Two Rounds Complete at the Yamaha Golf-Car Company/ Lajitas Golf Resort Match Play Championship
NTPGA • October 9, 2017
ODESSA, Texas –
Round One and Round Two matches of the Yamaha Golf-Car Company / Lajitas Golf Resort Match Play Championship resulted in four of the top ten seeds moving on to the Quarter Final Matches. Tuesday morning’s Quarter Final Matches will feature #2 seed Ben Kern, PGA head professional at Diamondback Golf Club; Danny Coughlan, PGA head professional at Abilene Country Club (#4 seed); Lee Rhind, PGA director of instruction at Midland Country Club (#7 seed); Gabe Reynolds, PGA director of instruction at Top Golf Dallas (#8 seed); Vince Jewell, PGA teaching professional at Woodbridge Golf Club (#11 seed); Adam Headley, PGA head professional at Hillcrest Country Club (#14 seed), Joe Brown, PGA teaching professional at The Courses at Watters Creek (#16 seed) and Ben Cuzen, PGA assistant professional at Preston Trail Golf Club (#21 seed). Cuzen is the highest remaining seed in the field. He was able to best the #12 seeded Christopher Brown, caddie on the PGA TOUR, 2&1 in Round One and #5 seed Jon Antunes, PGA director of instruction at Hot Golf, Inc., 3&2 in Round Two.
The big upset of the day came during Round One when #32 seed Dan Walden, PGA head professional at Texas Star Golf Course, bested #1 seed Brian Norman, PGA teaching professional at Gleneagles Country Club, 2UP. Walden, however, dropped his Second Round match to Brown 2UP.
The Yamaha Golf-Car Company / Lajitas Golf Resort Match Play Championship is being contested October 9-11 at Odessa Country Club’s Old Course in Odessa, Texas, a 7,069-yard, par 72 layout. The Championship is presented by Adventures In Golf and AT&T Byron Nelson. The top 32 players on the final 2017 Yamaha Golf-Car Company / Lajitas Golf Resort Player of the Year Points Challenge were invited to compete in the season-ending major championship. Quarter Final Matches will be played on Tuesday morning with the Semi-Final Matches following in the afternoon. The Championship Match will be played on Wednesday morning, with the winner taking home $5,500 of the $36,800 Open Division purse.
The Championship also includes a Senior Division. The division features eight of the top professionals from the 2017 OMEGA Senior Points Challenge list competing for their own $9,200 purse. Today the Senior Division played the Quarter Final and Semi-Final Matches with Bruce Smith, PGA director of instruction at Black Belt Golf Academy (#1 seed) and Henry Cagigal, PGA assistant professional at Rockwood Golf Course (#7 seed) advancing to Tuesday morning’s Final Match. The eventual Senior Division champion will take home a trophy and a check for $2,800.
