Texas Pub-Links: Tondre leads
31 May 2012
by Texas Golf Association
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MONTGOMERY, Texas (May 31, 2012) -- Thunderstorms rolled through much of Texas during the stroke play qualifying round, but outside of the occasional light rain, the participants in the 2012 Texas Public Links Championship were treated to cooler conditions. Stanton Tondre was able to navigate Woodforest Golf Club’s slick greens en route to Medalist honors.
Castroville’s Tondre began his round bogey birdie bogey before rattling off birdies on the par four 5th and par four 8th holes of the West Course to turn at 1-under par 34. Tondre, a member of the University of Texas at San Antonio golf team, was able to rattle off three more birdies on the Back Course with only one bogey to take Medalist honors and the #1 seed with a 3-under par 68 (34-34). Defending champion Michael Smith, of Cedar Park, will be seeded 2nd heading into the Match Play portion of the Championship after a qualifying round of 2-under par 69 (36-33).
The Stephen F. Austin golfer at one point carded five birdies in six holes. Rounding out the field of 32 for the Match Play portion are Casey Wharton (Belton), Aaron Kaiser (Austin), Jason Boeker (Cypress), Jim Shepard (Fulshear) and David Swafford (The Woodlands). The State Public Links is scheduled for 18 holes of stroke play qualifying on Thursday, May 31, 2012 with the low 32 players advancing to the match play portion of the championship. First and second round matches will be played on Friday. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played Saturday, with the finals on Sunday.
Entries are open to male amateur golfers who are members of the Texas Golf Association, are residents of the state of Texas, and have a USGA Handicap Index of 8.4 or less. Additionally, all applicants must meet the USGA definition of a public golfer (i.e., applicants may not have held privileges of any course that does not extend playing privileges to the general public, or privileges of any private club maintaining its own course as of January 1st of 2012).
The 2011 Public Links, hosted by historic Brackenridge Park Golf Club in San Antonio, showcased the state’s top public players vying for the championship title. Cedar Park’s Michael Smith and Crosby’s Justin McKay squared off in the final match with Smith burying a 25 foot birdie on the 16th hole to claim a 3 and 2 victory.