Hutto golfer wins TAAF games, qualifies for junior championship

A Hutto High School golfer won the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation (TAAF) Games of Texas golf tournament, and has finished the Southern Texas Professional Golfers Association (STPGA) season in second place in the point standings.

Ilissa Riley-Jaggers took first place in the TAAF Games of Texas golf tournament, held at the Olmos Basin Golf Course in San Antonio on the weekend of July 26 and 27.

“To come out and take the win like that, it was very exciting,” said Riley-Jaggers of her TAAF tournament victory. “I was really excited because the previous years I didn’t do so well.”

Riley-Jaggers shot an 88 on the first day, but improved on the second day with a score of 80. She finished the first day tied for first place before pulling ahead to win by a staggering 16 strokes.

“The first day I played bad, to me,” she said. “Going out there the second day, I had a goal … to pay more attention to my shots.”

Her father and biggest booster Mike Jaggers said his daughter’s skill on the course was matched only by her maturity and etiquette.

“I am not as proud of her accomplishments as I am of the way she conducted herself on the course,” he said. “She acted like a true ambassador of the game of golf.”

Riley-Jaggers said the course, which featured many trees as well as a creek, was a difficult one.

“It was a challenging but really fun course,” she said.

Riley-Jaggers hopes her participation in the TAAF games will lead others to get involved in future years.

“I do strongly encourage people to join the TAAF,” she said. “It would be a lot more enjoyable to have more people from Hutto out there. It would make it more interesting.”

Her victory at the TAAF Games of Texas qualified her to compete in the State Games of America golf tournament, to be held July 21 and 22 of next year in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The course has not yet been announced.

Separately, with a strong performance at the final tournament of the STPGA season, Riley-Jaggers qualified to compete in the Junior Tour Championship tournament.

Riley-Jaggers shot an 84 at the Grey Rock Golf Club (formerly the Golf Club at Circle C) in south Austin on July 28 and 29 to lift her all the way from sixth to second place in the overall points standings.

Only the top three finishers in points go to the invitation-only national junior PGA tournament, which will be held at the Cypresswood Golf Club in Spring, Texas on August 13 and 14.

“The world just kind of opened up for her this week,” her father said about her Games of Texas victory and success in the STPGA point standings.

Riley-Jaggers is about to begin her junior year at Hutto High School.