Denton High School will host the G. Thomas Swenson Memorial Scholarship Tournament at Denton Country Club on Monday.
With the start set for 8:30 a.m., at least 11 teams will compete in an NCAA format that allows the teams to play collectively as opposed to a high school format that puts one player from each school in a foursome.
Boys teams from Denton, Ryan and Guyer will compete with Justin Northwest, Grapevine, Keller Central and Bridgeport. The Denton and Ryan girls will compete with Keller Central and Carrollton Ranchview.
“We have to do something to celebrate his life, and this is what we came up with,” Denton coach Mick Maxey said of Swenson. “Tom passed away in late August. Not only are we doing a tournament, but we are setting up a scholarship through the Denton Public School Foundation.”
Two $2,500 scholarships will be awarded by a committee at a later date, with one going to a boy and one to a girl.
“We decided it’s not how you finish in the tournament,” Maxey said. “We think it should be based off grades and where you’re going to school. I think for next year we talked about lowering it and doing several. Next year, we’ll probably knock that down to help more kids.”
Athletes also will be able to wear collegiate apparel in memory of Swenson.
“Kids will be able to wear any of their college gear because he was a big college guy,” Maxey said. “It was something he enjoyed. He was a huge [Texas] fan and we have a couple of kids that are going to play college golf, so they get to wear their college gear. We appreciate everything he has done for us.”
