The 7th Annual Red River Challenge was played at the historic Dornick Hills CC in Ardmore, Oklahoma in beautiful, but windy Fall weather October 29th-30th, 2011. As always several college coaches were in attendance watching the best players from the TJGT and Mexico fight it out with the best players from the OJGT in this special team format. To be precise 21 coaches attended from all three NCAA divisions, NAIA, and the NJCAA. Dornick Hills was designed by the late Perry Maxwell and has been host to several professional and amateur events over the years including The Maxwell, one of the top collegiate events in the country. Once again his venue proved to be extremely difficult and has always had one of the strongest fields of the season.
Current US Amateur Champion Kelly Kraft, US Junior Champion Jordan Spieth, and current NCAA Champion John Peterson are just a few of the players that have all played in this event representing the TJGT over the past seven years. During that time this event has averaged a 98% for Girls and 93% for Boys college scholarship success rate including both athletic and academic scholarships.
This year Dornick Hills was in near perfect condition and the undulating bent grass greens were extremely fast placing a premium on putting.
Besides the outstanding golf, the highlight of the weekend was again the Saturday night banquet. This years featured speaker was former OU coach and current Executive Director of the GCAA, Mr. Gregg Grost. Anytime you have access to a former college coach who has won multiple Conference and Regional Championships, as well as a National Championship at OU, you have access to wisdom and information that can help you navigate the road to college golf with greater clarity and understanding. Coach Grost talked about new changes coming to NCAA and college golf as well as amateur golf and hosted a great Q&A for the players and parents.
Once again the TJGT won the cup 19-9 and takes the lead for the overall series six wins to one in the team competition since its inception.
Boys Individual Top Finishers:
139 Taylor Moore
141 Preston Standley
142 Brendon Jelley, Jake Gorman, Nick Heinen
145 Dylan Siebenaler, Jacob Fair, Matthew Dunn
146 Major Monzingo, Max Mcgreevy, Sam Humphreys
Girls Individual Top Finishers:
140 Lakareber Abe
153 Emily Campbell
154 Maci Arrington
155Abby Newton, Tezira Abe
156 Sierra Sims, Sydney Williams
157 Mariana Sims
158 Maggie Neece, Maria Fassi