Tomorrow morning’s matches are listed below:
QUARTER FINAL MATCHES, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
Ben Hogan Bracket
9:00 a.m. #1 Tee
#16. Joe Brown, The Courses at Watters Creek vs. #8. Gabe Reynolds, Top Golf - Dallas
Don January Bracket
9:10 a.m. #1 Tee
#4. Danny Coughlan, Abilene Country Club vs. #21. Ben Cuzen, Preston Trail Golf Club
Byron Nelson Bracket
9:20 a.m. #1 Tee
#2. Ben Kern, Diamondback Golf Club vs. #7. Lee Rhind, Midland Country Club
Lee Trevino Bracket
9:30 a.m. #1 Tee
#14. Adam Headley, Hillcrest Country Club vs. #11. Vince Jewell, Woodbridge Golf Club
SENIOR FINAL MATCH, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017
9:50 a.m. #1 Tee
#1. Bruce Smith, Black Belt Golf Academy vs. #7. Henry Cagigal, Rockwood Golf Course

THE COLONY, Texas (March 2) – The team of Robert Bruns, PGA Head Professional at Trinity Forest Golf Club, along with partner Chase Walts, PGM Student at Methodist University who currently works as an assistant at Trinity Forest Golf Club won the 2026 KBS TOUR Shafts Pro-Assistant Championship after a two hole playoff. The two carded a bogey-free, 12-under-par, final score after shooting 64 on Old American Golf Club and a 31 on the back nine of Tribute Golf Links. They bested the team of Spencer Dillard and Alastair Jones from Preston Trail Golf Club. The 27-hole, Four-Ball Stroke Play Championship was hosted at Golf Clubs at The Tribute for the sixth straight year. Teams played Old American Golf Club and the back nine of Tribute Golf Links. Bruns and Walts both had looks inside 10 feet on the second playoff hole, though it was Bruns who poured in the winning putt. “I knew he had it in the bag, so I think that made it much easier for me to just be free and let it go,” said Bruns. Walts recently became an assistant professional at Trinity Forest, and said, “Robert is such a huge mentor to me and my career already. I hope to learn from everything he knows and that goes for golf as well.” “It makes it much easier when you’re in the mix coming down the fairway and you have a great relationship with each other. At the end of the day you’re just having fun,” Bruns said after their victory. This is the first win for both Bruns and Walts in Section Major Championships. The pair earned $3,200 ($1,600 each) out of the record $32,000 total championship purse. The KBS TOUR Shafts Pro-Assistant Championship was presented by Callaway Golf, Club Car, Evolve Golf, Landmark Golf Course Products, Range Servant, THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, and Winston Collection. View the final results HERE . Old American Golf Club Par: 35-36–71 Yardage: 6,770 Tribute Golf Links (Back nine) Par: 36 Yardage: 3,368

Dallas, TX – (February 23, 2026) The Northern Texas PGA held their President’s Dinner on Sunday, February 22, at Royal Oaks Country Club. The dinner celebrated the 2025 NTPGA award winners, which included Northern Texas PGA Golf Professional of the Year, the Section's highest award, won by Cameron Doan, PGA director of golf at Preston Trail 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. On Monday, February 23, the NTPGA staff then conducted a Professional Development Seminar and the 58th Annual Business Meeting at Dallas Country Club. During the Professional Development Seminar, the PGA of America golf professionals learned new communication skills from Tim Novak, increased their rules knowledge with Jon Drago, PGA, and David Price, PGA, and learned leadership lessons from a group of golf's top PGA golf professionals, including Cary Cozby, PGA, Bill Eschenbrenner, PGA, Bob Ford, PGA, and our very own Cameron Doan, PGA, and Ronny Glanton, PGA. After lunch, the 58th Annual Meeting consisted of the recognition of many professionals including the playing award winners honoring Matt Lohmeyer, Todd McCorkle, Rob Shields and Kim Paez. The 2026 Eva Williams A.C.E. Scholarship recipient, Sean Kim was 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. New Officers to the Northern Texas PGA Board of Directors were elected by acclamation. They include Ira Molayo as President, Jeremy Langdale as Vice President and Eric Hunt as Secretary. Two At-Large Directors were also elected by acclamation, Trish Holt and Neil Lockie. All were sworn in alongside East Texas Chapter President Tim Lawson and West Texas Chapter President Adam Headley. The current Northern Texas PGA Board of Directors can be found HERE . Before the meeting adjourned, the newly elected President, Ira Molayo, the PGA General Manager at Cedar Crest Golf Course in Dallas, addressed the membership. He stated that it is an honor to serve as the 32nd President of the Northern Texas PGA, using the word ‘serve’ intentionally because this position, like every role in our profession, is not about title. It is about stewardship. He then gave four notes about his commitment in these next two years – to represent all Members, across facilities, across classifications, across backgrounds, to listen carefully, to communicate clearly, and to support the staff and volunteers who carry this Section forward every day. He finished his comments by saying, “I do not intend to reinvent what is already strong. I intend to build on it.” 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 2026.



