Sikes Leads After Round One of the Prize Possessions Eastern Championship
Taylor Coffelt • July 14, 2020
John Sikes, PGA director of golf at Hollytree Country Club, leads the Prize Possessions Eastern Championship after carding an opening round of 67. After making bogey on the first hole, Sikes made 6 birdies and 11 pars during his round to finish the day 5-under.
“Today I just had a lot of fun and tried to be less emotional,” Sikes said about his round. “I had a great group, too, which helped, and I played good golf at the Texas Team Championship last week so I felt confident going into [the round].”
Sikes will take a one shot lead into tomorrow’s final round over Jeff Barton, PGA director of instruction at Preston Trail Golf Club. Barton carded six birdies for the day and finished at 4-under-par 68.
The Championship includes a Senior Division that consists of professionals aged 50 or older who are competing for a separate purse and playing at a modified yardage. Brian Mahon, PGA teaching professional at Hank Haney at Vista Ridge , leads the Senior Division at 7-under-par 65. Mahon played a bogey free round and has a five stroke lead heading into tomorrow’s final round.
This 36-hole NTPGA major championship is the second of four individual stroke play events that comprise the Yamaha Golf-Car Company & Srixon /Cleveland Golf / XXIO / ASICS Player of the Year Points Challenge presented by Adventures In Golf, and serves as a qualifier for the 2020 Texas Joe Black Cup and Levy Cup teams. The Prize Possessions Eastern Championship features a field of 124 Northern Texas PGA Members and Associates competing at Gentle Creek Country Club in Prosper.
The field is competing for a share of the projected $38,000 purse with the Open Division champion taking home $3,000 and the Senior Division Champion taking home $1,400. Round Two will commence at 7:30 a.m. with tee times off of #1 tee. The Senior Division leaders will tee off at 9:27 a.m. and the Open Division leaders at 2:39 p.m.
The Prize Possessions Eastern Championship is presented by AT&T Byron Nelson, E-Z-GO, GolfProPayments, HATH, Nexbelt, PGA TOUR and Surf & Turf Golf.
Gentle Creek Country Club
Par: 36-36–72
Yardage: 7,276
Round One Results here.
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