Northern Texas PGA Celebrates Award Winners, Conducts 57th Annual Meeting

Molly Rawlins • February 3, 2025

FORT WORTH, TX –  The Northern Texas PGA held their annual Awards Banquet on Sunday, February 2, at River Crest Country Club.


The banquet celebrated the 2024 NTPGA award winners, which included Northern Texas PGA Golf Professional of the Year, the Section's highest award, won by Neil Lockie, PGA director of golf at Dallas National Golf Club. This is the highest honor given annually to a Northern Texas PGA Member, and is awarded for qualities of leadership, strong moral character and a substantial record of service to the NTPGA as well as the game of golf. The complete list of award winners can be found HERE. Congratulations to all!

Nature's Symphony

Breathtaking colors of our planet
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Faces of Humanity

Portraits of people from around the globe
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Sands of Time

Stark beauty of desolate dunes
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Beyond Boundaries

Visual odyssey across continents
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On Monday, February 3, the NTPGA staff then conducted a Professional Development Seminar and the 57th Annual Business Meeting at Ridglea Country Club. 


The Professional Development Seminar featured keynote speaker Sonny Dykes, head football coach at Texas Christian University. Dykes spoke to the membership in attendance about leadership. “[Leadership] is incredibly diverse in how you define it and how you cultivate it. Leadership is different for all of us. You need to be able to empower those young people and build them up. [It] has to be practiced every day,” said Dykes.


Following the keynote presentation were three small group sessions conducted by Kevin Scott, chief technology officer at PGA of America and Kelly Williams, PGA, general manager at Greenbriar Golf & Country Club who discussed using AI to enhance your communication skills; Trent Newby, social media icon and former Greg Norman sales representative who discussed building your online brand; and a Q&A session with golf course architect Beau Welling.


After lunch, the 57th Annual Meeting consisted of the recognition of many professionals including the playing award winners honoring Spencer Dillard, Rob Shields and Katelyn Sepmoree. The 2025 Eva Williams A.C.E. Scholarship recipients Stephanie Moorberg and Dustin Nelson were also recognized. The meeting included comments from the Northern Texas PGA Past Presidents, current officers as well as from Executive Director, Kelly Gilley, PGA and CEO Mark Harrison.


NTPGA President, Cameron Doan, encouraged the membership to look for opportunities to serve PGA Members and grow the game.

Opportunities like: 

  • Meet new people and make new friends
  • Hang out with old friends
  • Play and compete
  • Learn and develop
  • Serve, volunteer and give back
  • Introduce kids to the game – in an environment that they love so much they beg to come back
  • Use golf as a social connection vehicle
  • Use golf as a therapeutic vehicle
  • Let the wider world know what golf can do for people


Finally, Jon Drago, PGA executive director of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, and Todd Harbour, PGA general manager at Royal Oaks Country Club, were elected by acclamation as At-Large Directors to the Northern Texas PGA Board of Directors. Drago, Harbour and Abe Hernandez, the newly elected Metro Chapter President, were sworn in. The current Northern Texas PGA Board of Directors can be found HERE.


Thank you to all of the PGA of America Golf Professionals in our Section who attended these special and important events over the past few days. Our Board and our staff look forward to a successful 2025. 

Friend Wins Club Car | XXIO Northern Texas Senior PGA Professional Championship

By Erik Anderson • August 25, 2026
Six qualify for Senior PGA Professional Championship

Paez Prevails at Lajitas Golf Resort Women’s Section 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

McDonough Claims Northern Texas Assistant PGA Professional Championship

By Erik Anderson • August 17, 2026
Four Qualify for 50th Assistant PGA Professional Championship

Team of Murphy, Faulk Jr. Win Playoff to Capture 1st & 10th Tee Golf Energy Bar Pro-Junior 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.