The Hill Country Amateur Championship begins tomorrow at Crystal Falls Golf Club in Leander.
The tournament will host 120 players, the maximum field limit, in three different divisions – a championship division, open division and senior division.
The Hill Country Amateur has been around since 2002 and has become more popular among golfers since then. The field limit has been reached sooner over the last few year, but Wes Skaggs, Head Golf Professional at Crystal Falls, remembers when the tournament attracted fewer golfers.
Wes Skaggs (Photo source: stpga.com)
“It’s definitely gotten better, when we started out we were getting maybe 40 players a year…it was more like a little club championship at that time,” Skaggs said. “But we’ve actually met our field limit which is 120 players, every year for about 5 years.”
The well-maintained golf course along with a lower entry fee compared to other amateur golf tournaments are two factors Skaggs believes are drawing more golfers to the tournament each year.
“We work really hard on getting the golf course ready,” Skaggs said. “This time of the year the course is really in the best condition, simply because it’s not so hot and we’ve had rainfall. Plus we haven’t been charging a whole lot for the entry fee…we don’t keep anything for the golf course, other than expenses, everything else goes back to the players.”
The entry fee was raised for the first time this year from $80 to $100.
Past Hill Country Amateur Champions
Last years Hill Country Amateur Champion, Jordan Sanders, will return to the course along with Sam Wallach who came in second after a playoff.
Wallach and Sanders set the competitive course record at Crystal Falls last year posting a five under par 67. The official tournament record of -7 was set in 2008 by Josh Luongo and was tied by Steve Patterson in 2014. Skaggs thinks the tournament record probably would’ve been broken last year had the last round not been canceled due to thunderstorms.
Although player entries are no longer being accepted, those around the area are welcome to go watch the golfers in action this coming weekend.
A list of Saturday tee times and pairings as well as a schedule for the weekend can be on the Crystal Falls Golf Club website.
