Baxter Ward Holds Top-Seed at Cotton States Invitational
Baxter Ward (Stephen F. Austin State U. photo)
MONROE, Louisiana (July 27, 2017) -- Australian golfer Baxter Ward led the charge this morning as the W.E. Cole Cotton States Invitational medal qualifying concluded, shooting a 5-under-par 67 in Thursday’s effort, tying with Triston Elson, for the low round of the tournament thus far.
After 36-holes of medal play, Ward, who recently wrapped up his collegiate career at Stephen F. Austin University, has secured himself the top-seed moving into Friday’s matches.
Qualifiers will need to win five matches en route to winning the event. Match play will begin with Friday morning’s round-of-32, with winners competing in the round-of-16 in the afternoon.
Ward will play OSU golfer Quade Cummins in the opener, with the pair set to tee off at 8 AM ET.
ABOUT THE Cotton States Amateur
Originally played in 1949 as the Bayou
DeSiard Labor Day Golf Tournament, the
tournament's
name was changed to the Cotton States
Invitational in 1951 by the club's young head
professional, W. E. "Winnie" Cole. He felt that
the
name better reflected the main states that the
tournament's players originated from (and a
move
to
mid-summer made the name a necessity later
anyway). Little did Cole know that 27 years
later, in
1978, the event would be renamed again,
forever to
be known as the W. E. Cole Cotton States
Invitational Golf Tournament.
Past champions of this highly competitive, yet
festive
tournament include Don January and Hal
Sutton. Gil
Morgan, David
Toms and many other PGA Tour players have
also
competed. The tournament field field is limited
to 96
amateur
participants
having a verified USGA Handicap Index not
exceeding 0.0. Long a match play event, the
format was changed in 2021 to 72 holes of
stroke play.
View Complete Tournament Information