One simple way to determine the pedigree of a championship is to look at its past champions. For example, a look at previous winners of the Texas Golf Association’s (TGA) Women’s Stroke Play Championship will likely cause raised eyebrows at those who have walked away victorious.
This is especially impressive considering the event is still relatively new. The 2023 edition is set for June 23-25 at Harbor Lakes Golf Club in Granbury. This is only the ninth playing of this tournament, but the event boasts a strong list of champions etched on the trophy.
In the inaugural playing of the Women’s Stroke Play Championship, the first of two TGA Women’s majors, Kaitlyn Papp claimed victory— a strong first winner to associate with the event. Papp’s accomplishments are stellar, including the 2018 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year and Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year, Junior Solheim Cup Team (2015 & 2017), Junior Ryder Cup Team (2016), and low-amateur at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open.
The Austin native competed in her rookie season on the LPGA Tour in 2022 and is beginning to compete again on the Epson Tour this summer after recovering from injury.
Notably, Papp teamed with Hailee Cooper, another past champion of this event, to win the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball.
Cooper etched her name as a tri-champion of this event in 2017 at The Clubs of Kingwood. Other highlights of her career include 2019 Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year, Tied 55th at the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open, and member of Texas A&M University’s national semi-finalist teams in 2022 & 2023.
Hannah Alberto and Julie Houston were also part of the tri-champion group in 2017 with Cooper. Alberto was the 2020-2021 Southland Conference Women’s Golfer of the Year and played in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019. She would go on to win the 98th Women's Texas Amateur in 2020.
Even with such a solid foundation to the tournament’s history, recent champions have only bolstered its spot as a premiere event for women in Texas.
In just the past few years the TGA has crowned Annika Clark (2019), Emma McMyler (2021), and Camryn Carreon (2022).
Clark, who also won the Women’s Texas Amateur in 2015, now competes on the Women’s All-Pro Tour and Epson Tour.
McMyler won the Big East Conference Golfer of the Year award for a conference-record three straight seasons at Xavier University and qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open in 2022. In May, she announced she will be finishing her final two years of collegiate eligibility at Duke University.
The San Antonio native began her year-long run of dominance in TGA events at the 2021 Women’s Stroke Play, where she won by an impressive four shots. A few weeks later, she won the 100th Women’s Texas Amateur and successfully defended that title last summer at The Golf Club of Houston. With three TGA major championship victories in the span of 13 months, McMyler has made quite an impression.
Last year, Camryn Carreon’s Women’s Stroke Play victory was a sign of a stellar senior season to come. She followed up her first TGA major championship win with a historic campaign at University of Texas at San Antonio. In May, Carreon captured the NCAA San Antonio Regional individual title after firing a 10-under-par 206 (71-67-68), winning the crown by six shots to earn her second consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships.
As you can tell, the record of accomplishment for the TGA’s first women’s major of the year is second to none, and we expect it to continue to get better this year.
“It has been awesome to see how quickly this event has become highly regarded in women’s golf,” TGA’s Director of Women’s Operations, Amy Worthington said. “That speaks to the talent of the field each year and those who have won this prestigious event. We are looking forward to bringing the state’s best to Harbor Lakes this year and conducting a first-class tournament.”
Harbor Lakes Golf Club, located southwest of Fort Worth, will undoubtedly produce another worthy winner of this great championship. Its blended style of rolling terrain and seaside links makes it a masterpiece ready to test the mettle of Texas’ best.
Who will be the next to step into stardom at the Women’s Stroke Play Championship? Find out June 23-25.
For more info on the 2023 Women’s Stroke Play Championship, click here.