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Flooding prompts venue changes for one of largest junior golf tournaments

Flooding prompts venue changes for one of largest junior golf tournaments
Posted at 9:37 PM, Jun 09, 2016
and last updated 2018-07-24 21:30:14-04

Flooding at area golf courses have prompted changes to a junior golf tournament hosted in Waco, considered one of the largest in the world.

Starburst Junior Golf Classic, which begins next week, will take place on eight golf courses instead of nine as in previous years. However, none of the rounds have been cancelled.

The Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, volunteers and golf professionals had to make adjustments to most of the players’ schedules.  Some of the venues for the event also changed.

Ridgewood Country Club, which has five holes under water, will not be one of the venues of the tournament. According to Ridgewood Country Club General Manager David Gardner, the current conditions made it impossible for golfers to play all 18 holes.

The country club was supposed to host the Boy’s Championship, which has now been relocated to other courses.

Gardner said staff looks forward to the event, which is not only beneficial to junior golf but also to the city.

“It's unfortunate but what do you do. We don't have the number of holes they want to play and we're really not in a position to play here,” Gardner said.

Cottonwood Creek Golf Course Operations Administrator Kenny Duron said they had to assign divisions to courses depending on the flooding situation at each one.

"I think the players will have to figure out if any changes may have to incur, but once the tournament starts they shouldn't notice the difference anything except different courses from the beginning to now,” Duron said.

Cottonwood Creek, the home course of the tournament, will host the Boys Championship for two days instead of one as previously scheduled.

The Twin Rivers Golf Course will host a different division than unusual because several of their holes are under water. Younger players, which only use nine holes during the tournament, will golf at that location.

According to the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, who has hosted the event for 18 years, the tournament this year was limited to 1,000 players for boys and girls ages 7 to 18.

The current schedule can be found here.

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