Thomas medalist at Texas Pub-Links
AUSTIN, Texas (May 30, 2013) -- The 2013
State Public Links
Championship got underway on Thursday at
Avery Ranch Golf Club in
Austin, Texas. The 76 player field started the
championship with an 18-
hole qualifying round to determine the 32
players who would be moving
on to match play. Tee times started at 8:00
AM and went off of #1 and
#10 tees.
Tyler Thomas of Beaumont, was the early
leader in the clubhouse with a
blistering 5-under par, 67, that consisted of
seven birdies and two
bogeys. Being in the first group, Thomas held
the lead all day and was
eventually named Medalist for the qualifying.
Josh Cole of Texarkana
finished three shots back of Thomas with a 2-
under par, 70. Coles round
consisted of 4 birdies, and two bogeys. Other
notable rounds were Chris
Shive, Chris Wheeler, Jared Cornish, and Scott
Smith who tied for third
with solid rounds of even par, 72.
At the end of the day, six players were left
tied for the last three match
play spots. Joshua Aguilar, Bryan Neuhaus, Jon
Glover, Juan Gutierrez,
Trey Caldwell, and Bill Odom all shot 5-over
par, 77, and returned to the
18th tee for a sudden death playoff. In a
situation that could have lasted
a lot longer, only one hole was needed to
determine the final three match
play participants. Aquilar, Neuhaus, and Glover
all made par on the
difficult closing hole to secure a place in the
match play bracket.
Moving into match play, players were seeded
according to their qualifying
positions. The Round of 32 matches will get
underway Friday morning at
7:30 AM off of the first tee at Avery Ranch
Golf Club. Winners of their
matches will have time to grab lunch and then
will be heading back out
onto the course starting at 1:00 PM for the
Round of 16 matches.
Quarterfinal matches will be held Saturday
morning at 7:30 AM, followed
by the Semifinal matches at 12:30 PM. The
Public Links Final Match will
be held on Sunday morning, starting at 7:30
AM. The match play bracket
and scoring are available online at
www.txga.org.