Boys tradition began in 1936; girls in 1974
A Fort Worth tradition began in 1936 when the first Fort Worth Boys Junior Golf Championship was conducted. None of the participants had to pay a greens fee that year, and they never have had to in the ensuing years.
Thanks to the efforts of the late businessman Marvin Leonard, with help from Dr. Alden Coffey, the tournament was started so that youngsters from all financial backgrounds could afford to play. Leonard, who founded Shady Oaks Country Club and Colonial Country Club, didn't want finances to prevent a youngster from competing for the city championship. Thus, the city's men's golf association supported the tournament during the formative years.
The city's municipal and country club courses have been host to the boys tournament ever since. The men's golf association eventually disbanded, and during the next few years the tournament struggled because of a lack of volunteers. After the tournament was canceled in 1972, one of the MGA's members, Wendell Conditt, with the help of PGA Tour player Jack Montgomery and Star-Telegram reporter Jim Trinkle revived the tournament in 1973. Conditt recruited many of his friends to help conduct the tournament, and the Star-Telegram stepped in as a major sponsor. Conditt had been helping with the tournament since 1959.
One of Conditt's friends, Guinn Phillips, soon began lending a helping hand and the Fort Worth Junior Golf Association was formed. Phillips eventually became a co-director with Conditt. The city and county clubs continued the tradition of charging no greens fees.
In 1974, the girls tournament was added with Benita Christensen becoming the director. The tournament was conducted at Diamond Oaks Country Club until Kimberly Jutt took over as tournament director in 1994 and served until 2004. The girls tournament expanded to the city courses and other country clubs. The current director is Madeleine Sulley.
In 1994, Wendell and Guinn stepped aside as directors and their sons, John Conditt and Martin Phillips, took over as the boys' directors. The Northern Texas PGA entered as a partner with the FWJGA and the City of Fort Worth's Golf Division in 2006 and helped conduct the tournament that year and in 2007. One of the changes in 2006 was conducting the boys and girls tournaments during the same week, and finishing on the same course. They played their final rounds at Colonial Country Club. However, to assure equal publicity for both tournaments, it was decided to again conduct the tournaments on separate weeks. Because of many other junior tournaments blossoming across the state and nation, the boys championship probably will never reach the record-high of the 715 participants in 1979. Yet, it continues to attract several hundred each year, including most of the city's best players. In 2009, the FWJGA again began conducting all aspects of the tournaments and Wendell stepped back in as the association's president. Charles Birkhold joined John Conditt as the boys directors and a few months later Bill Hatley became co-director. Nancy Pennell served as the girls director until retiring in 2013 and current director Madeleine Sulley took over. Wendell retired in 2014, and a medalist award was created to honor his devoted and long-time service.
Former winners include Mark Brooks, a PGA Tour competitor who won the 1996 PGA Championship among other titles; Hunter Haas, a former standout and Big 12 champion at the University of Oklahoma and the 1999 USGA Amateur Public Links champion; and Lindy Miller, a former PGA Tour competitor who became the Director of Golf at Mira Vista Country Club. Many former winners have gone on to enjoy successes as amateur and professional players. The girls tournament also has had its share of talented players, including Angela Stanford. The four-time winner of the girls title is a winner of the LPGA Tour and was the runner-up in the 2003 Women's U.S. Open.
Thanks to the efforts of the late businessman Marvin Leonard, with help from Dr. Alden Coffey, the tournament was started so that youngsters from all financial backgrounds could afford to play. Leonard, who founded Shady Oaks Country Club and Colonial Country Club, didn't want finances to prevent a youngster from competing for the city championship. Thus, the city's men's golf association supported the tournament during the formative years.
The city's municipal and country club courses have been host to the boys tournament ever since. The men's golf association eventually disbanded, and during the next few years the tournament struggled because of a lack of volunteers. After the tournament was canceled in 1972, one of the MGA's members, Wendell Conditt, with the help of PGA Tour player Jack Montgomery and Star-Telegram reporter Jim Trinkle revived the tournament in 1973. Conditt recruited many of his friends to help conduct the tournament, and the Star-Telegram stepped in as a major sponsor. Conditt had been helping with the tournament since 1959.
One of Conditt's friends, Guinn Phillips, soon began lending a helping hand and the Fort Worth Junior Golf Association was formed. Phillips eventually became a co-director with Conditt. The city and county clubs continued the tradition of charging no greens fees.
In 1974, the girls tournament was added with Benita Christensen becoming the director. The tournament was conducted at Diamond Oaks Country Club until Kimberly Jutt took over as tournament director in 1994 and served until 2004. The girls tournament expanded to the city courses and other country clubs. The current director is Madeleine Sulley.
In 1994, Wendell and Guinn stepped aside as directors and their sons, John Conditt and Martin Phillips, took over as the boys' directors. The Northern Texas PGA entered as a partner with the FWJGA and the City of Fort Worth's Golf Division in 2006 and helped conduct the tournament that year and in 2007. One of the changes in 2006 was conducting the boys and girls tournaments during the same week, and finishing on the same course. They played their final rounds at Colonial Country Club. However, to assure equal publicity for both tournaments, it was decided to again conduct the tournaments on separate weeks. Because of many other junior tournaments blossoming across the state and nation, the boys championship probably will never reach the record-high of the 715 participants in 1979. Yet, it continues to attract several hundred each year, including most of the city's best players. In 2009, the FWJGA again began conducting all aspects of the tournaments and Wendell stepped back in as the association's president. Charles Birkhold joined John Conditt as the boys directors and a few months later Bill Hatley became co-director. Nancy Pennell served as the girls director until retiring in 2013 and current director Madeleine Sulley took over. Wendell retired in 2014, and a medalist award was created to honor his devoted and long-time service.
