By ROBERT CESSNA
The brother-sister combination of Alexis and Curtis Thompson of Coral Gables, Fla., were the winners Sunday at the Laredo Energy Junior at the Traditions Club. And if the American Junior Golf Association makes this an annual event, there could be multiple winners in the B-CS golfing community, including the Texas A&M golf programs.
This was the second straight year for the 132-player AJGA event to be played at Traditions on Easter weekend. The field included 11 players who have signed college scholarships and several Rolex Junior All-Americans. Golfers represented 22 states along with Colombia, Canada, Thailand and Mexico.
"If you have a great golf course and a great event, people will travel, we've seen that," said Darren Nelson, the AJGA's South Central regional director. "Not all great golf courses are in major cities."
A&M is certainly proud of the Jack Nicklaus-designed Traditions, which opened in 2004.
"No. 1, you have to have a great golf course," A&M head men's golf coach J.T. Higgins said. "This tour plays great golf courses around the country. They're used to playing on quality venues.
"That's No. 1, but also having the support of the community on a volunteer basis to get food, hotel rooms -- all those kinds of things matter. So putting it all together is a pretty big deal."
Higgins starting talking to the AJGA officials right after he was hired by A&M from New Mexico in 2001.
"I really didn't want to have it in the summer, just because of the weather being so hot and humid and I didn't know how many kids would really understand it's not like that all the time," Higgins said.
"We wanted this event. It was in The Woodlands [and] a couple of years ago The Woodlands decided it didn't want it anymore."
The AJGA called Higgins, who helped get things moving with the Bryan-College Station Visitors Bureau, a few hotels and others getting involved.
"It just all came together," Higgins said. "Traditions wanted to host it. Hopefully, it will be here for a long time."
It will be for at least two more years. B-CS raised enough money to put on the event last year without a title sponsor, but the AJGA signed Laredo Energy to a three-year deal starting this year.
Nelson said some tournaments have been forced to move yearly, while others have been held at the same location for more than two decades.
"Awesome" is the way Nelson described the first two years at Traditions, and he's hopeful it will be a long-running event.
It will get even better when A&M finishes building its clubhouse. That will allow the AJGA to host all of its functions during the weekend at one spot inside, which will be nice when a rain storm hits, as was the case Sunday morning.
The clubhouse also will allow A&M to make a bid to host an NCAA Championship, helping make Traditions one of the top destinations juniors will want to play.
It's also helpful that both A&M programs are on the rise. The women, under second-year head coach Trelle McCombs, tied for sixth at the NCAA Women's Championships last year, the second-highest finish in school history and the best since the inaugural NCAA Championships in 1982.
The A&M men's golf team was 12th last year, its highest finish since 1984.
"Now, to take the next step and have a chance to win national championships, you have to get those elite players," Higgins said. "Those players are starting to realize we have great facilities here, the weather is fantastic, and you can get a great education. It's the perfect package for most of them. This is a real viable option."
A&M signee Cameron Peck of Olympia, Wash., was fourth here last year. Peck was the 2008 Rolex Junior Player of the Year after winning the FootJoy Invitational, HP Boys Junior Championship and the U.S. Junior Amateur.
Peck had already pledged to the Aggies before he played here last year, but it helped having him play here and enjoy it.
"He is as well-known as any junior golfer in the country," Higgins said. "He's friends with every good player who is here and he's talking to them about why he came here."
George Garrick, CEO of a company in Silicon Valley, brought his 14-year-old son, Jonathan, to B-CS two days before the tournament to look at the campus and community. The elder Garrick said he wasn't aware that A&M was a major player in the collegiate golfing world, but that could change quickly.
"[They] can get 132 kids to come to this facility and see the campus and it's really 132 free recruiting visits," Nelson said.
There's also the draw of the AJGA, whose alumni include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Cristie Kerr and Paula Creamer.
The Thompsons sure made it a memorable weekend by becoming the first siblings to win in the same year.
Alexis Thompson shot a course record 6-under-par 66 Sunday for a 54-hole total of 4-under 212. The 14-year-old weathered an hour rain delay to shoot her career-best round. She missed only two greens and birdied six holes for her third AJGA victory.
Thompson won at Traditions last year and is only the fourth player in the 24-year-history of the AJGA to successfully defend a title.
Erynne Lee of Silverdale, Was., was second at 71-219. She also was the runner-up here last year.
Curtis Thompson closed with a 2-under 70 for a three-round total of 213, beating Brenden Redfern of Austin by four shots. The 16-year-old Thompson hit 17 greens in regulation.
Jordan Spieth of Dallas, the defending champ, tied for fifth at 222.
Texas A&M signee Ryan Kelley of The Woodlands tied for 21st at 80-77-72--229. His closing round was the day's second-best score, which was matched by Curtis Reed of Castroville.
A&M Consolidated's Casey Grice was 15th at 81-78-75--234. Grice played a 36-hole District 12-5A tournament in Waco on Wednesday and Thursday. Texas A&M signee Sarah Beth Davis of Victoria was 18th at 77-81-81--239.
College signees who missed the cut were Illinois' Ross Frankenberg, Rice's Jade Scott, Arkansas' Kevin VandenHeuvel and Auburn's Casey Ann Kennedy.
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