El Paso, Texas - Travis Reid grew up in Clovis, NM and now lives roughly 45 minutes away from El Paso in Las Cruces.  The former New Mexico State Aggie enjoyed a succesful junior golf and college career.  After turning pro just two years ago, now was his time to add in his first professional win at the 2011 El Paso Desert Open.

A late add into the field, Reid would make the most of the tournament week.  He posted a 3-under-par 69 during the 1st round, and followed that up with back-to-back rounds of 66-66 during the 2nd and 3rd rounds respectively.  This elevated him to first place and a one stroke lead through three rounds at 15-under-par.

The final round Saturday got off to a shaky start with bogey on the Par 3, hole #2, but he quickly made that up with birdie on the Par 5, hole #3.  He made birdies at hole #6 and 9 to go out at 2-under-par and held a two stroke lead over Brett Lederer (Long Beach, CA).  The next nine holes did not provide much of a challenge from his fellow competitors.  Reid would only finish the back nine 1-under-par, but it was good enough for a three stroke win at 18-under-par.  He was the top performer for the week in total birdies (25) and Par 4 performance with an average score of 3.70.

2nd round leader, Charlie Holland (Dallas, TX), had his chances over the final two days.  After opening with a 4-under-par 68 in the 1st round, he followed that up with a strong round of 8-under-par 64.  This included a clean scorecard with eight birdies and no bogeys, and gave him a two stroke lead at the time.  The birdies did not flow as much during the 3rd round.  He needed birdies on holes #17 and 18 to break par at 2-under-par 70.  He was still in contention, but lost his lead to Reid.  The final round provided much of the same as the third day.  He made nine straight pars to start the round.  However, after birdies at holes #10 and 13, Holland was just one shot behind Reid with five holes to play.  Then came the Par 4, hole #17 where he posted a double bogey 6 and dropped him back down the leaderboard.  In the end, he would finish in a T2 place at 15-under-par 273.

Past champion on the Adams Tour, Brett Lederer came out hot through ten holes.  He started his final round six shots back at 9-under-par.  He was 1-under-par through five holes and then made eagle at holes #7 and #10, along with birdie at hole #9.  He found himself just two strokes off the lead with eight holes left to play.  Lederer made a few more birdies coming in, but lost ground with a double bogey 6 on the Par 4, hole #15.  He finished with a 6-under-par 66 and four day total of 15-under-par 273.  Good enough for a T2 place.

Former Lamar University golfer, Casey Clendenon (Houston, TX), had a consistent scoring week.  Along with Travis Reid, he was the only other golfer to post scores in the 60s all four rounds.  He opened with 3-under-par 69 during each of the first two days.  Clendenon opened it up with a 6-under-par 66 on day three.  This included a 5-under-par 31 on his first nine holes.  He was three strokes off the lead playing just ahead of the final group on Saturday.  He made birdies on holes #2 and 3 to close the gap, but just like others behind Reid he never could make a big push coming in.  He finished with another 3-under-par 69 to finish in T2 place at 15-under-par 273. 

Jeff Howard (Austin, TX) showed why he was an All-American at St. Edward's University.  His opening round 1-under-par 71 put him in the middle-of-the-pack.  However, he heated up with rounds of 66-66 to climb the leaderboard and put himself just two strokes off the lead at 13-under-par through three rounds.  On the final round, he held a share of the lead through five holes, after birdies on holes #2 and 5.  The next 13 holes provided a swap of birdie-bogey holes for Howard.  He never got it going and ended with a 1-under-par 71.  His total of 14-under-par 274 put him in sole postion at 5th place.

The El Paso Desert Open is hosted at Painted Dunes GC in El Paso, Texas.  This was the second year for the tournament and it helped raise funds for Operation Noel.

A special thanks to The El Paso Association of Builders, all the volunteers throughout the week, and the city of El Paso for their support.  The local media at the El Paso Times did a great job with daily coverage of the tournament.  We would also like to thank general manager Anthony Below, head golf professional Mark Gonzalez, and head greens superintendent Jeff Gates and their staffs for all of their hard work throughout the tournament and leading up to our arrival.

To follow Travis Reid or learn more about him, visit his website - Travis Reid Golf.

Travis Reid                69-66-66-69--270      -18      $8,000.00
Brett Lederer             68-69-70-66--273      -15      $3,233.33
Casey Clendenon      69-69-66-69--273      -15      $3,233.33
Charlie Holland          68-64-70-71--273      -15      $3,233.33
Jeff Howard               71-66-66-71--274      -14      $1,800.00

Purse = $29,055

Complete Leaderboard / Results

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