Former winners include Mark Brooks, a PGA Tour competitor who won the 1996 PGA Championship among other titles; Hunter Haas, a former standout and Big 12 champion at the University of Oklahoma and the 1999 USGA Amateur Public Links champion; and Lindy Miller, a former PGA Tour competitor who became the Director of Golf at Mira Vista Country Club. Many former winners have gone on to enjoy successes as amateur and professional players. The girls tournament also has had its share of talented players, including Angela Stanford. The four-time winner of the girls title is a winner of the LPGA Tour and was the runner-up in the 2003 Women's U.S. Open.
Previous champions
Boys1936 -- Homer Chokas
1937 -- L.D. Hardin 1938 -- Buster Adams 1939 -- Spud Cason 1940 -- Charles W. Royer 1941 -- Fred Hudgins 1942 -- Doug Higgins 1943 -- Jack Kibbee 1944 -- No tournament 1945 -- No tournament 1946 -- Doyle Gilliam 1947 -- Doyle Gilliam 1948 -- Barton Cole Jr. 1949 -- Thomas Parnell 1950 -- Don Matheson 1951 -- Everett Roberts 1952 -- John O'Connell 1953 -- Ronnie Honeycutt 1954 -- Don Moody 1955 -- Jack Vaughn 1956 -- Charlie Yates 1957 -- Harry Hoskins 1958 -- No tournament 1959 -- No tournament 1960 -- Mike Martin 1961 -- John Ray Wiggins 1962 -- Dee Finley Jr 1963 -- Jimmy Hoodenpyle 1964 -- Tom Wright 1965 -- Jim Grubbs girls1974 -- Lisa Kimbro
1975 -- Lisa Kimbro 1976 -- Rae Rothfelder 1977 -- Rae Rothfelder 1978 -- Rae Rothfelder 1979 -- Rae Rothfelder 1980 -- Tracee Fowler 1981 -- Tracee Fowler 1982 -- Hollie Frizzell 1983 -- Kimberly Dirks 1984 -- Tiffany Group 1985 -- Holly Haas 1986 -- Krista Newman 1987 -- Lori Anthony 1988 -- Heather Haas 1989 -- Tory Boysen 1990 -- Meredith Scott 1991 -- Heather Haas 1992 -- Amber Paulos 1993 -- Angela Stanford 1994 -- Angela Stanford 1995 -- Angela Stanford |
1966 -- Mike Doyle
1967 -- Paul Darwin 1968 -- Paul Darwin 1969 -- Steve Robinson 1970 -- John Granger 1971 -- Steve Rutherford 1972 -- No tournament 1973 -- Lindy Miller 1974 -- Randy Berkovsky 1975 -- Terry Snodgrass 1976 -- Mark Brooks 1977 -- James Johnson 1978 -- Jeff Heimenez 1979 -- Jimmy Matuszewski 1980 -- Jimmy Matuzewski 1981 -- Troy Reiser 1982 -- Brad Alvine 1983 -- Brad Alvine 1984 -- Brian Hutchins 1985 -- Stephen Handy 1986 -- Hans Haas 1987 -- Kent McCune 1988 -- Steve Baker 1989 -- Hans Haas 1990 -- Nathan Shilling 1991 -- Dru Fenimore 1992 -- Dru Fenimore 1993 -- Michael Henderson 1994 -- Hunter Haas 1995 -- Hunter Haas 1996 -- Adam Rubinson 1997 -- Eric Dahlberg 1996 -- Angela Stanford 1997 -- Amanda Spratlin 1998 -- Stephanie Dukes 1999 -- Stephanie Dukes 2000 -- D'Rae Ward 2001 -- Melissa Reeves 2002 -- Laci Humphrey 2003 -- Nathalie Duncan 2004 -- Rained Out 2005 -- Kaylin Isler 2006 -- Prisela Campbell 2007 -- Kelsey Kirkpatrick 2008 -- Paloma Nunez 2009 -- Gabriella Dominguez 2010 -- April McCoy 2011 -- Jaqueline Strickland 2012 -- Hayley Dambold 2013 -- Erica Lautensack 2014 -- Erica Lautensack 2015 -- Trinity King 2016 -- Kennedy Pedigo 2017 -- Trinity King 2018 -- Trinity King 2019 -- Trinity King |
1998 -- Zack Robinson
1999 -- Todd Mack 2000 -- Casey Carnes 2001 -- Zack Reeves 2002 -- Mark Conlon 2003 -- Franklin Corpening 2004 -- Brian Mills 2005 -- Austin Berkovsky 2006 -- Austin Berkovsky 2007 -- Jordan Hoffman 2008 -- Andrew Presley 2009 -- Kolton Crawford 2010 -- Kolton Crawford 2011 -- Andy Ariens 2012 -- Javier Manrique 2013 -- Andrew Hudson 2014 -- Collin Clark 2015 -- Zachary Campbell 2016 -- Collin Clark 2017 -- Brendan Powers 2018 -- David Harrison 2019 -- Brandon Massey |