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ast August, Baylor freshman Trey Bosco won the 111th Texas Amateur with a final round 2-under-par 69 at Boot Ranch Golf Club in Fredericksburg. The 18-year-old from Austin captured the title with a 72-hole total of 5-under 279.
Playing conditions for the final round of the championship at Boot Ranch were much like the third round. Fast and firm greens and swirling winds made the Hal Sutton-designed course challenging yet again. Playing in the final group, Bosco showed little nerves from the outset. He split the fairway with his opening drive on No. 1, found the putting surface and drained an 18-foot birdie putt. He quickly pulled within one shot of the 54-hole leader Caleb Hicks of Arlington.
Bosco, Hicks and San Antonio’s Andres Acevedo, the third player of the final group, battled throughout the front nine. By the time they made the turn, all three players were over par for the round. The leaderboard was stacked, and 10 players were within two shots of the lead.
Bosco showed the poise of a champion on his closing nine. He birdied the par-5 11th, but he followed it with a bogey on the par-3 12th. After pars on holes 13 and 14, he knew he needed to make a charge.
“Coming down to 15, 16, 17, I was like, OK, might need to turn on the jets a little bit,” Bosco said. “I made a bomb on 15, and then from there I just had this tunnel vision to where all the putts just seemed to drop.”
He birdied the long par-5 16th and par-3 17th to complete the trifecta and led the field by two shots with one hole to play. Bosco finished with a routine par to clinch the biggest amateur win in his young golf career.
“It’s still kind of sinking in, but it means the world,” Bosco said. “I’ve had kind of a rough summer with the whole quarantine and all that stuff, so to get this before I go off to college is a dream come true for sure.”
Bosco was the second straight Baylor Bear to hoist the H.L. Edwards Memorial Trophy. Ryan Grider of Lewisville, a junior at Baylor, won the 110th Texas Amateur in 2019 on Dallas Athletic Club’s Blue Course. Bosco’s name will also be etched alongside the likes of Ben Crenshaw, Charles Coody, Mark Brooks, Scott Verplank and a host of other Texas golf legends who have won the Texas Amateur.
“Being a Texas Am Champion, you get to go down in the record books,” Bosco said. “It brings me a lot of confidence. It means that I can play with all these guys and I can compete with all the top college players.”
Finishing runner-up was Hicks, who led the field through 54 holes. The UT Arlington junior struggled on the front side en route to a 4-over 39. However, he never gave up the fight. Hicks carded a bogey-free 3-under 33 on the back nine including a birdie on the 72nd hole to finish just one-shot off Bosco’s 5-under.
Four players shared third place at 2-under 282. Tommy Morrison of Frisco, a 2023 University of Texas commit, fired the low round of the day. The 15-year-old carded five birdies and an eagle on Sunday to climb 23 spots up the leaderboard.
“I knew this morning something low had to happen,” Morrison said. “Me and my caddie just went out there and figured we had nothing to lose.”
Morrison’s closing 5-under 66 was enough to hold the clubhouse lead until the final group finished. Also at 2-under par for the championship were Jimmy Lee of Bryan, a sophomore at Texas A&M, Jacob Sosa of Austin, a 2022 Texas commit, and Acevedo, a senior at Seton Hall.
Reid Davenport, also of Austin, finished seventh at 1-under-par 283. Austyn Reily of Pottsboro and Stephen Campbell Jr. of Richmond tied for eight at even-par 284. Defending Texas Mid-Amateur champion and last year’s runner-up Chris Wheeler of Addison rounded out the top-10 at 1-over 285.
In May of 2020, the TGA was forced to reschedule the Texas Amateur from its original mid-June dates after the COVID-19 crisis preempted the ability to conduct statewide events. The TGA and Boot Ranch worked together to ensure a safe and competitive championship was held in 2020.
Extra special thanks to General Manager Emil Hale, Head Golf Professional Alex Rhyne, Golf Course Superintendent Patrick Joy and his amazing grounds crew, Director of Club Operations Monica Kendrick and Executive Chef Casey McQueen. The 111th Texas Amateur would not have been possible without their efforts.
For more information on the 111th Texas Amateur, click here.