Coming off a successful Ryder Cup and in an effort to better prepare male junior golfers in the United States for match play tournaments, PGA Champion Jimmy Walker partnered with the AJGA to host his first event, the Jimmy Walker Challenge.
This unique event featured 32 of the best junior golfers in the world in a team match play competition which was held in October. The field featured players from 14 states.
Two teams squared off in morning and afternoon Foursome matches on the first day with the tournament concluding with Four-Ball matches on the second day.
When all the matches were completed, Team Cordillera defeated Team Baltusrol with 16 of the 24 possible points and took home the inaugural Jimmy Walker Challenge with a score of 16 – 8.
While the tournament was great competition, there was much more that came out of the event. It was such a great event for all of us here at The Club to be involved with, not only to support Jimmy, but also Junior Golf. The involvement from Jimmy and Erin over all three days was absolutely incredible and truly showed how much they cared about the kids who played. They were both out with their two boys watching golf and I know how proud Jimmy was to be hosting the event. He competed in AJGA events growing up and this was a great way to continue to give back to the game. The Q&A session with the 32 juniors was very personal and it definitely was one of the big highlights of the week. It gave Jimmy a chance to share his insight and some of the reasons for his success on the PGA Tour to some of the very best junior players in the country. The comments from all of the participants and their parents could not have been any better. We enjoyed showcasing The Club and the entire community of Cordillera Ranch, and we are looking forward to this being an annual event.
Marc DeWall, PGA
Marc DeWall is the Director of Golf at The Clubs of Cordillera Ranch. He can be reached at mdewall@cordilleraranch.com or 830.336.4653.