second place. Matt Weinberger, PGA senior director of member and amateur championships at PGA of America and Owen Layton (a) shot 31-35–66 to claim third place. The Championship featured 64 teams consisting of one PGA professional and one junior golfer between the ages of 7-19. The teams competed in a Four-Ball Stroke Play format. There was also a second division within the Championship where PGA professionals and their children competed for a separate title. The nine-team division was claimed for the third consecutive year by Jon Antunes, PGA director of instruction at Heart of Texas Golf Academy and his daughter Hannah Antunes (a) with a score of 34-34–68. For the professionals in the field today, there was a skins game with a $4,500 payout. Only one skin was earned today. Hanna Dickens, Associate at The Ronny Golf Park, made a birdie on hole 14 to earn the skin. The 1st & 10th Tee Golf Energy Bar Pro-Junior Championship was presented by CMC Design, PGA TOUR, and THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson.