Rockwall’s Watkins takes lead heading into final round of TSO

Published 9:10 pm Thursday, July 31, 2025

Heading into the final round it is a tight leaderboard in the $201,000 55th M&P Group Texas State Open.

Two-time Low Amateur champion Matt Watkins is in the lead after carding a 5-under 65 on Thursday at The Cascades Golf & Country Club in Tyler. The Rockwall resident tops the field with a 54-hole total of 19-under 191. He had previous rounds of 64 and 62.

His 19-under-par has tied the Championship 54-hole scoring record, previously set in 2021 by Jack Ireland.

Watkins’ round got off to a slow start with four pars. On the par-3, fifth hole he pulled his tee shot into the pond short of the green, and made bogey. Two more pars then led to back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to close out a 1-under-par front nine.

“The first four holes really, I hit great shots and was barely missing the putts. I made a great bogey on five. Hit it in the water and got up and down,” said Watkins.

A third straight birdie on the 10th hole continued the momentum for Watkins. He carded another stretch of three straight birdies on 14-16. His second blemish of the day came on the 17th hole, where he made another bogey. He bounced back on the 18th with a birdie after narrowly missing a 16-foot putt for eagle.

Grapevine’s Josh Radcliff, who was playing in the 3M Open on the PGA Tour at TPC Twin Cities last weekend, is one stroke back at 18-under 192 (66-62-64).

In third place is Chris Korte, of Littleton, Colorado, at 193 (62-64-67).

Local favorite, Bullard’s Blake Elliott, is at 195. Elliott carded an 8-under 62 on Thursday to move up the leaderboard. He had previous rounds of 66 and 67.

Rounding out the top five is Oklahoma City’s Jonathan Brightwell (65-67-64—196).

“I hit it well and got off to a pretty good start,” Elliott said. He continued, “Pretty happy with how I performed, and I am looking forward to tomorrow.”

Elliott, like Watkins, is looking for his first win at this Championship after multiple years of consistent play at Cascades Country Club. In 2024, Elliott finished in fifth place.

Grant Doggett, of Beach City, leads the Amateur Division at 11-under-par. His third round 33-31–64, 6-under-par, propelled him 16 spots up the Championship leaderboard.

Doggett is a rising junior at the University of Houston and grew up playing golf on the Southern Texas PGA Junior Tour. He holds a two-stroke lead over the next closest amateur, Kaelen Dulany of Keller.

Brandon Bingaman, PGA assistant professional at Gleneagles Country Club in Plano  still holds the lead for the PGA Professional Division. He is at 5-under-par for the Championship.

The final round will begin at 8 a.m. Friday on the first and 10th holes. The final group will tee off at 9:50 a.m., and an awards presentation will begin at approximately 2 p.m.

“As far as leaderboards go, I let everybody else worry about it,” Radcliff said on Wednesday. “I just go play golf. Hopefully at the end of the week, we end up in a decent spot and whatever happens. The goal is to take it one shot at a time, not worrying about who I’m playing with, what group I’m playing, the time I’m teeing off or any of that stuff. You just kind of try to play the shot at hand and let the media do the leaderboard watching, and I’ll do the golfing.”

Radcliff, who shot a 66 on Tuesday, birdied holes 3 and 4 before sinking an eagle on No. 6 and another birdie on No. 8. After the turn, Radcliff had birdies on 11, 14 and 15.

“The first two days were good,” Radcliff said. “I finished my first round on a really good note with an eagle at 8 and a birdie at 9, so that kind of made the round feel a lot better than I feel like it was. I really finished strong. It was nice.

“(Wednesday), it was really steady, consistent golf. I kind of just plodded my way around, didn’t make many mistakes and got a few puts to fall.”

Last week at the 3M Open, Radcliff finished at 3-under, missing the cut with rounds of 71 and 68, making an eagle on hole No. 12 in the second round.

After finishing his second round of the Texas State Open on Wednesday just after noon, Radcliff had the rest of the day away from the course.

“It’s a different kind of relaxation,” Radcliff said. “I’ve got a year and a half old son at home who is walking and swinging a golf club and running all over the place, so the rest of my afternoon is going to be spent on my feet chasing him around, but it’s the most fun thing in the world, and I wouldn’t want anything else.”

Radcliff is playing in the Texas State Open for the third time — first since 2022. He placed 45^th in the event in 2019 (71-67-67-71 — 276) and missed the cut in 2022 (69-73 — 142).

“It’s been a few years, but I really enjoy coming out here,” Radcliff said. “I used to stay with a host family that lived on No. 2. They’ve since moved. I love the State Open. My in-laws live around her in Tyler, so we’re staying with them this week. It’s always fun to come out to Tyler and play this event.”

Radcliff is married to Katie Rhodes, who graduated from Van High School and UT Tyler.

“We come here several times a year,” Radcliff said. “Mostly visiting family, but we come up here visiting friends, going to the church she grew up going to and we’ve gone dancing, two-stepping, over at the dance hall down south.”

But Radcliff’s main goal in Tyler outside of the golf tournament: “I’ve got to go get some barbecue at Stanley’s.”

The NTPGA contributed to this story.