Northern Texas PGA Announces 2017 Texas Joe Black Cup Captain, Inaugural Levy Cup Co-Captains

NTPGA • March 13, 2017

Dallas, Texas - The Northern Texas PGA (NTPGA) is pleased to announce that the captain for the 2017 Texas Joe Black Cup Matches will be Billy Harris, PGA head professional at Dallas Country Club. Ken McDonald, PGA director of golf at BraeBurn Country Club, will serve as the Southern Texas PGA captain.

This will be Harris’ second time to serve as captain of a Texas Joe Black Cup team. He first captained the team in 1997. Harris is a 12-time member of the NTPGA Texas Joe Black Cup team and is currently 9th on the all-time NTPGA points list having accumulated 17 points in his appearances.

The 2017 Texas Joe Black Cup Matches will be conducted at Spanish Oaks Golf Club in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, October 22 - Tuesday, October 24. The Southern Texas PGA currently leads the Matches with an 18-17-1 record, but Team NTPGA is coming off of a commanding victory. They bested Team STPGA 16 to 8 in the 2016 Matches.

Also, the newly created Levy Cup Matches will be contested much like the Texas Joe Black Cup Matches. These Matches were created to celebrate PGA of America President Paul Levy.
The Northern Texas PGA will host the inaugural event from October 15-17 at Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas. The Northern and Southern Texas PGA Section’s will alternate hosting the event each year.

The Levy Cup team will consist of six NTPGA Assistant Professionals (A-8 only) and six NTPGA Senior Members (any classification) competing against a Southern Texas PGA team comprised of the same classifications.

Serving as NTPGA Co-Captains for the event will be Randy Smith, golf professional emeritus and PGA director of instruction at Royal Oaks Country Club, and Clif Nelson, PGA assistant professional at Royal Oaks Country Club.

We are excited to begin these new Matches!



About the Texas Joe Black Cup Matches
The Texas Joe Black Cup Matches is an annual competition between the Northern Texas PGA and the Southern Texas PGA Sections. The Ryder Cup-style format features 12 PGA golf professionals from each Section competing in Four-Ball and Foursome Matches the first day followed by Singles Matches the final day. The event was started in 1981 to honor Joe Black, a Snyder native who was completing his first year as President of The PGA of America.

About the Levy Cup Matches
The Levy Cup Matches will be an annual competition between the Northern Texas PGA and the Southern Texas PGA Sections. The Matches were created to honor Paul Levy, current President of The PGA of America and longtime STPGA Member. The Ryder Cup style format features six of the top assistant golf professionals and six senior professionals from each Section competing in Four-Ball and Foursome Matches the first day followed by Singles Matches the final day.

About the Northern Texas PGA
The Northern Texas PGA is one of 41 Sections that comprise the PGA of America and has a professional membership of over 850. The geographic territory includes the State of Texas north of the 31st latitude, or just north of Austin. The Dallas based office has a full time staff of 13 employees with an additional 60 employees serving in a part-time capacity. The Section is a not for profit organization governed by an elected board of directors, who are PGA golf professionals. The operational focus of the Section is to provide services to golf professionals and the golf industry, while encouraging interest in and promoting the game. In addition to managing the day-to-day affairs of the Section, the headquarters operates the Northern Texas PGA Junior Golf Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. For more information, visit www.ntpga.com.

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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
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