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FEATURE STORY
Texas Swing produces bevy of memories and popular champions, with more to come! Now expanded to five stops, the Lone Star State is home to great events and Hall of Fame golfers
By Steve Habel, ContributingWriter
Texans are never shy, so the bold statement you are about to read now from a native of the Lone Star State should, perhaps, be expected: Professional golf would not be the same if not for the impetus of Texas businessmen, golfers and the tour stops hosted here. Sure, there have been changes along the way, in courses, in time slots on the PGA Tour schedule and now with a new tournament for Texas with the addition of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin. It would not be a stretch to say the versions of the first four of five tournaments played in the state in 2021 – the aforementioned Match Play, the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, the AT&T Byron Nelson in suburban Dallas, and the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth – have produced a bevy of memories and popular champions.
Straight out of the box, before it was even known as the Texas Swing, the best players in the game ruled the state.The Texas Open set the pattern for lucrative professional events around the world and the state of Texas played an important role in establishing the PGA, LPGA and Senior (now Champions) tours. In 1922 the first Texas Open was held in San Antonio at Brackenridge Park.The $5,000 prize – the largest in pro golf to that time – attracted the best talent to Texas, and the tournament was the inspiration of two farsighted Texans: San Antonio newspaperman Jack O’Brien and pioneering golf architect John Bredemus. In the 1940s and ‘50s, the Texas tour stops were dominated by the state’s Hall of Fame professionals – namely Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan, both of whom grew up in Fort Worth. Nelson won the
TheValero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio
TheTexasGolfInsider.com
