Houston, Texas-The rainy weather that has prevailed for the past three Championships of the Southern Golf Association was never in question for the entire period of play for the 1980 Championship played over the Cypress Creek Course of the Champions Golf Club in Houston. On the contrary, we were blessed with clear, hot, sunshiny days throughout the entire period of the Championship. In addition to receiving full cooperation from a weather standpoint, and wonderful treatment and hospitality from the entire staff at the Champions Golf Club; we also were afforded playing conditions on this outstanding Championship Course which were truly magnificent-thanks to the dedicated work of the golf course Superintendent and his crew.

Bob Tway of Marietta, Georgia, and a member of the Oklahoma State University Golf Team, played superb golf throughout the four-day tournament period of the 74th Southern Golf Association Championship returning scores of 68-66-70-69-273, and was the winner by a margin of eleven strokes over Cecil Ingram, III, a member of the University of Alabama Golf Team, and a resident of Birmingham, Alabama who was a semi-finalist in the 1979 USGA Amateur Championship. Ingram had rounds of 68-68-73-75 for a total of 284, which is 4 under par for the 72-hole route.

Tway had finished in a tie for second in the 1979 Southern Golf Association Championship at Pinehurst, North Carolina; but he was not to be denied this year. Each of his four rounds were sub-par performances and the 273 total score returned by Tway, which is 15 under par, ties the SGA record that was set by Ben Crenshaw in the 1973 Championship which was also held at this same Champions Golf Club in Houston.

Finishing 3rd was Jack Veghte of Clearwater, Florida with a very fine four under par total of 284 comprised of rounds of 72-72-67-73. The tie for second place between Ingram and Veghte was won by Ingram after matching scorecards in the final round beginning with Hole No. 1 in accordance with the pre-tournament published method of resolving ties for other than the Championship.

Bob Wolcott of Dickson, Tennessee took the 4th spot with a two under par total of 286. Wollcott's rounds can be described as both interesting and unusual in that the scores in each of his four rounds were confined to the use of only the numericals 6 and 7 as contained in his scores of 67-76-76-67. His first round score of 67 consisted of nines of 37-30 and he was the leader after the first 18 holes of play.

Fifth place was won by Dennis Walsh of Groves, Texas, with a one under par total of 287 and Terry Snodgrass of Arlington, Texas, was 6th with a total score of 288 even par.

Rounding out the top ten, Griff Moody of Athens, Georgia and John Pallot of Coral Gables, Florida were tied for 7th with scores of 189; Downing Gray of Pensacola, Florida was 9th with 289; and Rafael Alarcon of Guadalahara, Mexico who won the 1979 Championship, shared 10th place with Joe Iupe of Canton, Mississippi with scores of 291.

After the first round of play Tway was one shot behind Wolcott and tied with Ingram, but this situation quickly changed as play continued. After the second round Tway took over the lead and held a two-stroke advantage over Ingram who was his nearest competitor. This lead continued to widen during the third round, after which his advantage over Ingram increased to five strokes. During the final round Tway continued his attack on the course and it become merely a question of how much his winning margin would become.

Tway was also the medalist and his 36-hole total of 68-66-134 was ten strokes under par. This score establishes a new SGA record. The previous record of 135 was jointly held by three players Bill Rogers, Mike Killian and Vance Haefner as they respectively set in the 1972, 1973 and 1974 Championships.

The Bob Jones Trophy was won by Georgia, after a third round playoff with Texas since they were tied at the end of the first 36 holes of play. Georgia's 36-hole team score of 569 was based on the scores of Bob Tway, Marietta (134); Griff Moody, Athens (141); Jack Larkin, Atlanta (145) and Madden Hatcher, Columbus (149).