DALLAS, Texas –
The 15th Annual Ewing Charity Classic, a fundraising golf tournament conducted by the Northern Texas PGA for the benefit of the Northern Texas PGA Foundation, was held today at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas. This year’s event raised $241,000.
The Ewing Charity Classic, formerly the Westcott Pro-Am, is widely considered one of the most special and unique pro-am events in the country with $4.79 million raised during the past 25 years for the benefit of the Northern Texas PGA Foundation's broad-based community outreach programs. The money raised helps to further the Foundation’s mission to positively impact lives and communities through golf.
The Ewing Charity Classic featured 22 teams consisting of three amateurs, a PGA TOUR, Korn Ferry Tour or LPGA Tour player and a PGA of America golf professional. Past and present tour players that participated in this year’s event included David Graham, Todd Hamilton, J.J. Henry, Kelly Kraft, Sebastian Munoz, Ryan Palmer, Gerina Piller, Scottie Scheffler, John Senden, and Jordan Spieth among others.
This year, the event consisted of two, 9-hole competitions. With a frost delay this morning, the field was split, and those who started on hole #1, played holes 1-9, and those who started on hole #10 played holes 10-18.
Professionals Dow Finsterwald, Jr. and Ryan Palmer teamed up with amateurs Mike Biggs, James Edmondson and Jeff Bookout to shoot 11-under par, 61, to claim the front-nine title, while professionals Henry Cagigal and Todd Hamilton paired with amateurs Cameron Decker, Ernest Horany and Chris Mellina carded a 5-under par, 67, to capture the back-nine competition.
Henry Cagigal, PGA assistant professional at Rockwood Park Golf Course, also took home a black 2021 Mercedes Benz C300 after hitting a 52-degree wedge, 80 yards, reaching 1 foot, 11 inches from the hole. Andrew Lewis, PGA director of instruction at Altus Performance, finished in second place hitting his ball 4 feet, 5 inches to take home $2,500.
“To do something like this, it’s a once in a lifetime deal,” said Cagigal. “I never expected to win. It’s been on my mind for several weeks now, and it’s something I knew was a possibility by getting to play in this event, but I never expected it. [This event] is an incredible gesture by the Ewing family, to do this for all of us PGA professionals and the community.”
The contest was Mr. Ewing’s idea as a way to not only help raise funds for the Northern Texas PGA Foundation but also to say a special thank you to the PGA professionals who participate in the event. In 2012 it was so well received that Mr. Ewing decided to keep the shootout going and has given away a car each year since.
Ewing Automotive Group, a dealership group consisting of Mercedes-Benz of Plano, Ewing Buick GMC and Ewing Subaru of Plano, located north of the George Bush Turnpike and South of Highway 121, in one of the fastest developing business corridors in the country. A special thank you goes out to Mr. Ewing and all he has done for the Northern Texas PGA, our local PGA Professionals, junior golfers in North Texas and the game of golf. In 2019, Mr. Ewing was inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame for all he has done for the game of golf.