McKINNEY, TEXAS | Long before Jordan Spieth became the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer and a multiple major champion, he was just a kid holding the trophy for winning the 2006 Texas Junior Amateur.
“Wow, that was a long time ago, but that was really big at the time,” Spieth said while competing last month at the PGA Tour’s 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson tournament at TPC Craig Ranch, just 10 miles from Stonebriar Country Club in Frisco, where this year’s championship for the state’s top boys and girls starts Monday.
Among the Texas Junior Amateur’s other past champions are two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw; five-time PGA Tour winner Scott Verplank; Korn Ferry Tour player Parker Coody, the grandson of 1971 Masters champion Charles Coody; and seven-time LPGA winner Angela Stanford, the 2026 U.S. Solheim Cup captain.
“Every golf champion has a beginning and for 100 years for Texas golfers that has been the Texas Junior Amateur,” said Texas Golf Association executive director Stacy Dennis. “We are proud of its rich history and excited to host the celebration of the next generation of champions who will write the next chapter of its legacy.”
Tyler Neider of Lakeway (boys) and Honorine Nobuta Ferry of Flower Mound (girls) are the defending champions, having won titles last year at Horseshoe Bay Resort. For the fourth year, the winners will earn exemptions into the USGA’s national junior championships – the U.S. Junior Amateur (July 20-25 at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) and the U.S. Girls’ Junior (July 13-18 at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, North Carolina).
Not every champion’s journey followed the same path. Some went on to successful college careers, while others made their marks in the professional ranks. Many stayed connected to the game in ways that still shape Texas golf today. But all of them share a common thread: they once proved themselves on the biggest stage in Texas junior golf.
When Spieth won the 14-and-under title in 2006 at Barton Creek Resort in Austin, he wasn’t totally familiar with the tournament’s legacy but received a quick education looking at the trophy.
“I saw Ben Crenshaw’s name on the trophy, I mean Ben Crenshaw! I certainly remember that,” Spieth said.
“Anything that had the state junior associated with it, we pointed to that. We knew we were going to be playing players from all over the state and that was a highlight for me.” – Ben Crenshaw
Crenshaw, an Austin native who won the title in 1967 and ’69, said he didn’t have a lot written down on his schedule as a teenager other than golf and maybe Texas football, but he always pointed to the Texas Junior Amateur, then held annually at longtime host site Brackenridge Park in San Antonio.
“Anything that had the state junior associated with it, we pointed to that. We knew we were going to be playing players from all over the state and that was a highlight for me,” Crenshaw recalled. “Brackenridge Park was our favorite. We played some other layouts, but Brack was our favorite course.”
Like he did so many times in his World Golf Hall of Fame career, Crenshaw used past disappointment to spur himself to success as a junior.
“I lost in 1965 in the (match-play) semifinals at age 13 and it was so painful. I was really down. But I came back to win in 1967. I beat the top player from San Antonio on his home course in the semifinals and that really gave me a lot of confidence. I went on to beat a golfer from Brownsville, I think, 5 and 4 in the finals for my first Texas Junior Amateur victory.
“That was huge back then as my first statewide win, such a big moment for me. I remember it now.”
Crenshaw came back in 1969 to capture his second Texas title, in a stroke-play format still used today, before going on to University of Texas.
“I think in 1969, I beat a golfer from east Texas. That was the great thing about playing in the Texas Junior championship, you played players from all over the state and you could measure your abilities against theirs.”
Stanford, of Fort Worth, won the 1996 girls’ title at age 18. The victory meant only one thing to her.
“It meant I needed to work harder to continue to get better,” she said. “I went to TCU and got more coaching, but without the Texas [Junior] I wouldn’t be the player I am today.”
The championship began at Brackenridge Park, Texas’ first public course, moved to Houston, had a good run at Horseshoe Bay outside Austin and will be played near Dallas this year.
Its past winners appreciate its history.
“Just to know that the Texas Junior Amateur has been going for 100 years and you have been a part of that is really a big deal, really special,” Stanford said. “I’m proud to have been a part of the legacy.”
Probably no professional golfer has more interest in or knowledge of the history of golf in Texas than Crenshaw. More than 50 years after his Texas Junior Amateur triumphs, he remembers his heyday like it was yesterday.
“The fact we’ve done this 100 years and produced so many great champions, you know how special Texas golf is,” Crenshaw said.