Katy Taylor senior Kevin Vanden Heuvel won the Texas Junior Golf Tour’s Invitational Houstonian on Tuesday afternoon, shooting six-under par 138 at The Houstonian.

Vanden Heuvel played well the first day. He was three under par with four holes to play and ran into some trouble to finish with a one-over 73. That was good enough to be in fifth-place after the first round. The low score of the day came from Brax McCarthy of Fort Worth, who shot 69.

Vanden Heuvel started hot Tuesday. He birdied the first five holes and missed one on No. 6, but birdied No. 7. He made the turn at six under par amid threatening bad weather; tour officials were concerned Kevin would not be able to finish the round. They started carting players as much as possible to try their best in getting the round finished.

He played steady on the back nine with only one bogey (on No. 15), but followed it up with a chance at eagle at the sixteenth. He finished with a birdie on No. 16, a par on No. 17, and on No. 18 he hit his drive in the deep rough to the right of the fairway, but dug it out and it landed about 15 feet from the hole.

“With all the birdies he made during the day he never showed any emotion, but when that birdie putt fell he fist pumped and crowd around the green went wild,” Kevin’s father, Pat Vanden Heuvel, wrote in an e-mail. “They all knew how low he was and they were excited to see him finish with a 65.  That was the first time Kevin has broken 70 in a tournament round.”

McCarthy was playing behind Kevin all day and that group knew how good Vanden Heuvel was playing, so McCarthy did his best to try and catch his low round. He birdied the seventeen and eighteen hole to finish the day with a two under par 70 giving him a two day total of 139.

“Last April while the University of Arkansas head coach Brad McMakin was watching Kevin playing in the high school regional event he made the comment that ‘it was just a matter of time when Kevin will start racking up many wins,’” Pat Vanden Heuvel wrote. “McMakin feels Kevin has the potential to even get better then already is, and that is why he made Kevin an early offer to be part of the Razorbacks golf program.”

Among other local golfers, Strake Jesuit's Nicko Dodd finished at 1-over 145, Seven Lakes' Brian Swanson was at 3-over 147 and Memorial's Jes Schneider shot 11-over 155. 

Dave Purpura contributed.

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