What began as a small gathering of golfers at Comanche Trail Golf Course has grown into one of the most anticipated events on the Amarillo golf calendar. The Cleve Austin Memorial Day Scholarship Tournament — now in its 37th year — was born out of the Pride of the Panhandle Golf Club’s commitment to giving back to the community that has supported Black golfers in the Texas Panhandle for generations.
In those early years, the tournament drew players from across Texas and beyond — Dallas, Houston, Waco, Lubbock, Midland, Odessa, towns throughout the Panhandle, and even as far as Colorado. As a chapter of the Texas State Golf Association, which at its peak included 13 chapters across Texas, Pride of the Panhandle was part of a statewide network of golfers who traveled to support each other’s events. That spirit of mutual support remains at the heart of the tournament today, even as the club works to welcome a new generation of players.
The tournament is named in honor of Cleve Austin, one of the founding pioneers of the Pride of the Panhandle Golf Club. Cleve served as club president and was known for his commitment to professionalism, discipline, and showing up. His philosophy was simple: if you’re at the meeting, your vote is yes — if you have something to say, you’d better be in the room. That standard of accountability and presence set the tone for how the club operates to this day.
Naming the tournament after Cleve was a way to ensure his memory lives on — not just in conversation, but in action — every Memorial Day weekend. When Tournament Director Lester Campbell thinks about what this event should reflect, it comes back to Cleve’s values: professionalism, hospitality, and a belief that showing up matters.
Every entry fee, every sponsorship dollar, and every tee box sign purchased goes toward something bigger than the game. The Pride of the Panhandle Golf Club uses the proceeds from this tournament to fund scholarships for graduating seniors in the Amarillo Independent School District.
These aren’t cash handouts. Scholarship recipients must provide proof of enrollment at their school, and the funds — typically $500 per student — are sent directly to the institution. It’s a model built on accountability: students demonstrate they’re taking the next step in their education, and the club makes sure they have support to do it. Over 37 consecutive years of awarding scholarships, Pride of the Panhandle has helped put students on a path that might not have been possible otherwise — in many cases, students who are the first in their family to attend college.
Beyond scholarships, tournament proceeds also support the club’s Junior Golf Clinic, introducing young people to the game and growing the pipeline of future golfers in the Panhandle. It’s a full-circle approach: the tournament funds the scholarships, the clinic grows the game, and both invest in the next generation.
The 37th Annual Cleve Austin Memorial Day Scholarship Tournament is a full three-day event held at Ross Rogers Golf Complex in Amarillo, Texas — home to two of the top-rated public courses in the state.
Friday — Skins Game & Hospitality Night The weekend kicks off with a Skins Game on the Mustang Course, starting at 11:00 AM. It’s a competitive warm-up and a chance to get your feet under you before the main event. Friday evening, everyone gathers at Hilltop Senior Citizens Center (1311 North Taylor) for a hospitality night — food, fellowship, and a chance to reconnect with players you haven’t seen since last Memorial Day.
Saturday — Round One & Calcutta Night Check-in opens at 8:15 AM. The first round is 18 holes of individual stroke play on the Wild Horse Course, with a 9:00 AM shotgun start. After the round, Saturday evening brings dinner, a raffle, and the Calcutta — one of the most entertaining traditions of the weekend.
Here’s how the Calcutta works: it’s based solely on your Sunday score. On Saturday night, players are “auctioned” within each flight. You can bid on yourself or on someone else you think will have a good Sunday. If someone buys you, you have the option to buy half of yourself back before Sunday’s round starts. It adds a layer of strategy, trash talk, and camaraderie that makes Saturday night one of the best parts of the weekend.
Sunday — Final Round & Awards Sunday morning, you tee it up again — this time on the Mustang Course. It’s 18 more holes of individual stroke play, and where you start on the course can matter. After the final round, the weekend wraps with a lunch, prize distribution, and the chance for other TSGA chapters to present their upcoming tournaments. It’s a reminder that this event is part of something larger — a network of clubs supporting each other across the state.
Thirty-six holes of individual stroke play across two days. No scrambles, no team gimmicks — just you and the course. Multiple flights ensure competitive balance: Women’s Flight, Men’s Championship, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and the Lorenzo Pearson Flight (Net). The tournament committee reserves the right to re-flight players based on the field.
Players from other cities know what they’re getting when they sign up, and that consistency is part of what keeps them coming back. As Lester puts it: “You can’t blame nobody but yourself.” For golfers tired of four-man scrambles, this is as pure a competitive experience as you’ll find.
The $180 entry fee covers far more than green fees. When players learn what’s included, the value speaks for itself:
Friday hospitality night with food and fellowship
Complimentary Budweiser products throughout the weekend (a partnership that goes back decades — when the late Dean Morrison of Budweiser visited the tournament, he was so impressed by the atmosphere that he committed to sponsoring for as long as the event exists)
Saturday morning refreshments and on-course hospitality
Saturday evening dinner, raffle, and Calcutta
Sunday awards lunch
Goodie bags, closest-to-the-pin competition, and prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each flight
The hospitality isn’t an afterthought — it’s central to the experience. The goal is for every player to feel at home from the moment they arrive, ready to meet someone new, and glad they came. Players who’ve attended the TSGA state tournament hosted by Pride of the Panhandle have called it one of the best-run events they’ve played — because of the courses, the organization, and the fact that all they had to do was show up and play golf.
What keeps this tournament going year after year is simple: being able to help a kid further their education.
When I think about Cleve Austin and what he meant to this club, I think about professionalism, hospitality, and the value of showing up. That’s what we want this tournament to reflect — every year, in everything we do.
If you’re reading this and deciding whether to play or sponsor, I want you to know: we appreciate every person who says yes. And if someone says no, that doesn’t stop us either — because the worst thing a person can tell you is no, and you can’t let a no stop you.
These kids are worth showing up for.
— Lester Campbell, Tournament Director Pride of the Panhandle Golf Club