The115th edition of the Texas Amateur is traveling to one of the Lone Star State’s most dramatic golf landscapes, Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas. The host venue for the championship, taking place from June 13-16, was designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and is laid out over a rolling, rumpled links-like canvas framed by sand dunes, wild native areas, and towering prairie grasses.
This will be the first Texas Amateur and second TGA championship held at Trinity Forest, which previously hosted the 2021 Texas Mid-Amateur Match Play, won by Christopher Wheeler.
“We are thrilled to be back at Trinity Forest Golf Club for the 115th Texas Amateur,” said Chris Untiedt, TGA Senior Tournament Director. “We are so thankful for the club’s dedication to promoting amateur golf, and for their commitment to providing our players with a world-class golf course and an overall experience representative of this historic championship.”
Opened for play in 2016, Trinity Forest Golf Club was built atop a former landfill located about 10 miles southeast of downtown Dallas. Coore and Crenshaw utilized all the variety of contours that resulted as parts of the landfill settled over time to create an open, windswept layout where expansive fairways twist and turn around craggy waste areas and rough-hewn bunkers leading to large, sloping green complexes. With an imaginative routing and strategic use of existing mounds, hollows and ridges, Coore and Crenshaw transformed the once disregarded piece of land into one of the most captivating designs in modern architecture.
While still considered a relatively new arrival on the national golf scene, Trinity Forest has hosted several prestigious events for both amateurs and professionals in its short history. It was the site of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Byron Nelson in 2018 and 2019 and the 2023 Jackson T. Stephens Cup. Additionally, the USGA has selected Trinity Forest as host for the 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur and 2031 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championships. The club is also home to the Southern Methodist University men’s and women’s golf teams and has held an annual NCAA invitational tournament since 2017.
“Trinity Forest has proven to be an incredible championship venue,” Untiedt said. “Every hole offers something compelling in the way of options and features, with ground contour being the common denominator. With so many different ways to play the course, it really doesn’t favor one type of player over another, but I do think ball control and imagination will be critical this week.”
The competition is sure to create unforgettable moments and unbelievable shots as players put everything on the line to chase the H.L. Edwards Memorial Trophy, but there will also be an extra bonus for this year’s champion. As an official USGA Exemption Event beginning in 2024, the winner of the Texas Amateur at Trinity Forest will earn a spot in the starting field for this year’s U.S. Amateur, to be played Aug. 12-18 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
With the opportunity to test their skills on one of the most acclaimed golf courses in Texas and the exciting addition of a coveted USGA exemption, players were eager to sign up for this year’s 115th Texas Amateur from the moment registration opened at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, January 30. By the time entries closed eight weeks later on March 27, the TGA had accepted a record 1,061 entries, eclipsing the previous record of 1017 set for last year’s championship at The Clubs of Houston Oaks in Hockley. It is the third consecutive year entries have surpassed the 1,000 mark.
Bret Gray of San Antonio won the 114th Texas Amateur in a playoff at Houston Oaks and is one of two past champions among the 51 players who were fully exempt from having to qualify. Joining Gray is Trey Bosco of Austin, who won the 111th Texas Amateur in 2020 at Boot Ranch in Fredericksburg.
Top finishers from the 2023 championship are also among the group of exempt players, which includes Travis Woolf of Fort Worth (3rd), Ethan Fang of Plano (4th), Luke Dossey of Austin (5th), Jeffrey Zatorski of Houston (6th), Jacob Borow of Lake Jackson (7th), Joe Stover of Dallas (T8), and Daniel Choi of Keller (T8).
To determine the remaining 93 spots in the 144-player starting field, 18-hole qualifiers were held from April 3 through June 3 at 14 sites across the state.
The format for the walking-only championship is 72 holes of individual stroke play. All contestants will play 18 holes on both June 13-14. After 36 holes the field will be cut to the low 54 scorers and ties heading into the final two rounds.
The tension will be naturally high in Dallas for a championship with so much at stake, and there may be no more exciting backdrop for the action to unfold than Trinity Forest Golf Club.
For more on the 115th Texas Amateur, click here.
