Sainz Jr. Claims Third Section Major Win at 2020 Tradition Championship
Both Sainz Jr. & Uresti celebrate their third Section Major wins.
HOUSTON, TEXAS (July 21, 2020) —
Carlos Sainz Jr., Teaching Professional at GolfTEC – Upper Kirby has won the 2020 Tradition Championship at Westwood Golf Club with a final score of 134 (-10) following a sudden-death playoff against Jared Jones, PGA Director of Instruction at River Oaks Country Club.
“I was fortunate just to get into the playoff today because there are a lot of really great players in the field this week,” said Sainz Jr. “I knew today’s round had to be special to catch the leaders because the course was yielding good scores. I told myself if I could start hot and have a good front nine, I might have a chance.”
Coming into today’s round, Sainz Jr. sat four strokes behind yesterday’s leader, Gilbert Mendez, PGA Teaching Professional at GolfTEC – Westlake. Sainz Jr. carded seven birdies and an eagle during today’s round to earn his spot in the playoff against Jones and defeated him with a birdie on the first playoff hole, hole #10.
“My pairing today was a great group of guys to play with,” said Sainz Jr. “We had tons of birdies and a couple of eagles between us. We were all feeding off of each other’s energy.”
Today’s win marks the third Section Major and fourth Southern Texas PGA tournament win in 2020 for Sainz Jr. who previously won the Open Division at the TPx Communications Championship and the National Car Rental Southern Texas Assistant PGA Professional Championship in May, as well as the Open Division of the Spring Classic in June.
The Tradition Championship also saw 15 PGA Professionals ages 50 and over competing in a separate Senior Division. Omar Uresti, PGA Life Member carded 6 birdies during Round Two to claim the win over Billy Sitton, PGA Facilities Manager at Triumph Golf LLC. Uresti finished with a two-day total of 133 (-11) and Sitton came in second with a final score of 139 (-5).
“Each tournament you know you have to come out and play good, solid golf and I’ve been fortunate enough to do that,” said Uresti. “I didn’t hit the driver as good as I can today, but I was staying in play and I was able to get it on the green most of the time.”
Like Sainz Jr., today’s win marks the third Section Major and fourth Southern Texas PGA win this year for Uresti who previously won the Senior Division at the TPx Communications Championship and the Southern Texas Senior PGA Professional Championship in May, as well as the Senior Division of the Spring Classic in June.
Tee times for Round Two were originally set to start at 7:30 a.m., but due to inclement weather in the area, the round was changed to a shotgun start beginning at 12:45 p.m.
The Tradition Championship, presented by Envirocleanse, NFP Hole-In-One USA, ProBuy, Turfhound, Surf & Turf Golf, Sterling Cut Glass, and PGA TOUR, was contested at Westwood Golf Club’s 6,927-yard, par-72 course. This tournament is the third major championship in 2020 for the Southern Texas PGA. The Section’s next major championship will be the Memorial Championship at The Clubs of Houston Oaks next month.
The Southern Texas PGA would like to thank our host facility and all of our presenting sponsors for a successful tournament.
To view the full results from today’s tournament, please click here.
